On October 5–6, 2013, CIRS held a two-day working group under the research initiative “The Evolution of Gulf Global Cities.” Scholars from various multi-disciplinary backgrounds as well as urban practitioners and architects examined historical, social, economic and political aspects of urban transformations in the Persian Gulf. During the working group, group discussion bridged past and present…
Abdullah Al-Arian, Assistant Professor of History at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, delivered a CIRS Monthly Dialogue lecture titled “From Revolution to Coup: Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood” on October 7, 2013. Testament to Egypt’s importance in the Arab World, he argued that “whatever happens in Egypt has a tremendous impact on the…
Micha Kurz was born and raised in Jerusalem. During the second Intifada he learned about the Israeli Occupation of Palestinian land and people first hand as an Israeli soldier. In 2004, he was a co-founder of “Breaking the Silence” and has since focused his work in Al Quds-Jerusalem, “a forgotten epicenter of the occupation. “Grassroots Jerusalem” has recently opened the doors to Al Marsa (the Harbor), a Political Community Center and Legal Clinic built to counter the threat on freedom of speech and assembly in Jerusalem today.
In order to enhance local research productivity, and build upon its established collegial relationships with other research entities in Qatar, CIRS hosted a "Research Roundtable" on November 17, 2013. During this one-day event, academics, policy analysts, and representatives of research institutions and think tanks discussed their respective research initiatives and activities in an attempt to identify research…
On December 8–9, 2013, CIRS held a working group to launch the State and Innovation in the Gulf Research Initiative. Regional and international scholars and experts from various multi-disciplinary backgrounds convened to discuss issues related to the pursuit of a knowledge-based economy (KBE) throughout various states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Within the last decade, members of…
Zahra Babar, Associate Director for Research at CIRS, delivered a CIRSMonthly Dialogue lecture titled “Working for the Neighbors: Arab Migrants in Qatar” on December 11, 2013. Babar proposed to examine some of the trends in Qatar’s dramatic population increase over the past few decades, paying particular attention to the demographic patterns of non-GCC Arab migrant populations. “The…
On January 7-8, 2014, CIRS held its inaugural Social Currents in the Maghreb Working Group in Washington D.C. While much of the mainstream media and recent scholarship on the Maghreb has focused on the political and security dimensions of the region, participants gathered over two days to discuss the social changes and fluxes in contemporary Morocco, Libya, Tunisia,…
R. Seetharaman, Group Chief Executive Officer of Doha Bank, delivered the first CIRS Monthly Dialogue of 2014 with a lecture on “Sustainable Development for Economies and Corporations” on January 20, 2014. Drawing on his experience as the head of a major financial institution, he explained how, as a result of the global financial crisis, economic systems…
Omran Al-Kuwari, co-founder and CEO of GreenGulf, delivered a CIRS Focused Discussion lecture on “The Paradox of Renewable Energy in Qatar” on February 12, 2014. The talk was centered on the drivers of investing in renewable energy in the context of Qatar, and how these have been radically transformed over recent years. The Gulf is seen as a single…
On February 15-16, 2014, Regional and international experts gathered for the inaugural meeting of the CIRS "Transitional Justice in the Middle East" research initiative. While much of the scholarship on transitional justice has been conducted in other regions of the globe, recent political transitions in the region have invigorated studies on the manifestation and application of transitional justice…
Matt Buehler, the 2013-2014 Postdoctoral Fellow at CIRS, delivered aMonthly Dialogue lecture on“Why did the Arab Spring miss the Maghreb? Continuity through Co-optation in Morocco and Mauritania,” on February 17, 2014. The talk summarized the results of in-depth fieldwork undertaken in Morocco and Mauritania, where Buehler conducted over 100 interviews with politicians and policymakers. The central question…
On March 15, 16 2014, The final working group of CIRS’ research project Arab Migrant Communities in the GCC was held in Doha. Grant recipients of this research grant cycle gathered with an additional cohort of migration experts and scholars to discuss their research findings and to solicit feedback on their draft paper submissions. The topics investigated ranged…