On May 18–19 2013, CIRS held a second working group to conclude its research initiative on “Weak States in the Greater Middle East.” Participants met in Washington D.C. to discuss individual paper submissions that collectively scrutinize the prevailing weak states discourse in the region. Through thematic topics and specific case studies, scholars employed a multi-disciplinary approach…
The Women’s Studies Circle made up of members from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar and Qatar University, led a Focused Discussion supported by CIRS on June 5, 2013. The discussion was moderated by Hatoon Al-Fassi, a women’s rights activist and historian teaching at Qatar University. During the discussion, a group of women from various academic and professional backgrounds discussed Qatar’s ratification of the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The group focused specifically on Qatar’s reservations to CEDAW and its implications on gender equality.
On September 7–8, 2013, CIRS held a two-day working group to discuss, amongst other things, the economic and political push and pull factors of Arab migration to the region, the historical migration trajectory, the current conditions and varied experiences of Arab expatriates residing and working in the Gulf, as well as future trends in regional…
George Naufal, Assistant Professor of Economics at the American University of Sharjah and a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), delivered a CIRS Monthly Dialogue lecture titled, “The Economics of Migration in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries” on September 9, 2013. The lecture mapped the history of non-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Arab workers…
The Consortium of Arab Policy Research Institutes (CAPRI) at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI) and the Center on Knowledge-to-Policy for Health at AUB collaborated with CIRS to host a workshop on September 12, 2013, entitled “Knowledge Translation: Bridging the Gap between Research and Policy II”. This one-day event brought together…
Luciano Zaccara, Visiting Assistant Professor at Georgetown University SFS-Qatar, delivered a CIRS Focused Discussion on the topic, “Do Elections Matter? Reflections on the 2013 Iranian Presidential Polls” on September 30, 2013. Answering this question in the affirmative at the start of the lecture, he went on to explain why elections are so important to the Iranian political system.…
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…