On April 7, 2009, Mark Farha, Visiting Assistant Professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, was invited by CIRS to give the April Monthly Dialogue on the subject of “Lebanon as the Mirror of Arab Politics.” Farha began by noting that the “sheer number of civil society organizations, the amount of political activism,…
Former Egyptian Ambassador to the United States Nabil Fahmy gave his analysis and insight into the foreign policy challenges facing the United States and the Arab world in a speech at the Diplomatic Club in Doha on April 29, 2009. Fahmy stressed the inter-connectedness of the challenges facing the region and suggested that developments on…
on May 3–4, 2009, the "Comparative Ethics of War" working group meeting was co-sponsored by the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) and the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO). The meeting, which took place in Doha, is part of a larger research initiative undertaken by PRIO. The research group met twice previously, in Stresa, Italy in…
James Onley, the 2008–2009 CIRS Senior Fellow and Director of the Gulf Studies program at the University of Exeter, delivered the May Monthly Dialogue lecture entitled “Agents of Empire: Britain’s Local Representatives in the Gulf, 1750s–1950s” on May 4, 2009. Onley began by explaining that the lecture was part of a larger study he conducted towards a book he authored entitled The…
On May 16–17, 2009, CIRS convened the first of its working group meetings with its research grant program dedicated to the study of migrant labor issues in the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The working group was comprised of twenty international and local participants from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, political science, sociology, and…
Boroujerdi noted that the active participation, involvement and energy seen in the Iranian public throughout this election and following it, is unprecedented in post-revolutionary Iran. It is a clear indication that the will for a more participatory political system is extremely strong and alive in the Iranian state.
Resuming its annual Public Affairs Programming series after the summer break, CIRS kicked off the 2009-2010 academic year with a Monthly Dialogue lecture by Alexis Antoniades, professor of economics at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar. The Monthly Dialogue, entitled “The Future of the Global Economy,” took place on September 8, 2009 and was attended…
Robert Wirsing, Visiting Professor of International Relations at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, delivered the October CIRS Monthly Dialogue on the topic of “The Af-Pak Misadventure: Where is America’s ‘Long War’ Heading?...And Why?” Introducing the issues, Wirsing noted that he did not necessarily approve of the designation “Af-Pak” but drew attention to its…
On October 11–14, 2009, the Al-Jisr working group participants were invited to Doha by CIRS and the Gulf Research Center (GRC) to conduct the project’s second meeting. Supported by the European Commission, Al-Jisr is a two-year project on “Public Diplomacy and Outreach devoted to the European Union and EU-GCC Relations.” The initiative aims to enhance…
Carol Lancaster, Interim Dean of the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, was invited to Doha to give a CIRS Distinguished Lecture on the topic of “Wealth and Power in the ‘New International Order.’” Lancaster was introduced by Lamia Adi, a sophomore GU-Q student and President of the DC-Qatar Forum, which fosters…
Mehran Kamrava, CIRS Director and Interim Dean of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, lectured to a group of French scholars from the HEC on the Geopolitics of the Gulf. Kamrava gave a broad overview of the relationships between the Gulf states and how these associations are shaped by the geopolitics of…
On November 1, 2009, Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University, gave a lecture to Georgetown students, faculty, and staff. The event was sponsored by the Georgetown University-Qatar Culture and Politics (CULP) program, headed by Professor Rogaia Abusharaf, the Georgetown University-Qatar African Society student club, and the Arab…