BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Center for International and Regional Studies - ECPv6.15.15//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Center for International and Regional Studies
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:Europe/Moscow
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0300
TZOFFSETTO:+0400
TZNAME:MSD
DTSTART:20080329T230000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0400
TZOFFSETTO:+0300
TZNAME:MSK
DTSTART:20081025T230000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0300
TZOFFSETTO:+0400
TZNAME:MSD
DTSTART:20090328T230000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0400
TZOFFSETTO:+0300
TZNAME:MSK
DTSTART:20091024T230000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0300
TZOFFSETTO:+0400
TZNAME:MSD
DTSTART:20100327T230000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0400
TZOFFSETTO:+0300
TZNAME:MSK
DTSTART:20101030T230000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20090208T080000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20090208T180000
DTSTAMP:20260509T164303
CREATED:20141026T135018Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210902T112938Z
UID:10000997-1234080000-1234116000@cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu
SUMMARY:Nur Yalman Lectures on Turkey's Transformation
DESCRIPTION:Nur Yalman\, Professor Emeritus of Social Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies at the Department of Anthropology\, Harvard University\, gave a CIRS Focused Discussion on February 8\, 2010 on the topic of “Turkey’s Transformation: Regional Implications.” Yalman was invited to Doha by GU-Qatar Professor Mark Farha on whose PhD thesis Yalman served as an advisor. The lecture was attended by Georgetown University students\, faculty\, and staff. \n \n \nYalman discussed several features of Turkey that have increased its prominence as an international player in recent years. He explained that Turkey has a large and growing population of over 76 million people. This is a relatively young population\, which bodes well for a productive future economy. Currently\, Turkey is rapidly industrializing\, and has become a manufacturing base for various international and local products. Remote parts of the country that had no electricity thirty years ago\, Yalman said\, have been connected to electricity grids and fully equipped with modern convenience goods. \n \n \nYalman recounted how the modern Turkish Republic was formed after the Ottomans allied with Germany in order not to lose parts of the Empire – its Balkan and Caucus territories – to its large and growing Russian neighbor to the north. The Ottoman Empire was defeated\, but Mustafa Kemal Atatürk succeeded in rallying against occupying forces by instigating a nationalist movement to found modern Turkey. “Atatürk became a great hero\, not only for the Turks\, but for the non-western world. The fact that Turkey kept out of WWII meant that it has had a period of relative peace in its development from 1923 to today.” \n \n \nThe context of Turkey’s steady development and zealous economic drive stems from the philosophy behind Turkey’s “cultural revolution\,” instigated by Atatürk. This “cultural revolution\,” however\, had devastating effects on the local population who were obliged to become forcibly “westernized\,” at least in outward appearances\, in order for the country to contend with European nations. Traditional modes of dress\, language\, writing styles\, and perceptions were all effectively outlawed and replaced with more “scientific\,” modern\, and progressive ones. \n \n \nHowever\, Yalman argued\, notions about progress and the gradual emancipation of human beings from religion were nineteenth century ideas that did not take into account the strong traditional communal formations that were deeply rooted in Turkish society. A strong underlying negative public reaction to Atatürk reforms emerged in the form of the very popular Justice and Progress (or AK) party that is now in power in Turkey and has strong Islamic roots. The AK party\, which has forcefully expressed its profound interest in the Arab world in general and the Palestinians in particular\, also maintains a strong connection with the secular Ataturk legacy. \n \n \nIn conclusion\, Yalman said that there are two very powerful yet competing discourses in Turkey: an Islamist resurgence and the secularist drive for modernity. This division has caused tremendous tensions that will likely continue into the future. \n \n \nYalman is Senior Fellow\, Harvard Society of Fellows. His fields of concentration include South Asia (Sri Lanka and India)\, the Middle East\, and Japan. Dr. Yalman’s research interests include contemporary social theory and theorists; anthropology of religion\, and social and political conditions in South Asia and the Middle East. He has published widely\, including “Religion and Civilization” in Dialogue of Civilizations: a New Peace Agenda for a New Millenium\, eds. M. Tehranian & D.W.Chappell (2002).   \n \n \nArticle by Suzi Mirgani. Suzi is CIRS Publications Coordinator.
URL:https://cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu/event/nur-yalman-lectures-turkeys-transformation/
CATEGORIES:Dialogue Series,Regional Studies
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/10/events_20866_20041_1414331418-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20090210T080000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20090210T180000
DTSTAMP:20260509T164303
CREATED:20141026T081840Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240314T115123Z
UID:10000959-1234252800-1234288800@cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu
SUMMARY:Ibrahim Oweiss on the Global Depression and the Gulf Economies
DESCRIPTION:Ibrahim M. Oweiss\, Professor of Economics at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar\, gave the February CIRS Monthly Dialogue lecture on the subject of “Current Economic Global Depression: Causes and Effects With Reference to the Gulf Economies.” \n \n \nOweiss began the talk by noting that he refers to the current economic crisis as a “depression” rather than the more commonly used term “recession\,” because\, he said\, the fall-out from unemployment will be one of the most devastating features of the years to come. He gave various examples to demonstrate the negative effects of deregulation and emphasized that no country is immune from the global effects of the depression. \n \n \n“There are many causes for the financial crisis\,” Oweiss argued\, “and one of them is the war in Iraq” that is a constant drain on financial resources and is costing the U.S. taxpayer dearly. Giving some recent figures\, Oweiss calculated that “it costs 371\,000 dollars every minute.” The war has created an unfathomable amount of debt and budget deficit to the U.S. economy. This crisis was a result of “the unwise fiscal policy during the Bush administration. Usually at a time of war\, a country increases taxes\, and not decreases them. George W. Bush inherited a surplus in the budget” and yet awarded tax cuts and with a mounting war\, this “had a dual negative effect on the U.S. budget and on the National Debt.”  \n \n \nView the presentation from lecture below: \n \n \nThe Global Depression and Gulf Economies  from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar  \n \n \nThe other obvious cause for the financial crisis\, Oweiss pointed out\, is the lack of government regulation in private equity and corporate affairs. This has had a devastating effect and has allowed people to act with impudence because\, he said\, “Americans have been used to buying with money they do not own\,” and there will always be a problem when people overextend themselves and cannot pay back debts. Oweiss warned that “the crack in the U.S. economy is too wide and too deep to be filled by any amount of money\, whether it had been approved under the Bush administration or now under the Obama administration.” \n \n \nWith reference to the Gulf economies\, Oweiss stated that no economy is safe from the global economic crisis and the Gulf countries “are being affected to varying degrees.” According to the Oweiss Demand Curve theory\, “petro-dollars are declining because the world’s industrial machinery is slowing down” hence the demand for oil and the prices of oil are also in decline. He argued that the effects for the GCC were also psychological and that Arab investors are used to following the pattern of global stock markets and will undoubtedly become discouraged by the negative outlook. “The GCC labor market” in particular\, he added\, “is bound to be reduced.” A variety of real-estate projects have been delayed or cancelled in the UAE in particular\, costing 260 billion dollars\, and losses to sovereign wealth funds in the region may reach 450 billion dollars. This\, Oweiss explained “is equal to all petro-dollar revenues for the year 2008. Such losses are only on paper but can materialize if those invested assets are to be liquidated.” However\, Qatar\, due to years of immense expenditures and investments in natural gas and other important business ventures\, will have a reasonable rate of growth in 2009 that will be of help to its economy. \n \n \nA question Oweiss asked at the beginning of the lecture was “Is this the end of capitalism?”\, and he answered it by saying that\, contrary to French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s affirmative answer\, it most definitely was not. If one defines capitalism\, in its most basic philosophy\, as being “an economic system allowing private citizens to own capital and to benefit from it\,” then there will always be some form of capitalism. There are many shades\, he said\, between “unbridled individualism” and “regulated capitalism” and these need to be properly defined and applied. \n \n \nOn a positive note\, Oweiss concluded that there have been many depressions in U.S. and world history\, and that people have always managed\, over time\, to extract themselves from dire situations through overseeing a consistent program of proper regulation. Hope\, he concluded\, coupled with human ingenuity\, unlike all other resources\, is not finite. \n \n \nOweiss joined the faculty of the Department of Economics at Georgetown University in 1967 after having served on the faculty of the University of Minnesota and Western Maryland College. He was also a Visiting Professor of Economics at Harvard University and taught at Johns Hopkins University. \n \n \nAs an international economic advisor\, he worked for several governments and multinational corporations in the USA and abroad. Dr. Oweiss was one of the founding members of Georgetown University Center for Contemporary Arab Studies as well as the College of Commerce and Economics at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. Dr. Oweiss has authored over fifty scholarly publications including\, Arab Civilization\, and The Political Economy of Contemporary Egypt.  \n \n \nArticle by Suzi Mirgani\, CIRS Publications Coordinator.
URL:https://cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu/event/ibrahim-oweiss-global-depression-and-gulf-economies/
CATEGORIES:American Studies,Dialogue Series,Regional Studies
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/10/events_20781_19846_1414311520-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR