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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20170917T180000
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SUMMARY:Crisis in the GCC: Causes\, Consequences & Prospects
DESCRIPTION:“Crisis in the GCC: Causes\, Consequences\, and Prospects” was the topic of a panel discussion hosted by the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University in Qatar (GUQ) on September 17\, 2017.  Featured panelists included Gerd Nonneman\, Professor of International Relations and Gulf Studies at GUQ; Abdullah Baabood\, Director of the Gulf Studies Center at Qatar University; and Shafeeq Ghabra\, Professor of Political Science at Kuwait University. The presentation was moderated by Mehran Kamrava\, GUQ Professor and Director of CIRS. \n\nOver 350 guests attended the discussion on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) crisis. The speakers were invited to share their thoughts on the developments since the crisis began on June 5\, 2017\, when Saudi Arabia\, the United Arab Emirates\, Bahrain\, and Egypt severed ties and halted trade with Qatar. A series of drastic measures was launched by these countries\, including the withdrawal of ambassadors from Doha and the expulsion of Qatari diplomats\, the closure of airspace to all flights to and from Qatar\, and the closure of the land border crossing between Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The governments of Yemen\, Libya\, the Maldives\, and others also severed ties\, along with suspending air\, land\, and sea travel to and from Qatar. \n\n\n\n \n\nA list of thirteen demands was issued\, calling for Qatar to sever ties with terrorist organizations\, close Al Jazeera and its affiliates\, and curb diplomatic ties with Iran\, along with other conditions. Last week marked one hundred days since the start of the blockade sparked a diplomatic crisis.  \n\nGerd Nonneman began the discussion by outlining the causes of the situation and said\, fundamentally\, it is about how the three surrounding states want Qatar to accept what they view as its “proper” role in the region\, “as a virtual vassal state that will not challenge Saudi Arabia’s leading role in the Arabian peninsula and the Gulf region\, nor attempt to compete with the UAE for regional status and reach.”  Qatar is a latecomer in terms of Gulf development\, and its confident emergence as an independent actor since the 1990s\, with the adoption of a number of policies that clash with Saudi\, Emirati\, and Bahraini preferences\, have long irked some in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi in particular. The issues center around different attitudes over the possible role of political Islam in the wider region\, Qatar’s relations with a number of groups that do not fit the policy preferences of other Arab regional players\, and its diplomatic stance towards Iran\, Nonneman said. The Arab Spring\, and Qatar’s approach to it\, made these issues especially acute. \n\nSince the early 1990s\, and particularly since 1995 when Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa took power\, Qatar has striven to escape from underneath the Saudi shadow\, Nonneman said. Hence the determination to “put Qatar back into its box”—especially in the eyes of the current leadership in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi\, and the enabling factor of the Trump presidency. \n\nQatar has considered possible threats and available resources in that light\, Nonneman said. An internal political threat was virtually nonexistent and\, if anything\, the blockade has drawn the population closer to the leadership. Initial concern over a potential military threat quickly dissipated\, given the important US and other international interests at stake in pre-empting that. The societal threat has been one of the most serious\, with families and kinship groups being suddenly cut off from each other in unprecedented ways. The economic impact of the crisis is serious\, but ultimately sustainable. Nonneman concluded that\, while the blockade is expensive and painful\, and the leadership therefore would certainly prefer to find a solution\, “the crisis can be sustained if the alternative would be\, in effect\, sacrificing one’s sovereignty.” \n\nNonneman did not exclude a settlement of sorts in the medium term\, since the interests of the US and the blockading countries are suffering damage\, too\, and wiser counsel might eventually prevail. But\, he added\, “I cannot imagine that trust in the GCC and especially in the current leadership in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia\, can be restored.” He concluded that “the suspicions that Qatar [like other small GCC states] always had about the organization and Saudi hegemonic ambitions in this region\, have only been reinforced.”  \n\nAbdullah Baabood said that despite studying the region for years\, nothing had prepared him for a crisis like this. He asserted that the countries making up the GCC\, “despite being twenty-first century states\, are essentially ruled as if they were in the ‘Middle Ages.’ We are ruled by families that still have these feuds and conflicts between them. You can’t really continue in this century doing it the same way\,” he said. \n\nThe problem with a “Mediaeval style of leadership” in the region\, he noted\, is that anything can happen. “Leaders can be erratic\, crises can appear out of nowhere\, and can be based on fabricated news\, as was the case with the current conflict. Unfortunately\, we are going to have to work with this erratic leadership for a long time\,” he said\, “because some of them are still young and they are going to rule us for the next forty to fifty years.” Baabood said it is the mentality of a “mediaeval tribe” that has not really evolved. “Modernity is only fabric that we see in terms of the infrastructure\, etcetera\, but not when it comes to the political system\,” he said.  \n\nAdditionally\, there is conflict and a contradiction in views for how the region should develop. “We have a conflicting narrative—a narrative between what the leadership in Qatar wants to see develop—including [regarding] the Arab spring—and another narrative that wants to keep the status quo\, and perhaps even go back to before the status quo\, taking us to police states\, whether in Egypt or some of the GCC states. And they don’t want to change. They are going to blame any trouble on political Islam\, modernity\, democracy.” Ultimately\, he argued “That is going to create resentment\, more terrorism\, and radicalization.”  \n\nOn the GCC\, Baabood said the conflict goes against the entire principles of the organization\, which is based on cooperation and integration among the member states. The GCC has entered into a number of formal mutual agreements:  on security\, economic cooperation\, and the free flow of people\, goods\, services\, and finance. The GCC is supposed to be a rules-based institution with a charter requiring all GCC leaders making critical decisions to do so by unanimous agreement. In this case\, the decision to impose the blockade did not go before the supreme council\, he said\, effectively revealing the hollowness of the institution.  \n\n“What we’re talking about is a fundamental flaw in how the GCC is working. Are we going to have a GCC at the end of the day if people can’t trust the charter\, the agreements that these leaders have signed or are going to decide?” he asked. “It really deals a big blow to our future integration and cooperation.   \n\nBaabood argued that Qatar\, so far\, is winning the war of narratives. He said: “If you look at the media\, four countries’ media is attacking one small country\, but yet the country that is winning in the streets and hearts and minds of the people is Qatar. They are winning on an ethical\, moral ground\, not playing the victim\, and explaining the situation as it is.” Baabood concluded by noting that “In terms of public opinion\, globally I think Qatar is winning.” \n\nShafeeq Ghabra spoke on how he had personally experienced the crisis. When he awoke on June 5\, 2017\, while spending a sabbatical at the Arab Center in Doha\, to the news of the boycott and the closure of borders\, it reminded him of when Iraq threatened Kuwait in 1990. “It felt like war\,” and he half-expected to see tanks in the streets. The news was all the more shocking for Ghabra\, because in the time leading up to the blockade\, the GCC states had seemed so united. They were fighting together in Yemen; they agreed on policy toward Syria; they had all worked against Muammar Gaddafi of Libya; they supported the Iraqi system in fighting ISIS; and they were all seemingly united on the war on terror. “What does this tell me about the region and the way politics suddenly shifted overnight?”  \n\nGhabra said that he had been relieved by the Kuwaiti mediation efforts\, and as well as when the Turkish parliament made the decision to send troops to Qatar two days into the crisis. He acknowledged the effective ways in which Qatar was managing the crisis\, including opening new routes to Oman and Turkey\, creating connections with Iran in terms of trade and ports\, and managing to build on its relations with Europe. He argued that the boycotting countries did not expect such resilience; “they expected Qatar would immediately capitulate and say ‘whatever you want.’ But this did not happen. This was a major miscalculation in this approach of blockade and boycott.”  \n\nGhabra concluded by noting: “In this context we see a new axis in the region\, a new power structure\, and Qatar has a new birth of its own. It’s liberated from certain contexts and relations; it can build new strategies and structures and approaches. And the blockade and the sanctions can slowly collapse under their own weight and out of their own irrationalism.” Looking to the future\, Ghabra said: “Do I still believe that in 2022 we’re going to come to the [World Cup] games here? I believe we are!”  \n\n\n\nAbdullah Baabood is the Director of the Gulf Studies Center at Qatar University. Abdullah’s teaching and research interests are on the areas of international relations\, international political economy especially on globalization and regionalism\, and security and energy studies. He particularly focuses on the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economic\, social and political development and their external relations. Abdullah taught at different universities and institutions in Europe and before joining Qatar University\, he spent four years as the Director of the Gulf Research Centre at the University of Cambridge\, UK. \n\nShafeeq Ghabra is Professor of Political Science at Kuwait University. He received a BA from Georgetown in 1975\, an from MA Purdue University (West Lafayette) in 1983\, and PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in 1987. He was the founding president of the American University of Kuwait (2003-2006); and Director of the Kuwait Information Office in Washington DC (1998-2002)\, and  the  Center  of Strategic  Studies  at  Kuwait  University  (2002-2003). He is author of Palestinians in Kuwait: The Family and the Politics of Survival (Westview Press\, 1987) and\, in Arabic\, Kuwait and the dynamics of State and Society (Afaq Books\, 2011). \n\nGerd Nonneman is Professor of International Relations & Gulf Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar\, where he served as Dean from 2011 to 2016. He holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Exeter\, and Licentiates in Oriental Philology (Arabic) and Development Studies from the University of Ghent\, Belgium. Prior to his appointment at Georgetown\, he served as Professor of International Relations & Middle East Politics\, and Al-Qasimi Professor of Gulf Studies\, at the University of Exeter\, where he also directed the Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies and the Centre for Gulf Studies. A former Executive Director of BRISMES (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies)\, he is editor of the Journal of Arabian Studies. He has published widely\, in 12 books and some 50 articles and book chapters\, on the politics and international relations of the Middle East\, with a particular emphasis on the Gulf. Aside from his academic work\, he has worked in the private sector in the Gulf region\, and acted as a consultant to a range of companies\, NGOs\, governments and international institutions.   \n\n  \n\nArticle by Jackie Starbird\, Publications and Projects Assistant
URL:https://cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu/event/crisis-gcc-causes-consequences-prospects-0/
CATEGORIES:Dialogue Series,Panels,Regional Studies
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20170924T090000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20170925T160000
DTSTAMP:20260405T170017
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SUMMARY:Sports\, Society\, and the State in the Middle East Working Group II
DESCRIPTION:On September 24-25\, 2017\, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) held a second two-day working group under its research initiative on “Sports\, Society\, and the State in the Middle East.” During this working group\, contributors presented their draft papers on a number of subtopics related to their areas of expertise and interest\, and received feedback and comments from the rest of the participants.  \n\nMurat Yıldız initiated the working group discussions by presenting his paper on “Sports in the Middle East: A Historical Overview.” In his paper\, Yıldız offers a more complicated history of sports in the region by accomplishing three goals. First\, he demonstrates that the spread\, vernacularization\, and popularization of sports in the Middle East were inextricably connected to broader social\, political\, economic\, and cultural transformations during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Second\, he traces the ways in which “Western” sports and physical activities were vernacularized throughout the region. Finally\, Yıldız demonstrates how nation-building and state-building projects played an integral role in shaping the spread and discursive boundaries of sports.  \n\nNadim Nassif presented his research on “The Development of Elite Sport Policies in the Middle East.” In this paper\, Nassif argues that despite the large amount of financial and human resources at their disposal\, Arab countries have achieved very modest results in the Olympics. Since 1996\, when all twenty-two Arab countries participated in the Summer Games for the first time\, these states have collectively won fewer than half the number of medals won by Italy\, the Netherlands and Great Britain. Nassif’s paper attempts to answer the question of why the Arab Worlds’ resource and demographic wealth have not translated into greater national success in international sports competitions. He suggests that wealth and population are clearly not enough to ensure sports success if countries do not possess the political will to implement strategic policies for developing and supporting sports.  \n\nNnamdi Madichie presented a paper titled “Unpacking the Internationalization of Middle East Sports Officials.” Madichie’s paper describes the trends\, attitudes\, behaviors\, and changing configuration of sports participation in the region. Using a qualitative methodological approach—notably a mixture of observational research protocol (including personal and participant observations)\, ethnography and non-participant observation based on key readings of media clips on sports in the Middle East—Madichie argues that the landscape of sports business and management is rapidly changing in an environment unrenowned for certain professional sports.  \n\nNida Ahmad’s paper on “Sportswomen in the Middle East and North Africa’s Use of Social Media: The Cultural Politics of Digital Identity Representation” examines the development of the diverse ways in which sportswomen in the region are engaging with social media to represent their identities. Female athletes are creating digital content\, highlighting their professional sports identities\, and establishing’s their reputations while at the same time keeping family\, society\, and culture in mind.  Ahmad’s research paper is based on extensive qualitative interviews\, and expanding the discussion to include digital platforms\, Ahmad’s paper allows for an additional understanding of the sporting lives of women from the region. \n\nTamir Sorek presented his paper on “Ultras Hapoel Tel Aviv: Breaking Taboos and the Crisis of Israeli Liberal Secularism.” In this article\, Sorek analyzes the rhetoric of Hapoel Tel Aviv’s hardcore fans and the demography of its wider circle of sympathizers. This examination reveals that the stadium rhetoric is actually an expression of fundamental social and political struggles between competing definitions of “Israeli-ness.” The transgressive rhetoric of Hapoel fans\, Sorek argues\, is partly related to the decline in the political power of the secular elite in Israel and the hardening of non-secular Israeli identity. In studying this topic\, Sorek relies on: an online survey conducted in September 2012\, the sample included 500 respondents who constitute a representative sample of the adult Hebrew-speaking population in Israel; a survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) in 2009\, the sample included 2803 respondents who constitute a representative sample of the adult Jewish population in Israel; the website of Hapoel Tel Aviv fans; fans’ songs available on YouTube; and conversations with hardcore fans of Hapoel Tel Aviv.  \n\nFollowing Sorek’s discussion\, Dag Tuastad led a discussion on “Football’s Role in How Societies Remember: The Symbolic Wars of Jordanian-Palestinian Football.” Through a case study from Jordan\, Tuastad demonstrates how a dominant arena for battles over national social memories has been the football arena. These symbolic battles may be organized into three phases: First\, from 1970 to the Oslo-process in the 1990s:  Palestinian memorization of the civil war to reassert their national identity. Second\, after the Oslo-process until the Arab Spring in 2011: East Bank Jordanians’ assertions of the historical roots of the alliance between East Bank tribes and the Jordanian monarchy. And finally\, he draws attention to Palestinian refugees memorizing their common ethnic origin\, confirming their refugee identities while being Jordanian citizens. \n\nFerman Knoukman shifted the discussion to “State-Building and Establishment of Modern Physical Education in Turkey.” In his paper\, Knoukman argues that physical education classes had an important role for the state building project in the young Turkish republic. In supporting his argument\, Knoukman first explains the establishment of modern physical education in Turkey and discusses the importance of the role of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in this process. Nation-building and educational development\, as embedded parts of the modernization project\, have been a common phenomenon across the Middle East\, and by specifically studying this topic from the perspective of sports education this paper addresses a key gap in the literature. \n\nCem Tınaz presented his paper on “Assessment of Turkey’s Recent Sport Policies.” In his paper\, Tınaz provides an overview of Turkey’s recent sports policy\, identifies the pathways of the state for achieving success in sports\, examines problems and deficiencies in national sport\, and finally articulates the state’s reasons for hosting international sports events. For this research\, Tınaz relies on thirteen semi-structured\, in-depth interviews with former Turkish sports ministers and other sports authorities\, including the CEO of Istanbul’s 2020 bid and the president of Turkish National Olympic Committee. Data generated from the interviews were analyzed\, and results were examined. In addition to academic literature\, government files\, newspapers and other reports were also reviewed for the evaluation of the sports policies adopted by the Turkish government. \n\nBuilding up on Tınaz’s paper\, Danyel Reiche led a discussion on “Legacies of Mega-Sporting Events in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Lebanon.” Reiche’s paper provides a case study on experiences with hosting mega-sporting events in developing countries. The article follows a comparative approach by analyzing the legacies of four mega-sporting events hosted by Lebanon: The Pan-Arab Games in 1997; the AFC Asian Cup in 2000; the Francophone Games in 2009; and\, the FIBA Asian Cup in 2017. Reiche examines the similarities and differences of the four events\, identifying patterns in Lebanon’s previous experiences in hosting mega-sporting events and determining if it is beneficial for a small\, developing country to bid for mega-sporting events in the future. He argues that there is a mixed picture when assessing Lebanon’s experiences with hosting mega-sporting events\, with some short-term reputational gain but only a few indicators of long-term benefits for the country. Lebanon should give priority to youth and grassroots sports programs before hosting other mega-sporting events. For future bids\, co-hosting with other countries might be a way to limit the financial risks for a developing country that struggles to provide its population with basic needs. \n\nSimon Chadwick shifted the discussion to “The Business of Sports in the Gulf Cooperation Council.” In his article\, Chadwick provides a brief examination of the GCC\, specifically its economic profile\, and then goes on to analyze the sports industry within the GCC. Initially\, several common features of the industry are examined: economy and industry; soft power and diplomacy; nation branding and national identity; health and well-being; and socio-cultural factors. Chadwick then moves on to provide a statistical profile of sports in the region\, and highlight a range of data focused on each GCC countries’ interest in sports\, participation in sport\, commercial revenues and economic contribution of sports. Thereafter\, key issues pertaining to sports in the region are explored. Specifically: consumption; risk and security; regional tensions; resource management; economic and state pressures; and general observations (which broadly includes reference to specific GCC sports\, such as camel racing). Finally\, Chadwick draws conclusions in the context of the above. \n\nCraig L. LaMay examined “The World Cup and its Challenge to Free Expression Norms in Qatar.” In his article\, LaMay questions the effect\, if any\, which sports mega-events\, and especially the World Cup\, will have on Qatar’s free expression norms and laws. He claims that Qatar’s current media law is almost four decades old and by international standards both antiquated and repressive\, and its penal code includes some severe restrictions on speech. On the one hand\, it is tempting to argue that Qatar’s World Cup will have no effect on the environment for independent media in the country. But Qatar can be fairly described as both deeply traditional and aggressively modern. Much more than other states in the region\, it has been open to its critics\, including international human rights NGOs. Qataris themselves feel free to discuss and voice their opinions about public affairs; “Western” ideas about human rights and free expression are\, if not accepted\, accepted for consideration and debate. Qatar’s constitution\, the only one in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council to be approved by voters\, has an explicit free speech provision. Finally\, Qatar’s modernization strategy rests on four pillars: sport\, education\, media\, and art\, which are all fundamentally expressive enterprises. Of these\, none draws international media attention\, or global audiences\, like sport.  After completion of the 2018 Russia Cup\, Qatar can begin to brand and promote the 2022 tournament\, and the country will almost certainly come under renewed pressure from international human rights groups and international news organizations to further liberalize its media environment\, to clarify its rules for media practice.  \n\nMahfoud Amara led a discussion on “Business and Policies of Sport TV Broadcasting in the MENA Region: A Case Study of beIN Sports.” Amara argues that the State-funded beIN Sport is dominating the market in the MENA region with exclusive rights to major professional leagues and World Championships of top sports. It is also currently present via different platforms (satellite\, cable\, and IPTV) in North America\, Australia\, Europe\, and Asia. Amara claims that the emergence of Qatar as an affluent actor in the business of sports TV broadcasting has been met with mixed feeling. On the one hand\, some welcome beIN Sports as it contributes to the finances of professional leagues that are\, to a great extent\, dependent on TV revenues to cover their growing expenditure\, particularly rocketing players’ salaries. On the other hand\, beIN Sports is grated with suspicion as it is accused of being a tool of Qatar’s international branding strategy and “soft power.” Hence in his paper\, Amara examines: how beIN Sports is maintaining its dominance in the MENA region\, controlling/protecting broadcasting signal\, and negotiating with different national and regional TV Stations; and how beIN Sport is negotiating internationally its entry into different markets and coalitions. Finally\, Amara explores the impacts of beIN Sports and Qatar international sports strategy on regional political dynamics. \n\nFinally\, Charlotte Lysa concluded the working group discussion with her paper on “Qatari Female Footballers: Negotiating Gendered Expectations through University Football.” In her paper\, Lysa examines how Qatari female football players are enabling themselves to play football in a culturally acceptable way by maneuvering established social norms. By first and forehand focusing on their actions and their own recounts\, Lysa explores how Qatari female footballers are using their agency to work around cultural barriers to public participation in sports. When reaching a certain age\, there are special expectations in Qatari culture as for how a woman should act\, in accordance with what her role in society and the family should be. Lysa argues that these expectations are affecting what physical activities women can and cannot participate in\, and transgressing such norms can lead to sanctions from society\, in form of a “bad reputation” and difficulties in finding a partner to marry. Centralized is the idea that “traditional” women should be modest and protected from exposure to men who are not their family members. Lysa’s research demonstrates that by participating in the “women only” spaces of university football teams\, young Qatari women are bypassing social norms in society\, thus avoiding possible sanctions from society. \n\nRead the working group agenda hereRead the participants’ biographies hereRead more about this research initiative \n\nParticipants and Discussants: \n\nNida Ahmad\, University of Waikato\, New ZealandMahfoud Amara\, Qatar UniversityZahra Babar\, CIRS – Georgetown University in QatarSimon Chadwick\, University of Salford\, ManchesterIslam Hassan\, CIRS – Georgetown University in QatarMehran Kamrava\, CIRS – Georgetown University in QatarFerman Konukman\, Qatar UniversityCraig LaMay\, Northwestern University in QatarCharlotte Lysa\, University of OsloNnamdi Madichie\, London School of Business and ManagementSuzi Mirgani\, CIRS – Georgetown University in QatarNadim Nassif\, Notre Dame University\, LebanonDanyel Reiche\, American University of BeirutSabika Shaban\, CIRS – Georgetown University in QatarTamir Sorek\, University of FloridaJackie Starbird\, CIRS – Georgetown University in QatarCem Tınaz\, Istanbul Bilgi UniversityDag Tuastad\, University of OsloMurat C.Yıldız\, Skidmore College\n\nArticle by Islam Hassan\, Research Analyst at CIRS
URL:https://cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu/event/sports-society-and-state-middle-east-working-group-ii/
CATEGORIES:Focused Discussions,Regional Studies
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