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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20180910T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20180910T150000
DTSTAMP:20260409T084219
CREATED:20181104T091833Z
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SUMMARY:CIRS Launches CURA Program
DESCRIPTION:On September 10\, 2018\, CIRS formally launched the CIRS Undergraduate Research Advancement program (CURA) by hosting a reception that was attended by GU-Q students\, staff\, and faculty members. CURA aims to support GU-Q students in the development of their passion for research\, by assisting them in developing new skills and providing opportunities for students to present on and publish their research findings. \n \n \nDuring the launch\, Professor Mehran Kamrava\, Director of CIRS pointed out that CIRS has had a robust program of supporting student development since the earliest days of its establishment. He suggested that: “The CURA program gives coherence and direction to this effort by imparting on our students the skills to engage in in-depth research\, to present the results of this research in an academic forum\, and to publish it for wider audiences\,” he said. “We are excited to be working with our CURA Fellows and with the broader student community to ensure CURA’s continued growth and success in the coming years.” \n \n \nOne aim of CURA is to help enrich the undergraduate experience by encouraging students to cultivate research skills beneficial to their studies and careers. To this end\, CIRS will hold a research skills workshop each semester on the essential components of the research process and writing of scholarly papers. CURA workshops are open to all GU-Q students and are designed to offer hands-on experience\, combining a presentation of techniques with hands-on application of the skills in peer-led group exercises. The first workshop\, Designing a Research Question\, takes place in October of this year\, featuring a presentation by Professor Kamrava and facilitated by Elizabeth Wanucha\, CIRS Project Manager\, and Islam Hassan\, CIRS Research Analyst. \n \n \n“The CURA program gives coherence and direction to this effort by imparting on our students the skills to engage in in-depth research\, to present the results of this research in an academic forum\, and to publish it for wider audiences.” \n \n \nAyesha Iqbal (class of 2022) said by attending the workshop\, she was able to narrow the scope of her research\, and discern and access the relevant literature in the field. “CURA’s exercises\, like mind-mapping\, colleague critique\, brainstorming sessions and\, most importantly\, Professor Kamrava’s guidance and expertise\, have helped me construct my research question and formulate a sustainable research plan.” She added\, “Research is at the heart of Georgetown and I am extremely excited to begin this journey with CURA.” The next workshop will be offered in early February\, 2019.  You can read more about the CURA Workshops here. \n \n \nGU-Q students have the opportunity to conduct independent research and submit their work for consideration to the CURA Paper Series. The process of selecting papers is rigorous and competitive. This is an unparalleled opportunity for students to have their work professionally reviewed and published by a reputable source. The CURA Lunch Talk series is another initiative that will give students a platform to present their independent research in a public forum.  \n \n \nNine GU-Q students joined CIRS as CURA Fellows for the 2018-19 school year; CURA Fellows work for the Center and are also mentored by CIRS staff in a range of areas. CURA Fellows provide research assistance\, and also engage in tasks related to publication\, administration\, and project management. Fellows participate in peer mentorship programs designed to facilitate student to student learning\, and also hone their analytical skills by convening one seminar each semester on a current CIRS research project. Fellows are invited to discuss papers written by experts in their respective fields\, and share their conclusions with the authors of the papers in the CIRS Working Group organized around that research project. \n \n \nMehaira Mahgoub (class of 2019)\, a CIRS research fellow said\, “As a senior preparing to enter the real world\, I found the chance to develop my academic research skills with CIRS to be exciting and incredibly useful.” After joining the CIRS team\, she said\, “I was able to gain valuable insight on Middle Eastern and international politics from topics like the patterns of migration in the Middle East to Russian foreign policy.” \n \n \n  \n \n \nKhansa Maria\, CIRS Project Assistant and CURA Fellow
URL:https://cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu/event/cirs-launches-cura-program/
CATEGORIES:Student Engagement
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20180912T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20180912T200000
DTSTAMP:20260409T084219
CREATED:20180830T101336Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210829T140446Z
UID:10001372-1536775200-1536782400@cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu
SUMMARY:Troubled Waters: Insecurity in the Gulf
DESCRIPTION:Amidst international disputes and conflicts\, the Gulf region stands out as a political hot zone. Seeking to find out why the region is so chronically unstable\, Mehran Kamrava\, Professor and Director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University in Qatar\, set out to explore this phenomenon in depth. He performed extensive field research\, interviewing government ministers and experts from Abu Dhabi\, Riyadh\, Muscat\, and Tehran\, among others\, over several years. His research led to the book\, Troubled Waters: Insecurity in the Persian Gulf (Cornell University Press\, 2018) and he presented his findings at a CIRS book talk on September 12\, 2018. \n\nKamrava began by sharing three particularly memorable conversations. In every interview he posed the question: “What is the biggest security threat that your country faces?” Often\, he said\, he received predictable answers. In Riyadh\, he was told the threat was “Tehran;” in Tehran\, it was “obviously the Americans.” However\, the foreign minister in Muscat surprised Kamrava with the answer\, “unemployment.” The official had explained that if young people were not employed they had the potential to get into trouble. “That really showed me an awful lot about the maturity of Omani foreign policy\,” Kamrava said\, especially given that Oman has a reputation for negotiating “very subtle\, very complex diplomacy in a very mature\, reasoned way.” In another interview\, he had asked a senior cabinet minister why his country had suddenly introduced conscription. The minister explained that if the youth were bored and idle they can get into trouble\, and also “ISIS recruits on the internet.” That also\, was not the clichéd answer that one might hear when interviewing a cabinet minister\, Kamrava said. \n\n\n\n \n\nKamrava happened to be in Riyadh in 2014\, at a time when Saudi Arabia\, the United Arab Emirates\, and Bahrain had withdrawn their ambassadors from Qatar\, an impasse that lasted eight months. During an interview with a senior prince in the foreign ministry\, the official realized that Kamrava was from Georgetown University in Qatar—not Georgetown in Washington\, DC. The prince’s reaction was\, “Qatar! We can close our airspace to them. We can impose a blockade on them. We can suffocate them. We will not let Qatar Airways fly.” Kamrava told the audience that at the time he did not understand why the prince had become so agitated. Three years later\, in 2017—when Saudi Arabia led the current blockade against Qatar—it dawned to him that if a simple professor had heard these comments\, officials in Doha certainly knew and were making contingency plans\, and the Saudis were in motion to further sever relations with Qatar. \n\nKamrava said he was struck by an insight he gained from meeting with foreign ministers and other officials in Iran. He said that everyone had told him that the experience of the Iran–Iraq war guides their country’s foreign policy making today. He was told\, “We never forget that the Arab countries of the region lined up one after another to beat up on us. And Saudi Arabia\, Kuwait\, and a number of others gave billions of dollars to Iraq from 1980 to 1988. And we will not forget that the Americans gave satellite information to the Iraqis to more effectively put chemical weapons on Iranian troops\, and told them about Iranian troop movements.” As a scholar of Iran\, Kamrava said he had not fully grasped that the memory of the war was “such a living memory.” \n\nAs a result of his many interviews and conversations\, Kamrava said the causes and dynamics that have made the Gulf region so chronically insecure can be clustered into four broad categories. The first\, he said\, is how the region’s security architecture is structured\, and has been structured for a long time. “Nobody has thought about a win-win scenario; everybody has thought about a win-lose scenario\,” he said\, explaining that the regions’ security is viewed terms of a zero-sum game—that is\, the only way to protect one’s interests is at the expense of someone else’s interests. \n\nThe second reason for the region’s insecurity is the “pervasiveness of identity politics.” He broadly outlined the region’s political history. The Middle East from the 1950s on\, could be considered “the era of secular nationalism.” From the late 1970s onward\, the dominant narrative was one of political Islam. In that period\, he said\, “the salvation of the region lay not so much in nationalism\, which was underlined by secular\, non-religious assumptions\, but in embrace of political interpretations of religion.” After 2011\, he said\, “what became important—what became one’s core source of identity—wasn’t just religion in broad terms\, but specific sectarian identities within religion.” Kamrava described sectarianism’s deep\, colonial roots in the Middle East\, citing the divide-and-rule tactics of the British and French in agitating sectarian sensibilities. \n\n“What we’re seeing today\, it isn’t so much sectarianism\, but a process of re-sectarianization of the Middle East.” \n\nThe third reason\, Kamrava said\, is that many regional actors are belligerent. “Agency matters. It’s not only institutions that matter\, people matter. Political science—politics—is ultimately the art of exercise of power\, or the science of exercise of power.” He continued\, “What we see in our region\, particularly since 2013-2014\, is the coming to the fore of entirely new generations of leaders who are not playing by the old rules of the game\, they are making their own rules\,” and are unwilling to be bound by traditional diplomatic experiences\, he said. \n\nThe final reason he offered for the breakdown of security in the region is what he called the “security dilemma.” That is\, when a country increases its own security\, it inadvertently makes other countries feel more insecure. “If you buy a new weapon system then your adversary next door feels a new threat\, so they have to do the same thing\,” thus creating a vicious cycle. How to get out of this cycle? Kamrava said\, “You talk to each other. You build trust. You take the first step. And\, of course\, nobody is willing to talk to each other. We do not have any forum for dialogue.” \n\nLooking to the future\, Kamrava offered four questions for consideration. First\, what role is the United States going to play in the region? Are the Americans going to step in and say that the Saudis and the Iranians must learn to share the region? Second\, what will happen in Iran? Iran is in the cusp of change\, he explained\, with the impending departure of the aging Supreme Leader Khamenei\, the Iranian political landscape will certainly undergo fundamental changes. This will in turn effect President Rouhani’s consensus politics\, and the role of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. \n\n“What we see in our region\, particularly since 2013-2014\, is the coming to the fore of entirely new generations of leaders who are not playing by the old rules of the game\, they are making their own rules.” \n\nThe third question concerns the future of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Kamrava described the GCC has “being on life support\,” since the start of the blockade on Qatar. “Nobody wants to be the party responsible for pulling the plug” on the GCC\, Kamrava said. He projected a continuation of life-support status with technical cooperation\, but as far as “having a common defense force\, having meaningful political and economic integration—that\, I believe\, is thing of the past.” \n\nThe last and “probably most vexing” question is the long term outlook for energy. The region would not have had its strategic significance if it didn’t produce oil and natural gas\, he said. If current trends continue—increasing energy independence in relation to the Gulf region\, Kamrava said\, “This region will\, quite unfortunately\, remain insecure for some time to come.” \n\n  \n\nArticle by Khansa Maria (class of 2021)\, CURA Administrative Fellow \n\n\n\nMehran Kamrava is Professor and Director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar. He is the author of a number of journal articles and books\, including\, most recently\, Troubled Waters: Insecurity in the Persian Gulf (Cornell University Press\, 2018); Inside the Arab State (Oxford University Press\, 2018); The Impossibility of Palestine: History\, Geography\, and the Road Ahead (Yale University Press\, 2016); Qatar: Small State\, Big Politics (Cornell University Press\, 2015); The Modern Middle East: A Political History since the First World War\, 3rd. ed. (University of California Press\, 2013); and Iran’s Intellectual Revolution (Cambridge University Press\, 2008). His edited books include The Great Game in West Asia: Iran\, Turkey\, and the Southern Caucasus (2017); Fragile Politics: Weak States in the Greater Middle East (2016); Beyond the Arab Spring: The Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East (2015); The Political Economy of the Persian Gulf (2012); The Nuclear Question in the Middle East (2012); and The International Politics of the Persian Gulf (2011). 
URL:https://cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu/event/troubled-waters-insecurity-gulf/
CATEGORIES:Dialogue Series,Regional Studies
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20180916T090000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20180917T160000
DTSTAMP:20260409T084219
CREATED:20181001T090909Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240314T092610Z
UID:10001375-1537088400-1537200000@cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu
SUMMARY:Science and Scientific Production in the Middle East Working Group I
DESCRIPTION:On September 16–17\, 2018\, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) hosted the first working group under its research initiative on “Science and Scientific Production in the Middle East.” Over the course of two days\, scholars discussed issues around: the social impact of scientific research; Islamic ethics and legitimacy of scientific innovation; women and science in the Middle East; social inequality\, economic policies and scientific innovation; sanction regimes; and the military-industrial complex. \n\nSari Hanafi began the working group discussions with his presentation on “The Social Impact of Scientific Research in the Middle East.” During his presentation\, Hanafi discussed four main issues: the relevance of research and internationalization; profiles of Middle Eastern academics; transnational scientific networks; and production versus usage of knowledge in the region. Hanafi stated that based on his study\, research publications in Arabic appear to be less influential\, and scholarship as well as scholars located outside the region hold more influence. As far as citations are concerned\, Arabic publications when compared to research that is published in English are less cited. Research produced in Arabic tends to have less visibility to academics and scholars\, as there are no proper databases that capture all Arabic language publications. Much of the research produced in the region\, instead of being carried out at within a university setting by academics\, is carried out for policy purposes by professional researchers and tends to be funded by international organizations for short\, limited periods of time. This is primarily because there is not enough funding being devoted to academic research\, and professional researchers are dependent on policy institutes and foreign donors for accessing funds. This has a significant impact on the sustainability and long-term production of scientific research and knowledge\, as well as its consumption. There are an absence of intermediary institutions in the Arab world that connect universities to industry and society. Hanafi concluded his presentation with by identifying a few of the core challenges for attaining social impact through scientific research in the Arab world: there is lack of trust in science in the region; research and science are not considered as value neutral; societal debate is part and parcel of research in the region; authoritarian states are not committed to developing evidence-based policies; conducting critical research impacts academics and they can find themselves marginalized and their careers negatively impacted; knowledge production needs to become more socially distributed; and Arab universities have little control over or involvement in scientific production. \n\nAyman Shabana focused his discussions on “Islamic Ethics and Legitimacy of Scientific Innovation.” Shabana opened his remarks by raising the questions of why Islamic ethics are important for legitimation of scientific innovation\, and even what Islamic ethics mean. There have been few deep studies examining the relationship between Islamic ethics and science or scientific innovation in the Muslim world\, particularly in the Middle East. It is important to also examine who the key stakeholder and actors involved in the domain of Islamic ethics and science are. Emerging social concerns pertaining to legal\, theological\, and moral domains have challenged the Islamic normative tradition and its authority. From theories of evolution and astronomical calculations in the 1900s to modern biomedical technology\, Islam has been invoked either to justify or condemn scientific advancement. In grappling with the issue of Islam and scientific production\, Shabana identified four gaps in the literature that deserve in-depth study: the role of muftis/Muslim adjudicators and judicial scholars and the relationship between Islam and science; Islamic ethics and warfare in the Middle East; Islamic bioethics and human enhancement; and Islamic ethics and artificial intelligence. \n\nRana Dajani’s remarks at the working group discussion focused on the topic of “Women and Science in the Arab World.” Dajani posited that there is a general assumption that there are low numbers of females engaged in Science\, Technology\, Engineering\, and Mathematics (STEM) in many parts of the world\, but statistics show that in the Arab world and East and South East Asia this is not necessarily the case. In fact in the Arab world there are higher numbers of woman in STEM fields than in the United States\, and this needs to be further explored. If gender equality is better in Nordic countries than in the Arab world\, what are the reasons for such high female representation in STEM fields in the Arab world as opposed to northern Europe? Dajani argued that despite social conditions that are considered to limit girls’ educational choices and perceived traditional norms challenging women’s empowerment women\, the number of females in the STEM fields continues to grow. However\, women’s professional participation in STEM fields remains disproportionate to the number of female students pursuing STEM education—there are more young women studying in these areas that are not reflected later on in the labor market. Dajani suggested a few gaps in the literature which need further studying. Among other things she suggested that research was needed to examine the long-term impact of the segregated educational system on female educational choices\, and specifically whether girls who study in single-sex environment have a greater tendency to pursue STEM-based higher education. Dajani also suggested that there is a need to further understand how Arab women are impacting the scientific workplace\, and women’s influence on scientific laboratories and innovation hubs. Other sub-areas that need to be studied are mentoring schemes in sciences for women and the impact of female scientists as role models for young women and men. \n\nBuilding on Dajani’s discussion\, Abelkader Djeflat discussed “Science and Social Inequality in the Middle East.” Djeflat argued that the pervasive social inequality in the Middle East has been obstructive to the advancement of sciences and scientific production in the Middle East. Social disparity has not only manifested in the high unemployment rates across the region\, but also in youth’s access to knowledge. Elites have more access to foreign technology\, scientific discovery\, and research than lower classes. This incongruent access to knowledge is passed down through generations cementing inequality\, and ultimately frustration\, between social classes. Djeflat argued that there is a need to study the social system in the Middle East\, and identify the dysfunctional social institutions that create such disparity in the access to knowledge between social classes.  \n\nMehran Kamrava presented Parviz Tarikhi’s comments on “Sanctions and Scientific Production in Iran.” Tarikhi suggests that science and scientific production in Iran remain dependent on the state politically\, ideologically\, and financially. The state’s control over science and scientific production in Iran led to three structural problems. First\, given that the state is the biggest funder of scientific research\, there has been an ostensible disparity in allocation of public funds to scientific research. Instead of funding research that contributes to scientific production and knowledge\, the state has funded pretentious projects that boost national pride domestically\, and project an image of a powerful\, advanced Iran internationally. Second\, state’s control of scientific production has circumcised the parameters of constructive scientific criticism. Finally\, many scientific endeavors funded by the state have been considered sensitive to national security; hence\, impacting the circulation of scientific information. In addition to the aforementioned structural problems\, Tarikhi highlighted the role of sanctions in further hampering scientific production in Iran. He claimed that because of sanctions\, the trend towards brain-drain has picked up dramatically\, and more Iranian scholars and scientists have been leaving the country than ever before. In addition\, Iranian scholars face limited access to scientific production outside Iran both for education and contribution purposes\, as some journals do not accept papers from Iranian scholars. However\, the sanctions contributed to the growth of cosmopolitanism among Iranian scientists in diaspora and those in Iran. Tarikhi highlighted a number of areas that deserve further studying\, among which: the inverse relationship between sanctions and science; sanctions impact on the criticism of scientific production; Iranian scientists’ ability to conduct independent scientific research; immigration and scientific cosmopolitanism in Iran; and the internal quality of dissent\, and how it impacts scientific production in Iran. \n\nTariq Da’na concluded the working group discussions with his presentation on “The Military-Industrial Complex and Technological Advancement in Israel.” Da’na provided an overview of Israel’s business-political-military relations. He argued that the military-industrial complex in Israel could be traced back to pre-statehood. Israel Military Industries\, currently known as IMI Systems\, was established in the 1933. This company\, and the Israeli military-industrial complex at large\, played a significant role in the Israel’s state building process in the 1950s and 1960s. Da’na claimed that given the central role the Israeli army plays in politics\, the Israeli military-industrial complex remains worth studying. Da’na identified key gaps in the literature on the Israeli military-industrial complex\, among which: the connection between Israeli academia and military apparatus\, the indigeneity of Israeli scientific production the privatization of security in Israel; privatization of Israeli checkpoint and prisons; and comparisons between the Israeli and Egyptian military-industrial complexes in 1960 to the 1980s. \n\nFor the working group agenda please click hereFor the participants biographies please click hereRead more about this research initiative\n\nParticipants and Discussants:  \n\nZahra Babar\, CIRS – Georgetown University in QatarRana Dajani\, Hashemite University\, JordanTariq Dana\, Doha Institute of Graduate Studies\, QatarAbdelkader Djeflat\, University of Lille\, FranceMohammed Ghaly\, Hamad Bin Khalifa University\, QatarSari Hanafi\, American University of Beirut\, LebanonIslam Hassan\, CIRS – Georgetown University in QatarMehran Kamrava\, CIRS – Georgetown University in QatarSuzi Mirgani\, CIRS – Georgetown University in QatarAyman Shabana\, Georgetown University in QatarElizabeth Wanucha\, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar\n\nArticle by Islam Hassan\, Research Analyst at CIRS
URL:https://cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu/event/science-and-scientific-production-middle-east-working-group-i/
CATEGORIES:Focused Discussions,Race & Society,Regional Studies
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