Research Initiatives

Under The Political Economy of the Gulf project, scholars examined topics such as the role of sovereign wealth funds; the rise and fall of the “Dubai model;” regional patterns of…

The Nuclear Question in the Middle East research initiative looks into nuclear proliferation concerns associated with ambitious goals to introduce nuclear power in the Gulf states, with an emphasis on…

The Migrant Labor in the Persian Gulf research initiative examines the multiple causes, processes, and consequences of labor migration in this region from the disciplinary perspectives of sociology, anthropology, political…

The Food Security and Food Sovereignty in the Middle East research initiative is comprised of original, empirically-grounded investigations that collectively offer the most comprehensive study available to date on food…

This project brings together a renowned group of scholars to examine the issues of religious, communal, and ethnic identities in the Gulf, and how these impose themselves on both the…

The Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East project will scrutinize the ways in which domestic political arrangements in the Middle East are evolving, and how the authoritarian bargains are…

The Social Change in Post-Khomeini Iran research initiative examines some of the most important topics within contemporary Iran, focusing on its social, cultural, economic, and political domains. Through this multi-disciplinary,…

The Weak States in the Greater Middle East project offers a critical analysis ‎of current definitions and terminology of weak and fragile states, scrutinizing the political ‎implications of the prevailing…

The Politics and the Media in the Post-Arab Spring Middle East research project explores the role of traditional and new media across the Middle East before, during, and after the…

The Arab migrant communities present in the Gulf have been a neglected area and merit further scholarly discussion and focus. In line with this,CIRS launched a multi-disciplinary research initiative entitled…