State-Business Relations in the Middle East

On April 13-14, 2016, Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) hosted a workshop on “State-Business Relations in the Middle East.” The workshop was led by Dr. Marc Valeri of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, and Dr. Gerd Nonneman and Dr. Mehran Kamrava of Georgetown University-Qatar. The two-day workshop examined the development of business elites throughout the Middle East and North Africa, and their relationships with local regimes and the “state.” The workshop included thirteen presentations that examined the impact of state-business relations on policy making in Arab states and monarchies, including Syria, Egypt, Qatar, and Kuwait. See more from the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.