Research and Scholarship

The Center for International and Regional Studies sponsors major studies of regional and international significance, including research initiatives in the areas of international relations, political economy, and domestic politics of the Gulf. CIRS regularly identifies emerging socio-economic and political trends in the region, and develops research initiatives in areas which require further focused scholarship.

		Position Announcement: The Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) invites interested Qatar-based researchers to apply for a Research Analyst position at the CIRS office in Doha.
Research Highlights:
		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 being challenged. CIRS will probe some of the existing analytical assumptions and develop new understanding of the drivers of change in the Middle East
		With the reinvigoration on the subject brought about by current events, CIRS is launching a new research initiative on the Sectarian Politics in the Gulf. The central aim of this study will be to examine the dynamic ways in which evolving sectarian identities and politics in the Gulf region intersect.
		As part of this research initiative, CIRS funds empirically-based, original research projects for the study of food security and food sovereignty in the Middle East. Through regular CIRS-sponsored research meetings scholars will share their research findings with other academics, policymakers, and practitioners.
		Beginning in 2008, CIRS launched a research initiative on issues and concerns regarding the question of migrant labor in the Gulf. The third and final Migrant Labor in the Gulf working group meeting took place on October 10-11, 2010. In conjunction with the meeting, CIRS also awarded research grants to four long-term projects on the subject.
		Under The Political Economy of the Gulf project, the goal is to examine topics such as the role of sovereign wealth funds; the rise and fall of the "Dubai model;" regional patterns of economic development; the political economy of rentierism; food security; knowledge based economies; Islamic banking; efforts at GCC monetary union; and other similar topics. Each participant is asked to work on an original, empirically-grounded paper that will form a chapter in the book.
		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 United Arab Emirates. The working group participants will each contribute individual chapters to an edited volume on the topic to be published at the conclusion of the initiative.

• Previous Research Initiatives and Scholarship