Presented by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
and the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED)
Friday, June 14, 2013
8:00 am – 2:45 pm
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
Root Room, Floor 2
1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW
What are the drivers of the political, societal, and economic change reshaping the Arab Gulf states? Do old paradigms about the region’s perennial stability still hold true? Scholars, analysts, and activists from across the Middle East, Europe, and the United States will tackle these questions to examine the oft-neglected forces at work in this strategically important region.
8:00 am – 8:30 am: Check-in and Continental Breakfast
8:30 am – 8:45 am: Introduction and Opening Remarks
Speaker: Frederic Wehrey, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
9:00 am – 10:30 am: Continuity and Change in the Gulf: How Stable…and For How Long?
Moderator: Frederic Wehrey, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Speakers: Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, London School of Economics
Bernard Haykel, Princeton University
Steve Simon, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)
10:30 am – 10:45 am: Coffee Break
10:45 am – 12:15 pm: A New Ruling Bargain? Reform and Gulf Elite Dynamics
Moderator: Marc Lynch, The George Washington University
Speakers: Andrew Hammond, former Reuters correspondent, Saudi Arabia
Ali Al Shihabi, author, Saudi Arabia
Abdulhadi al-Khalaf, Lund University, Sweden
12:15 pm – 1:15 pm: Lunch Break
1:15 pm – 2:45 pm: New Trends in Activism: Youth, Women, and Islamists
Moderator: Stephen McInerney, Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED)
Speakers: Ahmed Al Omran, Saudi blogger, Riyadh Bureau
Kristin Smith Diwan, American University
Jane Kinninmont, Chatham House
For a summary of the event, click here for a pdf of Panel 1 – Continuity and Change in the Gulf and here for a pdf of Panel 2 – Dynamic Gulf: Forces of Change in a Strategic Region.