Qatar University’s (QU) Gulf Studies Center and the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies jointly organized a two-day conference entitled “Towards a New Gulf Security Regime: Abandoning Zero-Sum Approaches,” which launched yesterday in the QU campus. The conference aimed to explore new approaches to Gulf security and was attended by a large number of researchers both from within Qatar and abroad.
The conference consisted of seven sessions, which tackled a number of topics. These topics include the experiences of security systems in the Gulf region by analyzing their contexts and the reasons behind their failures; the nature of the current Gulf system, addressing its traditional and more recent threats; current security approaches to demonstrate the current Gulf system’s capability of dealing with threats; and the features of the desired security system.
Qatar University President Dr. Hassan Rashid Al-Derham opened the conference and welcomed guests from abroad and participants from within Qatar, including embassy representatives and attending QU students. He said, “On behalf of the university I value this cooperation between us and our colleagues at the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies and Gulf Studies Center, with whom we share a common vision of the importance of in-depth discussions on issues, which contribute to increased intellectual output and assist in the study and analysis of regional and international developments.”
Citing recent political developments, Dr. Al-Derham added, “The Gulf is witnessing alarming developments and escalations that reflect the failure of current security processes and prevent the security and stability of the region. As an example from the past, the Gulf security system failed to prevent the invasion of Kuwait, and now in the present it was unable to protect its members. Qatar was subject to the cyber-hack of the Qatar News Agency in 2017, which resulted in a blockade that continues to today.”
Dr. Al-Derham concluded by confirming that QU is always proud to host events of this vital nature, and noted that this conference comes in conjunction with many regional security developments that require study, analysis and a mapping of future scenarios. He noted that he was pleased to see a group of experts participating in the conference as well as local and international researchers who specialize in gulf security and security issues.
The conference featured the contribution of a number of local speakers, including Dr. Mohammed Mukhtar Al Khalil, Director of Al Jazeera Centre for Studies; Dr. Mahjoob Zweiri, Director of the Gulf Studies Center; Dr. Mohammed Al-Mesfer, QU Political Science Professor and Dr. Mohammad Al-Saidi also a professor from QU. Participating researchers and experts of the conference helped to clarify the Gulf security regime during one of the most difficult periods of geopolitical conflict.