Caabu online briefing on the future of diplomacy in the Gulf, with an expert panel of speakers, Rafiah Al Talei the editor in chief for Sada in Carnegie’s Middle East Program, Dr Dina Esfandiary, Senior Advisor in the Middle East and North Africa department of the International Crisis Group (ICG), and Michael Stephens, a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), and an Associate Fellow at RUSI on Thursday 28 April 2022 at 2pm (BST UK time). The discussion was chaired by Jane Kinninmont, Impact Director at the European Leadership Network, a network of security policy leaders working to reduce the risks of nuclear war.
This distinguished panel examined how relations between Gulf powers have developed in recent years - with the end of the blockade of Qatar, tensions with Iran, varying policy positions on Yemen and Syria. What will the role of the US and UK in years to come? How can lasting peace and security be brought this vital region of the world?
About the speakers:
Rafiah Al Talei is the editor in chief for Sada in Carnegie’s Middle East Program, where her research focuses on civil rights, women’s issues, and political developments in the Gulf. She has over twenty-five years of experience in Omani and international media networks, and most recently held the position of senior producer in the Public Liberties and Human Rights Center at Al Jazeera Media Network.
Al Talei also has held fellowships at Stanford University, Syracuse University, and the National Endowment for Democracy. She has conducted research on women’s issues with Freedom House and with the International Council for Research and Exchange (IREX). She is a former candidate for parliament in Oman (Majlis Al-Shura) and frequently speaks on media freedom and women’s empowerment in the Gulf.
She Tweets @raltalei.
Dr Dina Esfandiary is Senior Advisor in the Middle East and North Africa department of the International Crisis Group (ICG). Previously, she was a Fellow in the Middle East department of The Century Foundation (TCF), an International Security Program Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and an Adjunct Fellow in the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) Middle East Program. Prior to this, she worked at the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS) in the War Studies Department at King’s College London from February 2015, and in the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament programme of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London from October 2009. Dina has published widely, including in Foreign Affairs, the Atlantic, The Guardian, the Washington Post, International Affairs, the National Interest, Arms Control Today, and The Washington Quarterly. Dina is the co-author of Triple-Axis: Iran’s Relations with Russia and China (I.B Taurus, 2018), and Living on the Edge: Iran and the Practice of Nuclear Hedging (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). She holds a PhD in the War Studies department at King’s College London and Masters Degrees from Kings College London and the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva.
She Tweets @DEsfandiary.
Michael Stephens is a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), and an Associate Fellow at RUSI where he previously worked as the Research Fellow for Middle East Studies. Michael was seconded to the Foreign and Commonwealth in 2017 serving as the Senior Research Analyst for Lebanon and Syria. Michael specialises in Foreign and Security policy of the UK, and is co-author of What next for Britain in the Middle East? Security, Trade and Foreign Policy after Brexit, I.B. Tauris (2021). Michael advises governments and private sector clients on a number of foreign policy issues, ranging from defence to climate change. He also serves as a board member of Tories for Climate Action.
He Tweets @MikeRStephens.
About the Chair:
Jane Kinninmont is Impact Director at the European Leadership Network, a network of security policy leaders working to reduce the risks of nuclear war. Previously she was head of programmes for The Elders, a group of world leaders founded by Nelson Mandela, and Deputy Head and Senior Research Fellow at the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House, a London-based international affairs research institute, where she directed a project on Future Trends in the GCC.
She Tweets @janekinninmont.
Caabu is a not-for-profit cross-party organisation whose mission is to work for a British Middle East policy that promotes conflict resolution, human rights and civil society in the Arab world through informed debate and mutual understanding. Caabu is one of the most active NGOs working on the Middle East in British parliament since its establishment in 1967. From then on Caabu has assumed an active advocacy, educational and media role.
