Yemen’s agricultural communities face a perfect storm of growing ecological threats amid protracted conflict. Flash floods destroy farms, crops, and irrigation systems. Late rains risk drowning mature harvests, and waterlogged fields hinder root growth. Coastal areas battle salinization, and collapsed roads and buried wells hamper recovery. As flooding and changing rainfall patterns undermine yields, farmers struggle to sustain their livelihoods. This policy brief examines the impact of floods on agricultural communities, based on the discussions and outcomes of a workshop implemented by the Rethinking Yemen’s Economy initiative with representatives from different governorates in Say’un, Hadhramawt, in 2023. It presents an analysis of the impacts of flooding and explores local prevention, mitigation, and adaptation measures and concludes with policy recommendations to mitigate flooding and its impact on agricultural communities, enhance food and water security, and build resilience against future extreme weather events.
Empowering Local Authorities to Lead Economic Development in Yemen
This RYE Policy Brief, which is based on discussions the Development Champions Forum held in Cairo in December 2023, outlines a set of recommendations aimed at empowering local authorities in Yemen to effectively provide services and lead local economic development. The aim is to analyze and draw lessons from three ongoing tracks that seek to empower local authorities in Yemen, while also addressing the challenges and opportunities associated with these efforts.
Challenges to Yemen’s Public Revenues
Since April 2022, the war in Yemen has mutated from a high-casualty conflict to a protracted stalemate with relatively stable frontlines. The current phase has been marked by the expansion of economic warfare, with the Houthi authorities shutting down trade from internationally recognized government-controlled areas, stoking discontent as public utilities break down and the currency tumbles across the south. From 24 to 26 May 2023, the Development Champions Forum came together in Amman to discuss these challenges to Yemen’s public revenues and potential avenues for relief of the government’s current fiscal crisis. This RYE Policy Brief is based on these deliberations and brings forward relevant recommendations to improving and reviving certain revenue streams.
Dialogue and Mediation in a Multipolar World. CARPO Research Forum 2023 – Conference Report
by Desirée Custers
The 4th edition of the CARPO Research Forum (CRF) was entitled “Dialogue and Mediation in a Multipolar World” and took place online on November 29, 2023. It brought together several renowned experts to discuss the role of dialogue and mediation in a global climate characterized by polarization and multipolarity. The deliberations were centered on what kind of impact these global trends may have on dialogue and mediation efforts. More specifically, the inputs by the experts addressed questions such as: what the merits and limits of dialogue are; how dialogue initiatives can lead to actual mediation efforts; and how the need for neutrality and balance can be reconciled with moral convictions.
The CRF started with a keynote speech by Peter Jones, Executive Director of Ottawa Dialogue, and was followed by a discussion with panelists Jamila Ali Rajaa, Co-Founder of Consult Yemen, Ibrahim Fraihat, Associate Professor in International Conflict Studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Julia Pickhardt, Project Manager Yemen at CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation, and Oliver Wils, Head of Berghof Foundation’s MENA Department. The panel was moderated by Jane Kinninmont, Director Policy and Impact at the European Leadership Network.
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The ‘Climate-Energy-Health Nexus’
An Entry-Point for Environmental Cooperation in West Asia and the Arabian Peninsula
by Sina Winkel and Sebastian Sons
Based on insights obtained through the Tafahum wa Tabadul project, the authors discuss how recent geopolitical dynamics in West Asia and the Arabian Peninsula may pave the way towards cross-border environmental engagement on an inclusive political, academic, societal and entrepreneurial level. The ‘climate-energy-health nexus’ is introduced as a potential thematic entry-point for cooperation, as it addresses manifold shared interests and challenges in the region. Winkel and Sons warn, however, that challenges such as the lack of coordination, data gaps and political mistrust remain and will take time to overcome. In order to be able to do so, this Brief presents a number of recommendations to regional and international stakeholders.
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4th CARPO Research Forum: Dialogue and Mediation in a Multipolar World
When: 29 November 2023, 15:00-17:00 (CET)
Today’s global affairs are becoming increasingly complex and overwhelming. The pace of tectonic geopolitical shifts, the intensity of continued unbearable conflicts, as well as the level of devastation through climate change are difficult to cope with and to sufficiently comprehend. While this global context is maximizing the need for patient and inclusive dialogue, time and space for such dialogue are becoming more and more limited. A new level of polarization is dominating the public discourse, leaving very little room for context, nuances and a multi-angle perspective on complex realities.
At this year’s 4th CARPO Research Forum, we want to shed light on what kind of impact this trend may have on dialogue initiatives, as well as on mediation efforts. Is it, indeed, more challenging to conduct dialogue and mediation in a multipolar world? To address this question, we have ensured the participation of truly distinguished speakers who are both scholars and practitioners of dialogue. With their help, we want to examine what the merits and limits of dialogue are, how dialogue initiatives can lead to actual mediation efforts, and how the need for neutrality and balance can be reconciled with moral convictions.
As it has been the case in the past, the CARPO Research Forum does not aim to answer all of these questions but to provide some guidance on how to address those questions with the help of experienced experts.
The CARPO Research Forum is a public online event for which everyone can register.
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Annual Report 2022
The year 2022 was an eventful year for CARPO – both positively and negatively. We began the year with full steam, taking advantage of the increasingly easing travel restrictions that had impacted our work during the Corona years. In mid-2022, we received a very distinguished visitor at our premises in Bonn: Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock joined us for a roundtable on conflict prevention, peace promotion and stabilization. For a small and still young organization like ours, this was an important recognition! Only three months later, however, we found ourselves in the midst of a massive defamation campaign. This Annual Report covers these events. Most importantly, however, it shows that despite all challenges, we continued to implement our projects successfully and put out a series of publications.
Energy Injustice and Its Role for Environmental Peacebuilding
Ahmad Al-Wadaey, Tobias Zumbrägel and Ali Alamudi
This Report discusses the crucial but understudied impact of oil extraction industries on local communities and the environment in Yemen’s Hadhramawt governorate. By combining conceptual approaches of energy justice and the environmental peacebuilding literature, it provides a novel perspective on how environmental pollution via the oil industry in Yemen creates injustices and grievances and might hamper sustainable peace efforts. Using a mixed method approach of both quantitative and qualitative analyses, the empirical assessment in two districts of Hadhramawt governorate, Tarim and Sah, confirms assumptions about widespread and severe oil pollution negatively impacting the local population. Based on a household survey and additional expert interviews, it further describes potential avenues for remediation that offer recommendations for concrete action on environmental peacebuilding strategies.
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Zooming in on the Yemen War. The Future of Warfare and Human Rights in the Middle East
Missiles, drones, precision-guided munition, and other military technologies that enable belligerents to attack their enemies from a distance are changing the concepts and practices of warfare. This can best be observed in the conflict-ridden region of the Middle East, particularly in the Yemen war, which has witnessed one of the most extensive use of missiles and other aerial weapons of any conflict in the 21st century. From 31 May to 1 June 2022, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies and CARPO convened a two-day workshop with international and regional experts in Berlin to discuss this changing nature of warfare in the region, the humanitarian consequences of the new remote warfare by Gulf States and non-state actors in the Yemeni context, as well as implications for arms control. This FES/BICC/CARPO-Perspective is a summary of the workshop discussions and offers policy recommendations for international actors.
China, Corona, Climate Change – Three Gamechangers for the Arab Gulf States
by Stefan Lukas and Sebastian Sons
This CARPO Report analyzes how the Corona pandemic, China and climate change are acting as major gamechangers for the Arab Gulf States, reshuffling old geopolitical, economic and social structures. These new developments in the region also mean that European players will have to come up with new strategies if they are not to lose more political relevance in the future. Hence, the authors not only describe the main trends, but also identify possible courses of action for European decision-makers.
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![Research Cooperation with the ‘Global South’ [in German]](https://carpo-bonn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/carpo_policy_report_10_0323.jpg)
Research Cooperation with the ‘Global South’ [in German]
by Sarah Wessel
This CARPO Report outlines the critical debate about the ‘Global South’, the effect of unequal distribution in the emergence, generation and acceptance of specific knowledge regimes as well as central challenges in cooperation with sometimes politically sensitive and crisis-ridden contexts. The concluding recommendations for research institutions, funding organizations and politics encourage a debate on how research cooperation can be structured globally on an equal footing if research and innovation are increasingly becoming fields of geopolitical contestations.
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Scaling Up Solar Energy Investments in Yemen
Poor electricity services remain a key barrier to sustainable economic development in Yemen, exacerbated by the ongoing conflict and related damages to the electricity sector’s infrastructure. Given Yemen’s high average hours of annual daily sunshine and a significant level of solar irradiation, solar energy is a viable and cost-effective alternative to the currently prevalent fossil fuel-based electricity supply. This Policy Brief provides an introduction to electricity provision in Yemen and explores the viability of specific solar energy applications for the country‘s fragile context. It further considers the feasibility of partnering with the private sector in the solar energy sector, and finally presents recommendations and practical steps to address challenges to scaling up investments in this sector in Yemen.
Cultural Exchange and the Prospects for Inter-Societal Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran
by Mirjam Schmidt and Desirée Custers
In August 2022, CARPO and Stimson Europe hosted a workshop looking into the potential of cultural diplomacy and cultural exchange between Iran and Saudi Arabia. While the two countries share a rich history of cultural relations, their present-day cultural exchange is minimal due to geopolitical differences. But in spite of the many challenges, participants of the workshop emphasized the importance and potentials of cultural diplomacy and exchange to improve bilateral relations. The workshop shed light on four areas as case studies to explore avenues of future cultural relations: literature and translation, documentary filmmaking, media, and religious diplomacy.
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The Role of the Diaspora in Peacebuilding in Yemen. Potentials and Opportunities, Challenges and Constraints
by Marie-Christine Heinze and Ewa K. Strzelecka
On 12 June 2022, FES Yemen and CARPO, in collaboration with the EU-funded Peace Women project, convened a one-day workshop in Amman, Jordan. The aim of this workshop was to discuss with researchers as well as female and male diaspora representatives challenges and constraints as well as potentials and opportunities of Yemeni diaspora communities to contribute to peace in their home country, and to particularly highlight the role of female members of the diaspora community in such efforts. This publication is a summary of the most important workshop findings.
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Annual Report 2020/21
After years of solid growth and development in a reasonable pace for an organization like CARPO, the Corona years of 2020 and 2021 were a challenging time for us. We put our focus on keeping our various projects operational and maintaining the size of our team – successfully so. This Annual Report covers the projects implemented during those two years as well as our efforts of mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on our initiatives, which are often based on bringing people into dialogue in the framework of personal encounters.
CARPO Podcast Folge 8: Der Umgang mit der WM in Qatar – zwischen Medien und Zivilgesellschaft
mit Nicole Selmer und Danyel Reiche
In der 8. und letzten Folge beschäftigen wir uns damit, wie die WM in Katar im Land selbst und in den deutschen Medien diskutiert, debattiert, gelobt und verurteilt wird. Dafür sprechen wir mit dem Politikwissenschaftler Dr. Danyel Reiche, der seit zwei Jahren in Katar an der Georgetown University zur Rolle des Fußballs in der katarischen Politik forscht. In dem Gespräch geht es um den Vorwurf aus Katar, die Kritik aus dem Westen sei unfair und doppelmoralisch sowie die Situation der Wissenschaft in Katar.
Außerdem erläutert die Sportjournalistin Nicole Selmer, wie sie die deutschsprachige Berichterstattung über die WM wahrnimmt, die mediale Kritik an Katar bewertet und warum ein Boykott für sie und ihre Kolleg*innen beim Fußballmagazin Ballesterer keine Option war.
Das Buch von Danyel Reiche “Qatar and the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Politics, Controversy, Change” findet Ihr hier.
CARPO Podcast Folge 7: Menschenrechte und Realpolitik – eine politische Antwort auf die WM
mit Lamya Kaddor
Der russische Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine hat in Deutschland die Frage, wie die deutsche Außenpolitik mit autoritären Regimen umgehen sollte, zu einem zentralen Thema der öffentlichen und politischen Debatte werden lassen. Vor dem Hintergrund der notwendigen Energiediversifizierung wurden mit Katar und anderen Golfmonarchien Energiepartnerschaften geschlossen, um sich aus der Abhängigkeit von russischen Gaslieferungen zu lösen. Dabei steht die Frage im Zentrum, wie Deutschland seine werteorientierten Prämissen mit realpolitischen Interessen in der Zusammenarbeit mit Katar und anderen Golfstaaten vereinbaren und eine nachhaltige Strategie im Umgang mit diesen Systemen entwickeln kann. Wie ein solcher Balanceakt aussehen könnte, diskutieren wir mit Lamya Kaddor von Bündnis 90/Die Grünen.
Die 11 Forderungen für die FIFA Fußball- Weltmeisterschaft 2022 in Katar vom Bündnis 90/Die Grünen findet ihr hier.
Außerdem könnt ihr mehr zu dieser Frage in Sebastian Sons Buch „Menschenrechte sind nicht käuflich“ lesen.
CARPO Podcast Folge 6: Frauen und Sport in den Golfstaaten
mit Anna Reuß
Mit Blick auf den Austragungsstaat der WM 2022 fallen nicht nur die Menschenrechtsverletzungen gegenüber den Arbeitsmigrant:innen ins Auge. Auch die Rolle der Frauen in der katarischen Gesellschaft wird international kontrovers diskutiert. Anna Reuß berichtet in dieser Folge über die Lage der Frauen in Katar und in anderen Ländern der Region und ob rechtliche und gesellschaftliche Reformprozesse durch die WM angestoßen wurden.
Wenn Ihr weitere Informationen zum Thema lesen möchtet, empfehlen wir euch den Artikel “Fußball, Macht und Frauenrechten“ im Sammelband „Das Rebellische Spiel. Die Macht des Fußballs im Nahen Osten und die Katar-WM“.
CARPO Podcast Folge 5: Eine “grüne” WM? Katar und die Nachhaltigkeit
mit Tobias Zumbrägel
In der 5. Folge sprechen wir mit CARPO-Researcher Tobias Zumbrägel, der sich intensiv mit der Umweltpolitik der Golfstaaten und der WM in Katar beschäftigt.
Katar gewann auch deswegen die Bewerbung um die Fußball-WM, weil der Staat das erste klimaneutrale Turnier der Geschichte ausrichten wollte. Diese ehrgeizigen Ambitionen werden jedoch in Frage gestellt.
Wir diskutieren folgende Fragen: Was ist wirklich dran an der „grünen Wende“ am Golf? Wie realistisch sind die Ziele von Katar und der anderen Golfmonarchien in der Umweltpolitik? Und was hat der Klimawandel mit der WM zu tun?
Sein neues Buch findet Ihr hier.
Towards #KnowledgeJustice? Addressing Asymmetries in Global Knowledge Production
When: 30 November 2022, 15:00-17:00 (CET)
If knowledge is an imperial instrument of colonization, then the decolonization of knowledge is one of the most urgent tasks: Global structures of knowledge production are still marked by asymmetries. Once referred to by Quijano as the “coloniality of knowledge,” this “epistemic violence” of knowledge production is still present in the 21st century.
Against this backdrop, CARPO’s third virtual Research Forum (CRF) investigates and critically discusses the underrepresentation of the so-called Global South in global knowledge production. Among others, we address the following questions: Which persisting asymmetries of knowledge production prevail? How can these inequalities in the system of global knowledge production be reduced or even eliminated? And what is the role of different actors from different world regions in this process towards knowledge justice?
Overall, the CRF wants to shed more light on an often under-represented topic and put the finger on the prevailing asymmetries in global knowledge production. The event shall provide a platform for discussion by bringing together experts from the Global South and North on this issue. Furthermore, it discusses initiatives to reduce asymmetries in global knowledge production and, in terms of positionality, locates the challenges, responsibilities and fields of action for scholars working in the Global North.
You can register here.
Read moreCARPO Podcast Folge 4: Sport- und Fußballkultur in Saudi-Arabien und Iran
mit Simon Müller und Christoph Becker
In der vierten Folge werfen wir einen Blick auf die Sport- und Fußballkultur in zwei weiteren Golfstaaten, Iran und Saudi-Arabien. In beiden Staaten sind Sport und Politik eng verwobene. Darüber sprechen wir mit Simon Müller, dem Geschäftsführer und Gründer der Firma SportsHub KSA, und dem Sportjournalisten Christoph Becker.
Weitere Informationen zu Simon Beckers Firma SportsHub KSA findet ihr hier.
Außerdem findet ihr alle Artikel von Christoph Becker für die FAZ hier und seinen aktuellen Beitrag “Die Hälfte der Freiheit: Der beharrliche Kampf von Spielerinnen und weiblichen Fans um Gleichberechtigung in Iran” im Sammelband “Das rebellische Spiel“.
CARPO Podcast Folge 3: Die WM und die Menschenrechte
mit Katja Müller-Fahlbusch
In der dritten Folge sprechen wir mit Katja Müller-Fahlbusch über die Situation der Menschenrechte in Katar. Keine andere internationale Sportveranstaltung hat die ausbeuterischen Verhältnisse von Arbeitsmigrant:innen so stark in den Mittelpunkt gerückt wie die Weltmeisterschaft in Katar. Katja Müller-Fahlbusch ordnet diese als Vertreterin von Amnesty International für uns ein.
Weitere Informationen zur Arbeit von Amnesty International findet ihr hier: Amnesty International
CARPO Podcast Folge 2: Der Fußball und die Golfstaaten – zwischen Fankultur und Sportswashing
mit Leo Wiggert und Robert Chatterjee
In unserer zweiten Folge beleuchten wir, warum Katar überhaupt eine WM ausrichtet, und sprechen außerdem mit den Journalisten Leo Wiggert und Robert Chatterjee vom Nahostmagazin zenith, die von ihrer Reise nach Katar und ihrer Suche nach der Fußballkultur vor Ort berichten.
Weitere Anekdoten und Fakten über Katar als Fußballnation findet ihr in ihrem Buch „So eine WM gab es noch nie“.
CARPO Podcast Folge 1: Der Fußball und die arabische Welt – Protestkultur und Diktaturen
mit Ronny Blaschke
In dieser Folge sprechen wir mit dem Sportjournalisten Ronny Blaschke, der sich seit zwei Jahrzehnten intensiv mit den Verstrickungen von Fußball und Politik, speziell in autokratischen Ländern des Mittleren Ostens, auseinandersetzt. Dabei wird deutlich: Fußball ist nicht nur ein politisches Instrument für die Herrscher, sondern kann auch Möglichkeiten des Protestes bieten.
Mehr zu dem Thema findet ihr in Ronny Blaschkes Buch „Machtspieler: Fußball in Propaganda, Krieg und Revolution“.
Addressing the Crushing Weight of Yemen’s Public Debt
For decades prior to the ongoing conflict, Yemen had been vulnerable to recurring budget deficits. The escalation of the ongoing conflict in 2014/15 has had a profoundly negative impact on Yemen’s debt position. Large-scale oil exports ceased, leading to a collapse in public revenues, while banks and pension funds stopped purchasing government debt instruments. Management of the public debt became bifurcated between rival central bank administrations in Aden and Sana’a, both of which suspended payments on foreign and domestic debt obligations. Unable to receive interest payments, public debt holders faced a liquidity crisis, leaving banks unable to honor customer obligations and threatening their solvency, while pension funds have struggled to support retirees. Based on the input and discussions of the Development Champions Forum, this paper outlines the history, characteristics and drivers of Yemen’s public debt and presents recommendations for addressing this crisis.
Narratives of (In)Justice in Contemporary Yemeni Novels
by Osama Ali, Fadhilah Gubari, Julia Gurol and Abdulsalam al-Rubaidi
This Study analyzes narratives of (in)justice in contemporary Yemeni novels. Through a lexical field analysis of nine selected contemporary novels, the paper highlights how (in)justice is framed in narrative literature, both in terms of representations of certain socio-political practices and in terms of normative constructions and the creation of a normative order. It argues that novels represent and discuss the complexities of Yemeni realities, where daily practices and experiences of individuals are entangled with philosophical questions about the meaning of life. It discusses the nexus between the framing of (in)justice and post-conflict reconciliation and provides an original insight into the understanding and constructions of justice and injustice offered to society by Yemeni novelists.
The Road Transport Sector in Yemen. Critical Issues and Priority Policies
Yemen is predominantly a rural country, with over 70% of the population living in 140,000 settlements in impoverished rural areas. Road transport is thus essential for the country’s development and overall economic growth. With only about 3,744km of paved rural roads, representing approximately 6.4% of all roads in the country, Yemen’s neglected road network poses significant development challenges. Next to an overview of the road transport sector in Yemen and of the repercussions of the war on the sector, this RYE White Paper offers recommendations on alleviating these impacts; infrastructure policies for rural and urban roads; policies for road maintenance and repairs that impact commercial traffic; and updating the institutional structure of the sector.
The Role of the Environment in Peacebuilding in Yemen
by Bilkis Zabara and Tobias Zumbrägel
This Report addresses the relationship between violent conflict and environmental governance in Yemen. It translates the concept of environmental peacebuilding to the case of Yemen, where it has not received broader attention in terms of post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation efforts. The study compares six different governorates, namely Sana’a, Dhamar, Ibb, Ta‘iz, Aden and Hadhramawt and finds that all governorates face specific threats. If these challenges are not addressed adequately and in a sustainable manner, they can accelerate social conflict and ultimately threaten long-term solutions for peace and stability in the country. To promote the concept of environmental peacebuilding, the Report provides several suggestions for concrete action by international actors working on Yemen.
Challenges and Prospects for Electronic Money and Payment Systems in Yemen
Yemen has a heavily cash-based economy with low levels of financial inclusion. The country’s formal banking sector is highly underdeveloped, undercapitalized and concentrated in urban areas, leaving it inaccessible for most Yemenis. Plans by the Central Bank of Yemen to develop and improve electronic interbank transactions and local electronic payment systems, including mobile money services, were interrupted by the onset of the ongoing conflict. This paper examines (and provides recommendations on): the existing regulations surrounding the use of e-money in Yemen; attempts to adopt e-money services both before and during the conflict; the major players and state of infrastructure in the sector; and the challenges and prospects facing greater adoption of electronic currency in the country.
The Brussels MENA Briefing: Iraq, Beyond the Election – Internal and External Implications
November 25, 2021
On November 25, the Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO) and Stimson Europe hosted the thirteenth “Brussels MENA Briefing”—a series of after-work briefings on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region—on “Iraq, Beyond the Election: Internal and External Implications”.
Speakers included Ali Al-Mawlawi, who works as an independent analyst and researcher and specializes on Iraq’s political economy, Marsin Al-Shamary, who is a Research Fellow at the Middle East Initiative (MEI), and Hussein Al-Waeli, who works as an accredited journalist at the European Union. The discussion was moderated by Kawa Hassan, Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East and North Africa division and Executive Director of Stimson Europe.
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The Disaster of Yemen’s Flash Floods. Impact of and Local Responses to the Torrential Rains and Flooding in 2020
by Khalid al-Akwa and Tobias Zumbrägel
Between March and September 2020, and again in May through July 2021, Yemen experienced periods of torrential rain that resulted in flash flooding. Flash floods are and will continue to be a recurrent natural phenomenon with destructive consequences in Yemen, which has not yet received broader attention. This Brief thus provides an overall understanding of the social and economic impact and current management of Yemen’s flash floods to improve disaster prevention and mitigation. It stresses the urgency of creating an independent environmental advisory body, comprised of a range of stakeholders and experts, to coordinate environmental reconstruction work and enhance tangible climate action into future strategies and interventions of national governance management and international humanitarian assistance.
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Road to World Cup 2022 – Deconstructing the Multidimensional Nature of Sport Politics in the Gulf Monarchies
When: 30 November 2021, 14.00 – 16.30 (CET)
The Gulf region provides a whole bunch of examples of how leaderships strategically engage in global sports. For instance, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Saudi Arabia organize sports mega events such as the Formula One races and boxing fights. Additionally, Gulf state organizations are heavily involved in sport business through large-scale investments in the French football club Paris St. Germain by Qatar or British football clubs such as Manchester City and Newcastle United by the UAE and Saudi Arabia respectively. The FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar is the most recent climax in a series of events and initiatives related to sport politics in which the Gulf Arab region has emerged as an international center of gravity.
Against this backdrop, CARPO’s second virtual Research Forum (CRF) looks at the multi-layered impact of sport politics in the Gulf region. Using a multidimensional perspective, we consider not only outward-oriented issues such as sportswashing or -branding but also its inward-oriented implications on state-society relations in times of socio-economic transformation.
Together with scholars from the Gulf region and Europe we will highlight some of these aspects: The political trend to use sport and sport events as a soft power measure and foreign policy instrument of development cooperation, for instance. On the societal level, guiding themes and questions include sport’s impact on national identity, culture, women empowerment, lifestyle, and activism among others.
Overall, the CRF wants to shed more light on the multidimensional role sport plays in the Gulf region by highlighting obstacles and grievances but also chances and opportunities of future social and political developments.
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Improving Relations Between Central State Institutions and Local Authorities
Local councils are responsible for spearheading development projects and providing basic public services to Yemen’s population of more than 30 million people. The councils are particularly important in rural areas, where about 70 percent of Yemen’s population lives. In July 2018, the Rethinking Yemen’s Economy initiative published a White Paper that explored how the collapse of Yemen’s economy and the fragmentation of central government institutions during the war affected local councils. This new White Paper builds on those findings by examining how local governance has evolved in the intervening years, with a focus on the relationship between local authorities and the central governments in Sana’a and Aden.
Reconfigurations in West Asia and North Africa. CARPO Research Forum 2020 – Conference Report
by Mirjam Schmidt, Julia Gurol and Tobias Zumbrägel
The first CARPO Research Forum, which took place in November 2020, addressed the reconfigurations and challenges the WANA region is currently grappling with by selecting three major themes at the global, regional and local levels: It discussed the reconfigurations of external powers in the region with a particular focus on a rising China, dealt with the looming climate peril and the arduous path of the region towards sustainable development, and examined the social contract, looking at regional protest waves since the ‘Arab Spring’. Bringing together practitioners and academics, it provided an insight into the interplay between the global, regional and local levels in a highly heterogeneous region, thereby pointing towards future paths for development. This Conference Report summarizes the main take-aways of the Research Forum and highlights avenues for future discussion.
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Local Economic Councils: A Tool to Improve Business Productivity in Yemen
From 25-27 January 2021, the seventh Development Champions Forum, held virtually, focused on the dire business environment in Yemen. To help address local economic challenges, the Development Champions discussed the possibility of establishing Local Economic Councils. According to their analysis, between the community-level local development committees and the Supreme Economic Council on the national level, a space exists for a governorate-level body to drive development by guiding investment to serve local needs and strengthen ties between the governorates and the private sector.
The Brussels MENA Briefing: The Gulf Cooperation Council at 40 – Opportunities and Challenges for the EU
June 16, 2021
On June 16, the Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO) and Stimson Europe hosted their twelfth “Brussels MENA Briefing” – a series of after-work briefings on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region – on “The Gulf Cooperation Council at 40: Challenges and Opportunities for the European Union (EU)”
Speakers included Najla al-Qassemi, Director Global Affairs Division, B’huth Dubai Public Policy Research Center, and Sebastian Sons, Researcher at CARPO. The discussion was moderated by Wael Abdulshafi, Research Analyst at the Stimson Center.
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Priorities for the Recovery and Reform of the Electricity Sector in Yemen
Poor electricity services in Yemen, even before the war, have been one of the key barriers to sustainable economic development and basic service provision (e.g., water supply, health care, education). This paper assesses the power supply system status prior to the war and subsequently discusses the impact of the war on electricity sector performance, followed by an identification of the key barriers faced by the sector. It concludes with the identification of the top priorities for restoring electricity sector services and reforming the sector after the war.
From Messenger to Host
Iraq as a Hub for Regional Dialogue
by Kawa Hassan, Adnan Tabatabai and Desirée Custers
Reports of a meeting held in Baghdad on the 9th of April 2021, between Iranian and Saudi security and intelligence officials, may herald a rare positive development in a region characterized by deep mutual mistrust, ongoing armed conflict, and proxy wars.
Read moreBrussels MENA Briefing: Egypt in the Eastern Mediterranean
April 14, 2021
On April 14, the Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO) and the Stimson Center Europe hosted the eleventh “Brussels MENA Briefing”—a series of after-work briefings on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region—on “Egypt in the Eastern Mediterranean”.
Speakers included Dr. Ahmed Kandil, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Energy Studies Program at the al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, and Hafsa Halawa, independent consultant, Visiting Fellow at the Middle East and North Africa Program of the European Council on Foreign Relations and Non-resident Fellow at the Middle East Institute. The discussion was moderated by Desirée Custers, Research Assistant of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the Stimson Centre.
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