The Persian Gulf region — which includes Iran, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Iraq — contains an estimated 50 percent of the world's oil reserves and thus plays a strategic geopolitical role. RAND has a strong presence in and focus on the region, with an office in Doha, focusing primarily on domestic and regional issues such as education and development and on assisting U.S. and allied military forces in the region.
Research Brief
Describes a vision for updating Qatar's school transportation system and identifies strategies for achieving the proposed vision.
Journal Article
The authors adopt a cross-country perspective to assess Qatar's performance in the various components of the knowledge economy using multiple indicators.
Project
It's been over a year since Egyptians began the massive demonstrations that forced President Mubarak to step down and added momentum to pro-democracy protests across the Middle East. Drawing on research on past regime changes and political reform in the Arab world, RAND experts continue to provide policy analysis and unique insights into events in the region.
Commentary
The Arab Spring demonstrated that leaderless revolutions are difficult to repress or co-opt. Unfortunately, it is also true that leaderless revolts find it difficult to make transition to authority, writes Charles Ries.
Report
The June 2011 conference titled ''Gulf Security in a Region of Dramatic Change: Mutual Equities and Enduring Partnerships'' focused on the security implications of a rapidly changing Gulf region and their potential effects on CENTCOM.
Past Event
Converting vast amounts of digital data into meaningful information for research and analysis is a challenge for many different types of organizations. At the QCRI Seminar Series in Doha on Dec. 12, Dalal will discuss RAND's approach to managing data and to harnessing the power of information analytics and web technologies.
Past Event
Inspiring collaboration and creative change in education is the focus of this international conference, which gathers more than 1,200 education and policy experts. The program features V. Darleen Opfer and Anna Saavedra of RAND Education discussing labor market demands in the 21st century as well as the role of social entrepreneurs in learning.
Past Event
RAND Corporation is a knowledge partner of an international conference in Abu Dhabi, which focuses on educational approaches for building a proficient workforce in the Middle East and North Africa. Lynn Karoly, senior economist and director of the Office of Research Quality Assurance at RAND, will discuss human capital challenges in the 21st century.
Commentary
Though Awlaki will be difficult to replace—since he effectively coupled both propaganda and operations—al-Qaeda will continue to plan attacks overseas against Western targets, writes Seth Jones.
Report
The Qatar Foundation is establishing a national research institute to conduct energy, environment, and water research. This book recommends research priorities for the institute and reports on a survey of related research institutions in the region.
News Release
RAND senior researcher Obaid Younossi has been named the new director of the RAND-Qatar Policy Institute. "Obaid's long career in public policy research and analysis and his experiences in the region make him the perfect candidate to help the Institute continue to grow and expand its work in Qatar and elsewhere in the region," said RAND President and CEO James A. Thomson.
Journal Article
Examines the progress that Qatar has made in implementing a comprehensive reform, begun in 2002, of its K-12 education system.
Commentary
The countries in a possible "second wave" of Arab revolutions have dim prospects for consolidated democracies. Other than tribes, Libya essentially has no civil society, and it has a long-isolated educated class. Yemen has civil society organizations but fewer well-educated individuals, writes Julie Taylor.
Media Advisory
The RAND Abu Dhabi office will host the first event in its speaker series with a focus on education.
Commentary
Only by addressing the poverty and lack of central authority in Somalia can the international community lower maritime crime and violence off the Horn of Africa, writes Peter Chalk.
Commentary
The only route out of the current impasse may be a fully functioning and pluralistic parliament like the one that enabled Bahrain's golden days, writes Frederic Wehrey.
News Release
The RAND Corporation has opened a new office in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, as part of a strategic effort to deliver research and analysis to decisionmakers in the Middle East, RAND President and CEO James A. Thomson announced today.
Report
The U.S. must determine how best to promote long-term security and stability in the Persian Gulf region while seeking to reduce the risks and costs imposed by its role as a permanent regional power—particularly vis-à-vis Iraq's future, the role of Iran, asymmetric threats, regional tensions, and the roles of other external actors.
Commentary
While the full extent of Iran's current clandestine influence remains murky, the "proxy narrative" is instructive more for what it reveals about Gulf insecurities than any truths about Iran's capabilities or intentions write Frederic M. Wehrey and Dalia Dassa Kaye.
RAND® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 1994-2013 RAND Corporation.