Kristian Coates Ulrichsen is a fellow with the Center for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and an associate fellow at Chatham House.
To protect their assets for the long term, some countries invest resources and wealth into sovereign wealth funds, which manage a diversified portfolio. But without adequate transparency requirements, these vehicles can be ripe for corruption and other governance risks.
Qatar’s new leadership is reverting to a more pragmatic foreign policy and addressing the fallout from its support for Islamist movements in the region.
Scholars, analysts, and activists from across the Middle East, Europe, and the United States will examine the forces at work in the Gulf.
