Terrorism Experts and Scholars Come Together at a Georgetown and Brookings Panel
Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar together with the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center and in association with the Embassy of Belgium in Qatar recently concluded a panel presentation titled “ISIS: Ideology, Support, Impact, Response”.
The speakers addressed the dynamics, drivers and economics of the militant group, its ideological underpinnings, and the wider political context. They also reviewed the short-, medium-, and long-term outlook and the potential ways of addressing the crisis.
The panel was moderated by the dean of GU-Q, Dr. Gerd Nonneman, and included leading experts from both institutions, as well as H.E. Didier Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium.
“Georgetown and Brookings both have extensive expertise related to this subject and share a long history of collaboration, both on main campus in Washington DC and here in Doha. We don’t just attend the same events and work together on a number of projects: GU-Q and the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center also have a formal MOU governing internship opportunities for our students of international affairs. So it made a lot of sense to co-organize this panel together on a subject of such current importance,” said the Dean.
The speakers acknowledged the growing sense of urgency to contain the violence, but also focused on the need for a political solution and a comprehensive approach that considered the local, national, regional, and international contexts.
Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders stressed that: “The sense of urgency triggered our decision to engage militarily to contain ISIS. However, we are fully aware of the need to tackle the situation politically and in a comprehensive manner, including by looking at the context in which it has been able to prosper”. He also underlined a common responsibility to, “contribute to the fight against organizations like ISIS. We have a responsibility as leaders in the way we will react to the terrorist threat in respecting fully the rights of all our citizens and, in general, to create the conditions for an inclusive development of our societies. We all have a responsibility as citizens to promote mutual understanding and trust in our societies. Finally, we all have to take a responsibility – as human beings – to contribute to our societies constructively, in that spirit of inclusiveness.”
The Ambassador of Belgium to Qatar Christophe Payot extended his thanks to both GU-Q and the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center for their support for the organization of the conference on ISIS, saying: “By bringing together such top experts, they contribute to the international community’s efforts to face this common threat in a better informed and more united way.”
Other contributors included Salman Shaikh, Director of the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center, Charles Lister, Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center, and, from GU-Q, Prof. Sohaira Siddiqui, Prof. Abdullah Al-Arian and Prof. Anatol Lieven.