The Brookings Doha Center, a project of the
Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, undertakes independent, policy-oriented research on the socioeconomic and geopolitical issues facing Muslim-majority states and communities, including relations with the United States.The Brookings Doha Center was established through the vision and support of H.H. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, and reflects the commitment of the Brookings Institution to become a truly global think tank. Launched through an agreement dated January 1, 2007, the center was formally inaugurated by H.E. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, on February 17, 2008, together with Carlos Pascual, then Brookings Vice President for Foreign Policy Studies, Martin Indyk, Director of the Saban Center at Brookings and now Brookings President for Foreign Policy Studies, and Hady Amr, Director of the Brookings Doha Center.
In pursuing its mission, the Brookings Doha Center undertakes research and programming that engage key elements of business, government, civil society, the media, and academia on key public policy issues in the following three core areas: (i) Governance issues such as the analysis of constitutions, media laws, and society; (ii) Human Development and Economic issues such as the analysis of policy in the areas of education, health, environment, business, energy, and economics; (iii) International Affairs issues such as the analysis of security frameworks, political and military conflicts, and other contemporary issues.
Research and programming is guided by the Brookings Doha Center International Advisory Council chaired by H.E. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani and co-chaired by Brookings President Strobe Talbott. Membership includes: Madeleine Albright, Samuel Berger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Edward Djerejian, Wajahat Habibullah, Musa Hitam, Pervez Hoodhboy, Rima Khalaf Hunaidi, Nemir Kirdar, Rami Khouri, Atta-ur-Rahman, Ismail Serageldin and Fareed Zakaria. Hady Amr, Fellow at the Saban Center and an expert in human development in the Arab world and U.S. public diplomacy, serves as the founding Director of the Brookings Doha Center. Shadi Hamid, Fellow at the Saban Center and an expert on political Islam and democratization in the Middle East, serves as the Deputy Director of the Center. Salman Shaikh is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Brookings Doha Center
Open to a broad range of views, the Brookings Doha Center is a hub for Brookings scholarship in the region. The center’s research and programming agenda includes key mutually enforcing endeavors. These include: convening ongoing public policy discussions with political, business and thought leaders from the Muslim world and the United States; hosting visiting fellows drawn from significant ranks of government to write analysis papers; and engaging the media to broadly share Brookings analysis with the public. Together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, and the Saban Center at Brookings Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World, the Brookings Doha Center contributes to the organization of the annual U.S.-Islamic World Forum which brings together key leaders in the fields of politics, business, media, academia, and civil society, for much needed discussion and dialogue. In undertaking this work, the Brookings Doha Center upholds the Brookings Institution’s core values of quality, independence, and impact.
Hady Amr is the director of the Brookings Doha Center and a fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings. His fields of expertise include human development in the Arab world; U.S. relations with the Muslim world; Arab-Israeli affairs; and the Levant. His career spans two decades working in economic, political and social development across the Muslim world. Prior to joining Brookings, Mr. Amr served as senior advisor to the World Economic Forum on Islamic-Western Relations and founding executive director of World Links Arab Region, as well as an economist with the World Bank. Amr is the author of numerous publications including
The Opportunity of the Obama Era: Can Civil Society Help Bridge Divides between the U.S. and a Diverse Muslim World? published by Brookings in 2009 and
State of the Arab Child published by UNICEF. Amr earned his masters in economics from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School and has since been appointed by the Princeton University Board of Trustees to serve on the school’s advisory council.
Shadi Hamid is deputy director of the Brookings Doha Center and a fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. He was formerly director of research at the Washington-based Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) and a Hewlett Fellow at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. He has also served as a program specialist on public diplomacy at the U.S. State Department. His current research interests include the relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and Arab governments, and considering ways the U.S. can effectively engage with Islamist parties. His commentary has been featured in the
Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, al-Dustour (Egypt), and
al-Masry al-Youm (Egypt).
Salman Shaikh is a Brookings Doha Center nonresident fellow, with expertise in United Nations diplomatic and conflict management efforts. He is also a special representative to the Muslim West Facts Project. Shaikh previously served as director for policy and research at the Office of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned. Before that, his U.N. career included working for the special advisor to the U.N. Secretary General on the Middle East (Michael Williams); for the personal representative of the U.N. Secretary General for Lebanon (Geir Pedersen); and for the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (Terje Rod-Larsen). Shaikh earned a B.A. from Loughborough University and a master’s from Kent at Canterbury University.