Category: Events

David Mednicoff, assistant professor of public policy and acting director of the Social Thought and Political Economy Program, will discuss “A Clash of Globalizations? Law and the Regulation of Non-Citizen Workers in the Arabian Gulf,” on Monday, May 2, at 12:00 p.m. in Thompson Hall 620.

This is the final talk in the 2011 Faculty Colloquium sponsored by the Center for Public Policy and Administration, and is open to the public.

Mednicoff’s talk will draw on his recent research in Doha, the capital city of Qatar, and Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Over 90% of the labor force in these two cities is comprised of immigrants, making citizens a minority in their native communities. Mednicoff’s research explores the legal responses to these long-term trends, and the often countervailing forces and narratives that complicate the development and enforcement of labor regulation in the Persian Gulf.

Mednicoff may also touch in his talk on other aspects of Arab politics in recent months.

Mednicoff’s research has been supported by a multi-year grant from the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar. Mednicoff is part of a working group sponsored by CIRS that has spent the past two years examining migrant labor in the Gulf. The group recently published a summary report of its findings.

Mednicoff’s work has also been informed this past year through his fellowship with the Dubai Initiative, a project of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, and his service as a facilitator and moderator for the Initiative’s recent conference in Cambridge, MA.

Mednicoff’s areas of expertise include Middle Eastern law and politics, international law, human rights, globalization and comparative public policy. He holds a B.A. from Princeton, and an M.A., J.D. (international law) and Ph.D. (Political Science) from Harvard. He is currently completing two book manuscripts, one on ruling monarchies in contemporary politics, the second on the rule of law, democratization and U.S. foreign policy in five Arab societies.

In 2006-2007, Mednicoff was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in law at Qatar University, and has received a national prize for innovative teaching related to the U.S. after 9/11/01. At UMass, Mednicoff has been honored with a Lilly Teaching Fellowship and an Outstanding Teacher Award from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Cem Emrence, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of History, will discuss “The Making of Ethnic Insurgency: Lessons for Policymakers in the Post-Cold War Era,” on Monday, April 4, at 12 p.m. in Thompson 620. The talk is part of the Center for Public Policy and Administration’s Spring 2011 Faculty Colloquium.

Dr. Emrence’s talk will draw on his extensive use of both quantitative and qualitative research methods to examine the making of Kurdish armed contention in contemporary Turkey. He will argue that the Kudistan Workers’ Party, also known as the PKK, has successfully challenged the Turkish state over the years by building a mass organization. However, the same tactics and organizational strategies that gave rise to a successful insurgency have now become self-defeating, resulting in the PKK’s decline.

Emrence’s research has important implications for policymakers, as civil wars where domestic groups take up arms against their governments have emerged as important security issues around the globe.

Cem Emrence was trained as a historical sociologist and received his doctorate in sociology from SUNY-Binghamton in 2008. He also has served as a research affiliate at Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies. In addition to his research on Turkey’s Kurdish insurgency, he has investigated alternative paths to modernity in the Middle East during the 19th century.

This talk is free and open to the public. Brownbag lunches are welcome. For additional information, go to www.masspolicy.org or contact Kathy Colón (kcolon@pubpol.umass.edu).