The cultures, beliefs, politics and citizens of countries bordering the Indian Ocean will be on the agenda at an upcoming event at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q). 
The university’s annual faculty conference will bring together multidisciplinary scholars from around the world to discuss this year’s theme, The Liberal State and its Alternatives in the Indian Ocean. 
The two-day conference, which will be held from tomorrow on GU-Q’s Education City campus, focuses on the dynamics of continuity and change in the region.
“The Indian Ocean world presents a mix of cultures, religions, states and political systems. It is the fastest growing and most unpredictable region on earth. What happens along the oceanic shores will generate wide-ranging impacts on the global economic and political situation in the 21st century,” said Dr Harry Verhoeven, assistant professor at GU-Q and one of the organisers of the event. 
“This conference aims to explore the forms and challengers to the modern state that exist in the region, in order to increase our understanding of how these differ from standard ideas of liberal governance which have historically been promoted by the West,” he added. 
The conference is made possible by a Conference and Workshop Sponsorship Programme award (CWSP 11-C-1019-16029) from the Qatar National Research Fund, a member of Qatar Foundation.
Through discussions on issues such as political power, state-building, globalisation, migration, urbanisation and ethnicity, the conference aims to foster a greater understanding of the states, movements and people of the Indian Ocean world. 
In addition to GU-Q faculty, participants in the event hail from a diverse mix of international and local institutions, including Oxford University, University of Cambridge, King’s College London, Stanford University, the University of Singapore, Qatar University and Hamad Bin Khalifa University.
The conference is open to the public and there is no attendance fee. More information can be found at https://qatar.sfs.georgetown.edu/LiberalState

Related Story