CMES Seminar: Aid from Gulf Donors in Conflict Zones

Abstract

This seminar has the objective to illustrate an in-depth analysis of the humanitarian response of the Gulf States in conflict zones and protracted crises. How are Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE operating in conflict zones and protracted crises? How are the internal and external dynamics of donors and recipients affecting the decision-making process and aid interventions on the ground? To answer these questions, the study goes through the analysis of four conflict zones - Syria, Sudan, Gaza, and Yemen – and the observation of Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia’s aid flows from 2015 to 2022.

The analysis explains the characteristics of the Gulf States as donors, starting from the main concepts that have inspired this research: humanitarianism, politics, and Islam. The research describes the conceptual framework in which the observation of the institutional top-down and the bottom-up analysis of the aid implementation is articulated. The empirical evidence from Syria, Sudan, Gaza, and Yemen sheds light on the interconnection between external and internal dynamics of both donors and recipients that shape foreign aid and humanitarian response in current protracted crises. 

This research project is based on qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews conducted during fieldwork in Qatar (December 2021- February 2022), and remotely with key actors in the Gulf States’ institutions, and humanitarian workers in the conflict zones from 2021 to 2023. Moreover, it uses secondary sources from governmental institutions, such as Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Qatar Fund for Development, Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, Saudi Aid Platform and Annual Reports of state-sponsored charities. For data triangulation, the study refers to the UN platform including OCHA Financial Tracking Services, UNRWA and other UN agencies, and OECD country profile data. 

Speaker Bio

Altea Pericoli is currently a Postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies, Department of Political Science, Lund University, Sweden. She obtained her PhD in Institutions and Policies (2019-2023) at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, and she conducted many visiting periods at Vienna University, Durham University, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, and Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway. In 2023, she was a visiting research fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, and the European University Institute, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. She is publishing her first book monograph with Edinburgh University Press. 

This seminar is part of the CMES Seminar Series.