Qatar is a rapidly growing and modernizing—yet extremely traditional—society, and nearly 85% of the population of Qatar are expatriates (non-citizens). Jennifer will elaborate on these and several other factors which have contributed to a deeply institutionalized form of securitization. Finally, Jennifer will discuss the implications of this case to the field of securitization studies more broadly, and she will suggest specific policies which could lead to desecuritization of societies in the region.
Jennifer Heeg is Visiting Assistant Lecturer of Political Science at Texas A&M University at Qatar. Her main research interests are international relations theory, critical security studies, the movement of people (via migration and trafficking), and feminist IR. She recently defended her dissertation at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Jennifer’s dissertation focuses on the securitization of Gulf societies, especially against the "threats" of Western culture and South Asian labor migration. Jennifer has also published on feminist IR epistemology, methodology, and method, and is the recipient of three paper awards.