Oil to Innovation: The Gulf’s Economic Pivot and Global Implications
Virtual, Members-only Briefing
Tuesday, June 10, 2025 | 6:00 – 7:15 PM EDT
The Gulf region stands at a critical economic crossroads as states attempt to shift their energy consumption away from oil dependence. Initiatives like Saudi Vision 2030 and the UAE’s focus on Artificial Intelligence signal a strategic pivot toward innovation, technology, and private investment, all while navigating heightened geopolitical volatility and shifting global energy markets. As the U.S. reshapes the post WWII order, questions about economic statecraft, foreign investment, and regional alliances take on renewed necessity. How are Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states adapting to the global economic order? What role will energy transitions, domestic reforms, and U.S. policy play in shaping the region’s trajectory?
Join us on Tuesday, June 10 from 6:00 to 7:15 PM EDT for a virtual discussion with Dr. Karen E. Young, Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and one of the foremost experts on the political economy of the Gulf. Dr. Young leads the Economics and Energy Initiative at the Middle East Institute and has held previous research roles at the American Enterprise Institute and the Arab Gulf States Institute. Her work focuses on the intersection of energy, finance, and security, with publications in Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and Bloomberg.
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SPEAKER:
Dr. Karen E. Young
Dr. Karen E. Young is a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University in the Center on Global Energy Policy. She was founding director of the Program on Economics and Energy at the Middle East Institute and remains a non-resident senior fellow. She was a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and has been a professorial lecturer at George Washington University, teaching courses on the international relations of the Middle East. She regularly teaches at the US Dept of State Foreign Service Institute and at Columbia’s SIPA. Earlier, she was Senior Resident Scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute and a Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Middle East Centre. She led a seminar series on emerging markets in MENA at Johns Hopkins SAIS. At the American University of Sharjah, she served as Assistant Professor of Political Science from 2009-2014. Prior to joining AUS, she held research and administration roles at New York University.
She is the author of two books: The Economic Statecraft of the Gulf Arab States (2022) and The Political Economy of Energy, Finance and Security in the United Arab Emirates (2014), as well as editor of Energy Transitions of the Middle East (2024) and GCC Hydrocarbon Economies and Covid (2023) and a chapter contributor in: The Economy of Saudi Arabia in the 21st Century (2024), Routledge Companion to China in the Middle East (2023), The Gulf States in the Horn of Africa (2022), and The Economics of Renewable Energy in the Gulf (2019). She has published opinion articles and research in the Financial Times, Bloomberg, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Lawfare, Al Monitor, Journal of Arabian Studies, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Current History, Gulf Affairs, Security Dialogue, ISPI, Internationale Politik and Middle East Policy, among other academic and analytical outlets and provided testimony in Congress. Her comments have been featured on NPR, CNBC, CBS, CBC, AFP, in the New York Times, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Al Arabiya, Arab News, Debtwire, MEED and MEES.
Her work has been supported by grants from Smith Richardson Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of NY, the Fulbright Program (Ecuador 1997-99; Bulgaria 2005-06), the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX), the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the Woodrow Wilson Center, US State Department Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), APSA MENA Fellows Program and Emirates Foundation (via LSE). She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
THIS SESSION IS FREE FOR NETWORK 20/20’s MEMBERS
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Image Credit: Free Malaysia Today
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