U.S. Ambassador to Qatar Lectures at Georgetown on Region’s Diplomacy Trends
Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) recently hosted the Honorable Susan L. Ziadeh, Ambassador of the United States of America to the State of Qatar, for a lecture titled, “The Evolving Role of Diplomacy and Diplomats: an American Angle.”
After a thoughtful and enthusiastic introduction by GU-Q student Maram Al-Dafa (Class of 2015), Ambassador Ziadeh took the stage and methodically explained how emerging and accelerating trends have affected diplomacy in the Middle East. She discussed three trends in particular: people to people engagement at all levels of society, the rise of social media, and the ascendency of opposition parties.
“Social media have become powerful tools for building political communities and rewriting national narratives, for rallying momentum in civil society, and for circumventing traditional sources of public information like government and state-run media,” Ziadeh said. “Diplomats have always been messengers between governments, but now we are also interlocutors between governments and people.” But despite the profound impact of technology on international relations, Ziadeh noted that there is no “technical substitute for the human touch in diplomacy.”
During the question and answer period, a Georgetown student asked Ambassador Ziadeh if she thought social media was a way to be politically active without “real sacrifice.” The example given was a social media user pressing ‘like’ on an online post versus protesting in the street.
Ambassador Ziadeh replied with her own question: “Which is more powerful? Barricades or the sharing of ideas?” The ambassador explained, “Ideas are the most powerful tool that any leader or group has. Social media enables a collective to have influence. Social media is a way of bringing like-minded people together.”
“Ambassador Ziadeh is a genuine friend of our Georgetown campus here in Qatar,” said GU-Q Dean Dr. Gerd Nonneman. “The ambassador has been a pillar of support for this institution. Her presence tonight, and that of such a high-level and diverse audience from across Qatar, is also a testament to the reputation of Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. Giving our students and the wider community access to the experience and expertise of senior leaders such as Ambassador Ziadeh, is one of the key ways in which we fulfill our role of education, engagement and outreach.”
Over 130 members of the Doha community attended the event, including dignitaries, members of the diplomatic corps, students, faculty, staff, and numerous business and community members. The evening was particularly notable in that it was the inaugural talk of a GU-Q student-inspired initiative called the Georgetown University Ambassadorial Lecture Series.
Ambassador Ziadeh knows Qatar and the region well. She has been Chief of Mission in Qatar for several years, having presented her diplomatic credentials to the Amir of Qatar on October 9, 2011. She is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and most recently served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh from 2009-11. Her Ph.D. is in History from the University of Michigan and her M.A. is from the American University of Beirut. She is a 2004 distinguished graduate of the National War College, National Defense University, with an M.S. in National Security Strategy.