Chancellor's Speech

Dr. Winfred L. Thompson
American University of Sharjah

On behalf of the American University of Sharjah, I am pleased to welcome you to this conference on “Globalization and the Gulf,” organized jointly by the university and the Sociological Association of the U.A.E.

I would especially like to express our sincere gratitude to His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah and president of the American University of Sharjah, for honoring us with lending his scholarly support to this conference.

Like the university itself, this joint endeavor between the Association and the University is something of an experiment, the fruit of a collaboration that is only a few years old. I am confident that this fruitful collaboration is in the process of attaining the same outstanding level of success experienced by the university in such a short duration of time. I congratulate both organizations upon your success in organizing the conference.

The word “globalization,” considered in one light, may seem a rather antiseptic term, well suited for dispassionate analysis by sociologists, political scientists, economists, and others in the academic world. At the same time, the word has come to carry great emotional weight as well, implying change in the lives of individuals and the defining characteristics of nations. Many people are very uncomfortable with such changes and many are passionately, even violently opposed. Some identify the word – wrongly in my judgment – with an unwanted and perhaps even deliberate encroachment by powerful economies upon smaller ones.

In my view, globalization is an almost inevitable process and one which has been going on for a very long time indeed. What distinguishes the process in our lifetimes is the rapidity with which it occurs and, therefore the dramatic, sometimes stressful changes it may bring.

Best wishes for a fruitful discussion as you consider the impact of these profound changes on the people and nations of the Gulf Region.

 
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