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This article examines the impact of the (de)securitization of the Kurds by regional and significant external securitizing actors on relations and cooperation between regional states, non-state actors and significant external actors engaged in Middle East politics. It argues that the security framings of the Kurds constructed by securitizing actors provide an epistemological and political base for conducting relations and establishing cooperation between regional states under the influence of the external actors. Considering multilateralism as an essentially cooperative activity based on certain principles or values, the article suggests that, by constructing contradictory or coherent visions of (in)security, (de)securitization affects relations and shapes multilateralism. Even if the (in) security framings of actors are conflicting, multilateral cooperation remains possible since these actors may not openly reject the other's securitization moves. However, such a framework challenges multilateralism, and further transforms it by making cooperation fragile, value-free, temporary, unreliable and informal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turki al-Faisal has long had access to some of the innermost circles of power in Saudi Arabia. Born into the Saudi royal family - out of the extended clan's estimated thousand or so members, he is number eight - the prince was head of the country's intelligence agency for more than two decades before becoming an ambassador to several countries. In this interview, al-Faisal talks with the Bulletin's Dan Drollette Jr. about the Saudi view of the Iran agreement, nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, and the possibility of Saudi Arabia becoming a net energy importer in the coming decades - and what the country wants to do to counter that prospect. He also delves into recent politics, and gives his personal views on the Shia/Sunni divide, Israel's weapons program, and the Iran regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the policy failures from regime change efforts in the Middle East in the book "Losing the Long Game: The False Promise of Regime Change in the Middle East" by Philip H. Gordon. Topics discussed include the implication of the failure of the U.S. to understand the Middle East culture, role of failure to prevent regime change in state stability, and the need for the administration of President Joseph Biden to determine the proper approach to Iran.

Traditional understandings of Middle Eastern politics place tribes as critical supporters of ruling families; this dynamic is considered particularly strong within the smaller Gulf states, which are oftentimes even referred to as 'bedouinocracies'. While tribes undoubtedly hold political capital throughout the Middle East, it is uncertain to what extent they remain clients of Gulf regimes or are in fact independent, and potentially oppositional, actors. This paper examines electoral outcomes for the Kuwaiti legislature, Qatari municipal council, and Emirati consultative council to understand the extent to which major tribal groups take collective action through electoral campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-optation via elections in authoritarian regimes, in which leaders ward off threats to their rule by granting parties electoral access in exchange for their support, is a ubiquitous phenomenon that has received considerable attention from scholars. Two important questions that remain unanswered, however, are who exactly from among the opposition is being co-opted and why do parties accept offers of co-optation? We argue that among ethnopolitical minorities, authoritarian leaders co-opt parties that will acquiesce to their rule in exchange for patronage perks. However, due to limited information, leaders selectively legalize organizations with regime-friendly goals that make them potential candidates for co-optation, and then use elections strategically to allow the most viable candidates to self-select into the electoral process. In turn, this structure of co-optation shapes the electoral incentives of opposition parties. Using data on ethnopolitical minority organizations in authoritarian regimes across the Middle East from 1980–2004, we find support for the argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution develops three major lines of argument. Firstly, it argues that identifying 'popular culture' is not simply a definitional exercise but is also purposeful and performative. Secondly, it contends that 'popular cultures' are always implicated in power relations in multiple ways. Finally, it maintains that using a performative lens adds to our understanding of the political dimensions of 'popular cultures'. Taking examples chiefly from the Middle East and North Africa, it avers that studying 'popular cultures' highlights the links between the political and the performative, understood both as acting out (theatrical) and as bringing into being (effective). The term 'culture(s) of the public(s)' is used to capture the idea of the public as a plurality of active citizens, distinct from the politically charged term 'the people'. These publics claim space as their right, experiencing agonistic encounters with the different generations, genders, classes, ethnicities that use their own repertoires to assert their claims. Thus, the cultures of the plural public can help to fashion the public self as citizen, but for that same reason can also provoke ferocious repression from those who feel most threatened by such a development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that Napoleon Bonaparte's attempt to reach India, firstly through Egypt and then through Qajar Persia, inaugurated the 'Middle East' as a coherent political space in international politics. The ostensibly existential threat posed by French schemes to British dominion over India prompted British Indian officials to perceive Egypt, Persia and the Gulf Emirates through the lens of Indian defence and European geopolitics for the first time. By the end of this period, these lands were imagined as a salient, somewhat coherent political space between "the Indus and Constantinople". This first 'Middle East' was the product of the globalization of European geopolitics and the need to defend British India, auguring the future of the region, in which its political importance, and even its location, was constructed in relation to the broader context of international affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do some ethno-political organizations get support from their diaspora while others do not? There is little analysis that examines why some organizations (both violent and nonviolent) get support. Using data on 112 organizations in the Middle East we examine how factors like the power of the organization, ideology, political behavior, and government treatment might impact the likelihood of an organization getting support from its diaspora. We argue that contentious political behavior should have the largest impact on such support. We find that those that do the best job of getting attention through visible action get the most support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 1921 to 1923, Turkey and the United Kingdom contended for control of the Vilayet of Mosul, now known as northern Iraq. The United Kingdom was the mandatory power in Iraq at that time. Although this crisis, which is known as the Mosul affair, was settled in 1925 in favour of Iraq, Turkey never totally relinquished its historical claim to this strategically important border region. Turkey's persistent claim to the area, and the fact that the region is predominantly inhabited by Kurds whose nationalism shows no signs of waning, make northern Iraq a potentially destabilizing factor in the region. The article will discuss the historical roots of Mosul frontier affairs, which is a legacy of colonialism in the Middle East. This international conflict has many dimensions, but the article will confine itself to the study of the distinguished career of Ali Shafiq, also known as Ozdemir, a Turkish statesman and the architect of Turkish policy during the Mosul affair. This is, to a large extent, a political history of the conflict and the author utilizes British and Turkish archival material and contemporary memoirs, journals, and relevant secondary sources in Arabic, Kurdish, Turkish, and English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arab uprisings of 2011 put into question previously held understandings about the stability of authoritarian regimes in North Africa as well as the European Union’s (EU’s) relations with countries in its southern neighbourhood. Despite early calls on behalf of the EU to change its policies, the Union’s responses in the early stages seemed mostly characterised by continuity. This article claims that certain dispositions and background knowledge developed over several decades vis-à-vis EU’s Mediterranean policies served as a baseline from which EU officials and diplomats acted. Drawing on insights from practice approaches, the article argues that the practical understandings on what the EU can (and cannot) do vis-à-vis partner countries in North Africa create a kind of power politics of practical dispositions. The article focuses on the European Neighbourhood Policy - the EU’s flagship initiative - and builds on a unique set of data that combine policy documents and interviews with about 30 EU officials and national diplomats from before and after the Arab uprisings. In this way, it illustrates how practice relates to change in that even though the EU’s responses drew on an established repertoire of practice, enacting it in a new context opened up new possibilities for action. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Middle East is experiencing one of the darkest periods in its history and a new regional order is still far from being established. Yet, it appears increasingly clear that few matters will affect its developments more than the ongoing regional demographic dynamics. The region’s history and spatial background provide a framework for approaching these epochal shifts and critically examining the ‘ethnic stabilisation’ thesis, which interprets current demographic movements as a kind of normalisation of the region’s ‘original’ demographics. Instead of this ‘medievalization of the Middle East’, many people in the region are keen on ‘gettingbackinto history’ and ‘regaining possession’ of their multifaceted past: a powerful antidote to the geopolitical reductionism so popular nowadays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the debate over the effectiveness with which late Umayyad and early ʿAbbāsid caliphs negotiated their respective rights and duties with provincial elites during the second/eighth century. The focus is on the relationships that evolved between the caliphs and those elite families residing in the Ḥijāz whose ancestors had helped to establish the Muslim community and the early caliphal empire in the mid-first/seventh century. The article's analysis centres on a series of four revolts in the Ḥijāz over the second/eighth century and examines developments in the enthusiasm with which local elites either supported or opposed those revolts. This discussion demonstrates that, aside from a brief period during the first decades of ʿAbbāsid rule, Umayyad and ʿAbbāsid caliphs during the second/eighth century were actually quite successful at inspiring loyalty among the local elites of the Ḥijāz. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Khārijite resistance to Umayyad authority during the caliphate of Muʿāwiya b. Abī Sufyān (r. 661–680) is represented in detail in the works of the early Muslim scholars Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā al-Balādhurī (d. c. 892) and Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 923). While the Khārijites are overwhelmingly depicted by both authors as religious fanatics whose excessive piety caused widespread bloodshed and who thus should be condemned, a closer look reveals that Khārijites serve specific and distinct narrative purposes: al-Balādhurī uses them mainly to illustrate Umayyad tyranny, while al-Ṭabarī addresses the consequences of Khārijite revolts for communal and imperial stability. The latter's work is also marked by a dichotomy between activist and quietist Khārijism, implying that al-Ṭabarī is not so much opposed to Khārijism as a set of “heretic” religious ideas, but rather to its violent expression of politico-religious opposition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Most countries of the Arab Mashrek are multi-ethnic and multi-sectarian. In recent years, most of them have experienced violent clashes between groups that frame their conflicts along ethnic-sectarian lines. This article investigates the Lebanese Ta’if Agreement of 1989 as a crucial case study of how to manage such conflicts through a transitory power-sharing arrangement. It presents several provisions of this agreement that adhere to three different approaches of how to deal with such conflicts: the consociational and the centripetal models of power-sharing as well as the integrationist paradigm. It thereby seeks to develop a theoretical argument about chances and risks of transitory power-sharing in deeply divided societies and derives some general lessons for managing conflicts in the Middle East. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on political fears and suspicions in Middle East and Arab world; and mentions the political ability and preparedness to set up viable structures for regional security and cooperation.

The article focuses on political risks involved in Middle East. Topics discussed include regional division of labor that brought a peace treaty between Israel and its Arab neighbors; Arab intellectual and political elites who feared that their countries would lose in comprehensive settlement of Israeli-Palestinian and broader Arab-Israeli conflict; and efforts of U.S. and the European Union.

This article examines the phenomenon of minoritarian regimes in the Middle East, focusing on Bahrain, Syria and Israel/Palestine. It considers, in each, how minority rule was established, the mechanisms through which it is maintained, and the means through which it is legitimated. Although these regimes are not typically analyzed as a category, they have important features in common. In all three, the state's political and security institutions are controlled by members of an ethnic/religious group that is a numerical minority in the country, at the expense of a majority group with a competing claim to indigeneity. While the legal and political mechanisms that these regimes use to restrict access to power vary, they employ similar strategies for legitimating minority rule, presenting democracy as a threat not only to the regime's survival, but also to the security of the group whose interests it claims to represent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This special issue explores the prospects for what Jacob Mundy calls ‘transformative minority politics’ in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region – that is, a form of minority politics that strengthens democratic reform in the region, and that helps deepen a culture of human rights and democratic citizenship. The cases examined in the special issue include the Amazigh in North Africa, the Copts in Egypt, the Kurds in Iraq, the Palestinians in Israel, the ‘minoritarian’ regimes in Syria and Bahrain, and the various ethnic minorities in Iran. In this introduction, we try to situate this debate in a larger historical and international context, identifying some of the factors that might help support a new transformative minority politics in the region, while also emphasizing the factors that have inhibited it in the past, and why they remain powerful. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years, Azerbaijan–Israel relations have come to the foreground of politics in the Middle East and Caucasus region. Ties between Baku and Tel Aviv have been directly interlinked with their relations with Iran. The nature of the Azerbaijan–Israel partnership must be analysed in order to comprehend the balance of powers and energy security in the region. Even though there have been a number of works analysing the relationship by focusing on its role in regional military security, there is a gap in the discourse in terms of understanding the economic drivers of relations and the implications of the ties for regional energy security. Particular attention will be given to discussing Azerbaijan’s emerging role as a major energy producer that has already made a profound impact on the region as an ‘alternative’ to Iran in the aftermath of the recently imposed sanctions on Tehran's energy exports. It will be argued that the Azerbaijan–Israel relationship is built on solid economic grounds and it would be reasonable to expect the strength of the ties to be further intensified in the future. The article will also demonstrate that new developments in the energy security of the wider Middle Eastern region will affect the evolution of Azerbaijan–Israel ties and their rivalry with Iran in the next decade. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article traces the outlines of India's engagement with the Middle East, focusing on security-related aspects of that engagement. First, it argues that India's approach towards the Middle East has undergone less transformation than that seen in Indian policy towards other key regions, notably the United States and Asia. Second, it describes how India has responded to recent, and older, episodes of political disorder in the region, and what patterns might be identified from these. Third, it traces aspects of India's relationships with Iran and Saudi Arabia, an exercise that brings some of those patterns into sharper relief. Fourth, and finally, the paper concludes by asking how India might orient itself in the region in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses conversations about the sex work, human trafficking, labour and migration in the Middle East. It focuses on the complications of migration in an era of human trafficking for migrants due to the violence of the human trafficking discourse and resulting outreatch and policy strategy. Also discussed are the intersection of human trafficking, parenthood, and migration both in migrant sending and receiving countries and the growth of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

This paper advances the proposition that post-Arab Spring politics are a product of globalisation’s economic and social liberalisation. The global market and privatisation have fundamentally deconstructed centralised autocratic rule over state and society, while facilitating corruption and selective development, culminating in public outrage. The political order of the Middle East and North Africa since the Arab Spring synthesises globalisation’s dialectic duality, in which economic integration has contributed to the demise of national authoritarianism, inciting communalism and political fragmentation. This paper analyses emerging political trends and challenges based on a comparative analysis of Egypt and Tunisia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we explore the flow of information regarding strategic Middle Eastern countries in the WikiLeaks ‘diplomatic cables’ by applying data-mining techniques to construct directed networks. The results show that between 2002 and 2009, US diplomatic communication related to these countries increased although with notable variation in flow patterns. We discuss the value of a visual display of diplomatic communication patterns in understanding the decentralized nature of information gathering on regional foreign policy issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article traces the impact of the Arab uprisings on US foreign assistance to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in the period since 2011. Despite the Obama administration's rhetoric in support of Arab protesters and their demands for political and economic change, and despite the US President's commitment to place the full weight of the US foreign policy system behind political openings created by mass protests, US foreign assistance programs to the MENA region were largely unaffected by the dramatic political changes of 2011 and beyond. The article explains continuity in US foreign assistance as the result of several factors. These include the administration's ambivalence about the political forces unleashed by the uprisings; domestic economic and political obstacles to increases in foreign assistance; institutional and bureaucratic inertia within the agencies responsible for managing foreign assistance programming, and institutional capture of the foreign assistance bureaucracy by implementing organizations with a vested interest in sustaining ongoing activities rather than adapting programs in light of the new challenges caused by the Arab uprisings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an annual review of national affairs in the Levant, covering the period from July 2013 to June 2014. Topics mentioned include the civil war in Syria, the setbacks suffered by the peace process brokered by the U.S. between Israel and Palestine, and other drivers of strategic change in the Levant.

US-Iranian relations have been stalled for over three decades due to missteps in timing, distrust, hostility and ideological differences between Tehran and Washington. Six American presidents have experimented with different political and economic tools in an effort to reverse Iranian support for terrorist groups, its opposition to Israel and its pursuit of a nuclear programme. President Barack Obama’s direct engagement with Tehran to end the nuclear standoff is a first step towards improved relations between two estranged countries that share a number of mutual interests. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A proliferation of scholarly works offering a variety of modernization experiences facilitated an understanding of social protests in non-western settings. Focusing on the initial stages of modern social movements in Iran and the Ottoman Empire, this study makes a comparative analysis of the tobacco protests at the turn of the twentieth century. The social protests against foreign tobacco monopolies are regarded as a key moment for the emergence of modern social movements in these countries. Scrutinizing the negotiation strategies, social value systems and political structures of these countries, it is suggested that these tobacco protests played a catalytic role in the process of capitalist incorporation and adaptation to the accompanying value systems of modernism and liberal democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers the author's insights on the relationship of the U.S. and Middle East in 2014. Topics discussed include the U.S. foreign policy, the politics in the U.S. and Middle East, and the ways to understand the U.S. policies. Also mentioned are the conflicts in the U.S. and Middle East relationship and the reasons behind U.S. foreign policies.

At a time when Israelis and Palestinians are gathering in Washington to consider peace in the Middle East, most attention is focused on the idea of a one-state or, more likely, two-state solution. A number of scholars, however, have recently developed a third approach which has been appropriately referred to as a ‘two-state condominialism’. This approach seeks to overcome the liabilities of the two existing approaches to solving the Middle East conflict while offering a number of its own advantages. Surprisingly, in spite of the similarities among their proposals, none of the authors make reference to, or even acknowledge each other. This article reviews these papers as a collective and considers whether they offer a realistic opportunity for peace in the Middle East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1998 Barnett argued against the grain of realist IR theory, contending that ‘the conflicts between Arab governments have concerned the norms of Arabism and not the balance of power’. Ever since, the debate on regional order has been markedlessby realist perspectives based on materialist understanding of power, and more by pragmatic middle positions as can be found with the English School, Historical Sociology and soft constructivist approaches. This piece will argue along the same lines, contending that norms and identity politics remain central to the study of Middle East regional politics, also in the post-2011 era. In a second move it will however also suggest that the rise of identity politics and heightened regional insecurity related to these identities, calls for an introduction of insights from securitization theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents several news-related items regarding the Middle East during 2014 and early 2014, with a particular focus on international relations. Topics, including efforts to establish peace in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Middle East politics, international cooperation regarding Iran's nuclear weapons program and cooperation between the Israelis and Palestinians on water sharing, are discussed.

An interview with Mikhail Margelov, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council of Russia is presented. When asked about the balance of powers in the Middle East, Margelov says Iran and Turkey are in rivalry for leadership. When asked about positive changes in the Sahel countries, Margelov points out the social reforms by King Mohamed VI in Morocco. He also comments on Russian responses to Egyptian unrest in 2013.

This article offers perspectives on the prospects for democratisation in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region in the light of political developments since 2010, with particular reference to international democracy support. An introduction shares certain assumptions about democracy support’s general record before threats and opportunities to democracy support arising from developments in the region are discussed. Next democracy support’s response to those developments is examined, while the fourth section highlights some challenges for democracy support in the region and beyond. Throughout, discussion is contextualised within the larger literature on democratisation. Final remarks lead to the conclusion that developments in the region both present challenges that should be viewed as opportunities, and offer opportunities that will be challenging to address, not just for democracy support in the region and further afield but in terms of the guidance that democratisation studies have to offer. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The contest between Saudi Arabia and Iran played out in Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, postwar Iraq and, to a lesser extent, Yemen and Bahrain, has shaped the geopolitics of the region since the 2003 US invasion and occupation of Iraq. The Arab uprisings intensified this geopolitical contest and spread it to Syria. The sectarianisation of the region’s geopolitical battles, and the instrumental use of some of the uprisings for geopolitical ends, has hardened sectarian sentiments across the region, complicated post-authoritarian democratic transitions, and, at least in Syria’s case, transformed its popular uprising into a veritable civil war. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article looks at the gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean since the late 1990s and how they have fueled-or otherwise intersected with-the various regional conflicts. About half of the article examines the fate of the 1999 gas discoveries off Gaza (within the maritime space set for the Palestinians by Oslo), and Israel's role in controlling the outcome. The other half is devoted, collectively, to the gas discoveries off Israel, Egypt, and Cyprus, as well as to the ensuing disputes and shifts of alliances involving these three states plus Lebanon and Turkey. Given the state offlux in the region, it is too soon to speculate on the ultimate geopolitical impact of the new finds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs a newly developed coding of the degree to which Muslim-majority states incorporate a strict version of Shari’a family law into their legal code. This measures the feature of Islamic tradition, which is hypothesised to impede women's sociopolitical equality. I find that the incorporation of a strict version of Shari’a family law is an impediment to sociopolitical gender equality; however, the inclusion of other laws and policies based on Islamic tenets is not. Furthermore, the negative effect of an oil-dependent economy does not hold in the subset of Muslim-majority states once Shari’a family law inclusion is accounted for. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Bedouin of the Middle East have been one of the region's most marginalized groups in modern times. This study assesses the interplay between state policies and the Bedouin in the last 150 years, from a comparative standpoint. We examine the development of land laws in the Middle East as they have affected the Bedouin, from the enactment of the Ottoman land laws of 1858 up to the present. Moreover we explore whether the land laws and the fate of the Bedouin are associated with the characteristics of the regime in each country. We find that the imposition of land laws and policies directed at nomadic and sedentarizing Bedouins has depended on disparate factors such as the origins of the leadership of countries (i.e. Bedouin or non-Bedouin) and the social and economic models embraced. Regimes with origins in the tribal-Bedouin fabric of the Middle East have pursued land policies that were favorable to the Bedouin, whereas regimes drawing their strength from urban elites and with socialist outlooks encouraged very different policies. We also consider whether the case of the Bedouin in Israel is unique or reflects a larger regional context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses Middle Eastern authoritarianism and the contemporary political transformations which have swept the region. It suggests that, given the uneven spread of reform and the selectiveness of international intervention, the prioritisation of Middle Eastern stability over democratic transformation, combined with local authoritarian regimes' ability to use excessive force against their own populations and insurgents, are responsible for the persistence of the Middle East's post-cold war authoritarianism. The recent uprisings and reform movements can be explained from the perspective of historical grievance, based on social inequality and ethnic, sectarian, tribal or sectional disparities, as well as by advancements in communications technology and economic globalisation that have undermined long-standing national authoritarianism in favour of Middle Eastern civil rights and civil society movements. A global democratic consciousness has played a decisive role in providing ideological cohesiveness and (uneven) global political support to safeguard the collective action of the new civil rights movements. Recognising that democracy itself may have characteristic regional forms with greater and lesser tinges of recurrent authoritarianism, Middle Eastern democratic transformation hinges on the ability of these burgeoning movements to achieve a civic state and overcome authoritarian counter-resistance and international suspicion and fear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political organizations claim they are serving the interests of their constituents—but being involved in the drug trade does not seem to support those claims. Why would political organizations sell drugs then? Most often the question of why organizations engage in the drug trade has been explored in the context of organizations that are either criminal or violent, thus leaving a large hole in the literature about how violence and legality intersect with other exploratory factors. We explore this issue more fully by looking at both violent and nonviolent organizations using the Middle East Minorities at Risk Organizational Behavior dataset, which has data on over 100 ethnopolitical organizations in the Middle East. Very few of these organizations are involved in the drug trade and yet all of those are engaged in violence at the same time. We explore what factors, other than violence, make this rare behavior for political organizations more likely. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers the author's insights concerning the special issue of the periodical "Middle Eastern Critique" which examine the future politics in Middle East and the era of post-democratization. The author says that he and his co-guest editor André Bank have explained that the special issues' overall purpose is to provide a nuanced and more self-critical understanding of post-democratization, as well as in Middle Eastern politics' future research methods. He states that an article by Andrea Teti focuses on post-democratization by situating himself in the concept. Moreover, he also relates the issues on Arab authoritarianism's resilience and Arab uprisings.

Toppling existing regimes, without policies for serious economic reform and to reduce population growth, will do little to resolve the crisis of the Arab world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are witnessing a series of revolutions and uprisings of a pace, connectivity and breadth for which the only parallel in modern history is 1989. But these aspirant and actual revolutions are incomplete, uneven and unpredictable. Shashank Joshi argues that long-held assumptions about the Western trilemma in the Middle East - the choice between democracy, stability and pro-Western foreign policy - must now be urgently re-evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hezbollah has acquired a dual and contradictory reputation: as a legitimate political actor in Lebanon and as a terrorist organisation in the USA and Israel. This duality can be explained if we understand that Hezbollah is a nationalist entity that defines itself primarily within the Lebanese polity, as well as an anti-imperialist party intent on countering the regional hegemony of Israel and the USA. Forming alliances with Hamas, Iran and Syria, Hezbollah has become part of a 'rejectionist' axis that seeks to oppose perceived imperialism in the Middle East; this stance has become increasingly entrenched in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Characterisations that focus on Hezbollah as a military opponent confirm the organisation's perceived need for a rejectionist stance. International acceptance of Hezbollah as a legitimate political actor within the Lebanese polity, on the other hand, would help to bring the basis of the rejectionist axis into question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work argues that the relationship between Islamic faith, the lack of support for gender equality and democratization is spurious. This paper analyzes the correlates of individual support for increasing the number of women serving in Indonesian legislatures. Indonesia is a relevant case because it is an emerging democracy, outside of the oil-rich Middle East, where over 85% of the citizenry registers a Muslim faith. We find that the willingness of Indonesians to support or oppose gender equity in politics is only minimally rooted in their faith or culture. This result buttresses the conclusions of cross-national studies that question the appropriateness of treating predominantly Muslim nations in the same way when studying questions of gender equity and democratization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is 'Islam' inherently un- or anti-democratic? Is the fact that Islam is the majority religion in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) sufficient explanation as to why the region exhibits a decided lack of democracy? How, if at all, does globalisation affect democratisation in the MENA? To examine these issues, the article is divided into the following sections. After a brief introductory section, the second section turns to an examination of how Islam and globalisation interact in the MENA. The third section examines how globalisation offers both challenges and opportunities for Islam. The fourth section is concerned with western perceptions of Islam before and after 11 September 2001. The fifth section looks at Islam and democratisation in the MENA and traces the impact of globalisation. The overall conclusion is that globalisation - with its material and non-material characteristics - does not have a great impact on democratisation outcomes in the MENA. This is mainly because the external factors collected under the rubric of globalisation are ultimately less influential in MENA countries which have highly influential sets of domestic factors that reflect long periods of internal social, cultural and political development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the contemporary debate in Muslim-Arab scholarship as to the compatibility of Islam and Western democracy. This debate centres on interpretations of shura, or consultation. The article claims that Islam, as a body of texts, traditions and practices, does not favour or reject any specific system of government. Rather, four main theories on Islam and democracy compete for hegemony: a theory integrating some aspects of Western democracy with shura and rejecting others; a theory dichotomizing shura and democracy; a theory contending that shura is democracy; and a theory legitimizing exiting political orders by defining them as manifestations of shura. The article examines the historical roots of each of these theories and analyzes the social-political roles they play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a genealogical sketch of the figure of the Muslim Other as it is figured in the post-Cold War popular and political imaginary. It explores why 'culture' has acquired a putative explanatory power in the post-Cold War (geo)politics. In addressing differentialist racism, it posits Islamophobia as an ideological response that conflates histories, politics, societies and cultures of the Middle East into a single unified and negative conception of an essentialized Islam, which is then deemed incompatible with Euro-Americaness. In this context, the category of brown, once the signifier of an exotic Other, is undergoing a transformation in conjunction with the deepening of Islamophobia, a formation that posits brown, as a strategy of identification, as alterity to the Euro-Americanness, and as terror and threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the historical trajectories of emergent attempts to deal with legacies of political violence in the Arab Middle East differ widely, certain commonalities can help us understand this new field across the region. On the one hand, evidence presented in this volume suggests that grassroots movements have to some extent succeeded in ending the politics of pretence and denial that long dominated Arab states. On the other hand, particular political groupings and media monopolize discourses of a universally applicable process of truth and reconciliation in a way that consciously makes use of international idioms, but effectively obfuscates other aspects of social and political justice and reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]