Human rights amidst despair in the Levant and the West

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 613-623
Author(s):  
Micheline Ishay
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The West ◽  
Pendulum Swing ◽  
Economic Progress ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Arab Spring

In 2019, protests in the streets of Algeria and Sudan, Lebanon and Iraq brought back the fragrance of the Jasmine revolution. Can the pendulum swing back towards democracy and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa region – and in Europe? What will it take to endure? I argue three points. First, I maintain that the human rights aspirations of the Arab Spring rippled across the West in 2011 as disenfranchised groups reacted to increasing social and economic grievances. Second, I contend that the failure to counter these problems has fed a vicious cycle of religious radicalism and right-wing nationalism. Third, I argue that despite widespread Western exhaustion and an inclination to disengage from turmoil in the Middle East, current circumstances make possible new international human rights initiatives, drawn from history, to advance civil liberties, economic progress, security and gender equality in the Middle East, the West and beyond.

Middle East Turmoil and Human Rights: How will the ‘New’ Regimes Expand Civil Liberties

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-87
Author(s):  
John W. Sutherlin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Governance Structures ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Civil Unrest

AbstractDuring the spring of 2011, there were a number of significant developments in North Africa and the Middle East. Specifically, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen all experienced levels of civil unrest not seen in more than a generation. Clearly there are cries for democracy and freedom, but what will this mean to groups that have historically been discriminated against or disenfranchised regardless of the type of regime in power? For example, will women fare any better as a result of a new government in Tunisia? Will gays in Cairo find a more tolerant government? Can ethnic or religious minorities in Tripoli endure or flourish? The answers to these questions get to the heart of meaningful transformations in governance structures in MENA states.

Party systems and ideological cleavages in the Middle East and North Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 135406881989429
Author(s):  
Abdullah Aydogan
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Mena Countries

Previous studies have contrasted the political party systems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with those in more democratic countries, raising three important points: (1) the religious–secular dimension, rather than the economic or social left–right, explains the underlying political party competition; (2) left-wing politics is relatively weaker than right-wing politics; and (3) parties that are traditionally known as rightist take left-leaning positions on numerous issue dimensions, and vice versa. Even though this particular literature on party politics in the MENA has greatly improved our understanding of political dynamics in the region, these studies have either lacked quantitative evidence to support these points or their evidence was limited to single-country cases. This study aims to address this issue by analyzing original expert survey data of the ideological positions of political parties in the MENA region. Results show that in addition to the religious–secular dimension, the economic left–right divide and the pace of political reforms are highly important dimensions. The study also provides numerous examples showing that the policy stances of leftist and rightist parties are significantly reversed when MENA countries are compared with more developed democracies.

The Abuse of Executive Prerogative: a Purposive Difference Between Detention in Black Africa and Detention in White Racist Africa

1976 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 38-43
Author(s):  
Eddison Jonas Mudadirwa Zvobgo
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Board Member ◽  
Political Prisoner ◽  
Ivory Tower ◽  
The West ◽  
Amnesty International ◽  
Maximum Security ◽  
Black Africa ◽  
Maximum Security Prison

As a lawyer, a law-teacher, a Board-member of Amnesty International (U.S.A.) and, more importantly, as an African revolutionary, matters of human rights are of grave concern to me. With racism and fascism gaining ground in the West, reactionary bourgeois chauvinism on the rampage in many of the newly liberated states in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and statist revisionist tyranny masquerading as revolutionary socialism in some of the socialist countries, few can afford ivory-tower debates involving human rights. Certainly I cannot, having spent seven years in Salisbury Maximum Security Prison as Ian Smith’s political prisoner.

The meta-geography of the Middle East and North Africa in Turkey’s new geopolitical imagination

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 431-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aylin Güney ◽  
Nazif Mandacı
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Critical Geopolitics ◽  
Syrian Crisis ◽  
Security Practices ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Geopolitical Imaginations

This article critically analyses Turkish security discourses connected to the meta-geography of the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) before and after the developments of the Arab Spring. A critical geopolitics approach and critical security theories in international relations provide the theoretical framework, as security discourses are considered to be a product of geopolitical imaginations and codes that, in turn, shape the making of foreign and security policies. First, the article examines the invention of BMENA as a meta-geography within Turkey’s new geopolitical imagination, as well as the new geopolitical codes underlying the new security discourses. Then, the article assesses the impact of the Arab Spring, which led to major changes in Turkey’s newly established geopolitical codes, formulated in the pre-Arab Spring period, and analyses the ruptures and continuities in Turkey’s security discourses in the light of those developments. Finally, the article concludes that the Arab Spring, especially the Syrian crisis, shifted the focus of Turkey’s foreign policy in BMENA from cooperation to conflict. This has led to a resecuritization of Turkey’s geopolitical codes, discourses and security practices in the region, revealing the limitation of Turkey’s current geopolitical imagination.

Geopolitics of Conflicts and Refugees in the Middle East and North Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 258-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
AKM Ahsan Ullah
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Refugee Policy ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Refugee Protection ◽  
Border Conflicts ◽  
The Arab Spring

Geopolitically intertwined and strategically significant refugee policy in the MENA region is frequently analyzed in light of well-documented ethnic, religious, class, and border conflicts. However, the policy is also inexorably linked to the broader geopolitics of the global refugee protection regime and discourse. This article analyzes the complex relationship between geopolitics, domestic political dynamics, and their attendant crises in the MENA region. The complex set of political shockwaves of the Arab Spring induced massive mobility of people which may compound incipient political tensions between and within MENA states.

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