scholarly journals Middle East Popular Politics in Gramscian Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-484
Author(s):  
John Chalcraft
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Literature ◽  
Middle East ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Popular Politics ◽  
Slow Moving ◽  
The Common ◽  
Middle East Studies

Abstract This article outlines a theoretical framework for researching popular politics in the Middle East and North Africa. It sketches a Gramscian alternative to existing approaches in materialist Marxism, cultural studies, and social movement studies. It also aims to think a Gramsci useful to historians, political scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists, beyond the common loci of Gramsci scholarship in political theory, comparative literature, and international relations. With a start point in Gramsci's philosophy of praxis, it puts forward a concept of popular politics as a mostly slow-moving, complex, and many-layered transformative activity, a form of historical protagonism comprising a variety of moments, capable of working changes on existing forms of hegemony and founding new social relations. The point is to enable researchers in Middle East studies to see and research popular politics, carry on a critique of transformative activity, and inform transformation in the present.

scholarly journals Crusaders in Reverse? The Emergence of Political Islam in the Middle East and the Reactions of British Foreign Policy, 1978–1990

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 196
Author(s):  
Ihab Shabana
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
International Relations ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
British Foreign Policy

British foreign policy in the Middle East has been well researched. However, there are still aspects of Britain’s approach towards the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) that have yet to be researched. One such aspect is Britain’s encounter with the rise of political Islam in MENA and the way(s) in which this phenomenon was deciphered. Even though political Islam dates back to the late 19th and early 20th century, our study focuses on the period between the turbulent years of the outburst of the Iranian Revolution in 1978–1979 and its widely-felt influence until 1990. Our methodological tools include Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) archival material that addresses the phenomenon of political Islam and its implications for British interests and international relations in general. We choose the concept of political Islam and its adherents that are widely acknowledged as political, comparatively to those of da’wa and Jihadi Islamism. We argue that British officials were widely influenced by the intellectual debates of the period under consideration and that they mainly adopted four analytical schemas which focused firstly on the rise of sectarian politics in MENA, secondly on the gradual accommodation of non-state actors and organizations in political analysis, thirdly on the worrisome prospect of an alliance between Islamist and communist forces, and lastly on the prevalence of the idea of Islamic solidarity and Islamic exceptionalism in exerting international politics. Our findings suggest that, at times, the FCO approaches the issue of political Islam with a reassuring mindset, focusing on its divisions and weaknesses, while at other times it analyzes it with a grave concern over stability and Britain’s critical interests.

Pensée 2: The “African” in Africana/Black/African and African American Studies

2009 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Somerville
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The Political ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Black African ◽  
Academic Fields ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Middle East Studies ◽  
Research And Policy

In Pensée 1, “Africa on My Mind,” Mervat Hatem questions the perceived wisdom of creating the African Studies Association (focused on sub-Saharan Africa) and the Middle East Studies Association a decade later, which “institutionalized the political bifurcation of the African continent into two academic fields.” The cleaving of Africa into separate and distinct parts—a North Africa/Middle East and a sub-Saharan Africa—rendered a great disservice to all Africans: it has fractured dialogue, research, and policy while preventing students and scholars of Africa from articulating a coherent understanding of the continent.

Pensée 4: Striking New State–Society Bargains over the Internet

2007 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 536-537
Author(s):  
JON W. ANDERSON
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Far East ◽  
The Internet ◽  
The West ◽  
Limited Access ◽  
The Far East ◽  
Middle East Studies ◽  
Middle Easterners

Not long ago a MESA Bulletin reader objected to introducing coverage of the Internet, saying that there were few Middle East studies online. However, you do find Middle Easterners. With increasingly accessible technology, there are thousands of websites that are added to listservs and now supplemented by blogs from, by, and about Middle Easterners. The trend has been from witness to participant. Yet the subjective register of the Internet in Middle East and North Africa is often a new example of exceptionalism: less free than in the West, less extensive than in the Far East, slow to grow and stunted when it does, with limited access and high costs that confine it demographically and culturally, not to mention politically. That is also what most comparative measures tell, but those do not measure what is happening. Early interest a decade ago has subsequently faded—or phased—into something more interesting than another story of absences.

(Not) Getting Religion: Has Political Science Lost Sight of Islam?

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sultan Tepe ◽  
Betul Demirkaya
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Annual Meeting ◽  
North Africa ◽  
American Political Science Association ◽  
Area Studies ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
American Political Science ◽  
Middle East Studies ◽  
Science Association

AbstractIn this analysis, we expand the debate on the place of religion in political science by using the predictions of Wald and Wilcox as our starting point. Following in their footsteps, we ask how political scientists have studied Islam since 2002 and identify the studies on Islam and Muslims at the flagship conference of the discipline, the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association. We evaluate not only the quantity but also the approaches employed by these studies. In order to gauge the balancing of roles (or lack thereof) between the discipline and area studies, we also take a closer look at the Middle East Studies Association, the largest association focused on the Middle East, North Africa and the Islamic world and its annual meetings during the same period. Our findings suggest that, unless carefully addressed, the prevailing patterns are likely to result in a crippling knowledge gap among political scientists.

Introduction: The Middle East and International Relations

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Louise Fawcett
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
Contemporary Politics ◽  
The Rich ◽  
External Forces ◽  
Middle East Studies

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the study of international relations in the Middle East. The two disciplines of international relations and Middle East studies are highly interdependent. No book on the contemporary politics of the Middle East can possibly ignore the way in which external forces have shaped the development of the region's politics, economics, and societies. Similarly, no international relations text can ignore the rich cases that the Middle East has supplied, and how they illuminate different theories and concepts of the discipline, whether in respect of patterns of war and peace, identity politics, or international political economy. The chapter then looks at some of the particular problems that arise in studying the international relations of the Middle East.

scholarly journals EDITORIAL FOREWORD

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-373
Author(s):  
Akram Khater ◽  
Jeffrey Culang
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Board Member ◽  
Editorial Board Member ◽  
Dear Colleague ◽  
Sense Of Humor ◽  
Sense Of Justice ◽  
Middle East Studies ◽  
Editorial Foreword

It is with deep sorrow that we open this issue with the announcement that IJMES editorial board member Barbara Harlow has passed away. We mourn the unexpected loss of our dear colleague, one of the most brilliant and accomplished scholars in Middle East studies. In addition to her influential work, Barbara was known for her keen mind, generous spirit, and gentle sense of humor, coupled with an unabiding sense of justice. She will be sorely missed by the IJMES and Middle East and North Africa studies families. We encourage you to read Tarek al-Ariss's moving tribute to Barbara published at the end of this issue.

The MESA Global Academy: Sustaining Knowledge Production Among MENA Scholars

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 314-317
Author(s):  
Mimi Kirk
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Research Collaborations ◽  
Academic Trajectory ◽  
Middle East Studies

The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Global Academy is an initiative that sustains research collaborations and knowledge production among regionally-focused scholars from the Middle East and North Africa and their counterparts outside the region. Spearheaded by MESA, the project is an expression of the scholarly field's commitment to scholarship in and from the region. By awarding scholarships to displaced scholars from the MENA region currently located in North America, and thereby enabling them to attend meetings, workshops, and conferences, the project supports individuals whose academic trajectory has been adversely affected by developments in their home countries.

A Dictionary of Politics in the Middle East

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
International Relations ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
State Theory ◽  
Rentier State ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
Subject Areas ◽  
The Arab Spring

Over 300 entriesThis dictionary provides a useful overview of the wide array of political structures and systems that comprise the contemporary Middle East. From Turkey through Iraq and Iran, to the Arabian Peninsula and the states of North Africa, it includes up-to-date definitions of political organizations, key political figures, and important developments, as well as region-specific concepts such as Majlis, academic terms such as rentier state theory, and events such as the Arab Spring.It is an essential reference resource for students taking courses or modules in politics in the Middle East or broader subject areas such as politics, history, economics, and international relations with a specific focus on Middle Eastern politics.

Middle East/North Africa Program, University of Southern California

1963 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 384-385
Author(s):  
Willard A. Beling
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
International Relations ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
University Of Southern California ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Oriental Studies ◽  
The University ◽  
Academic Year

The University introduced area courses on the Middle East and North Africa into its regular offerings in the academic year 1960–1. This Program is a part of the School of International Relations, and focuses on contemporary area problems, in contrast to the more traditional approach of oriental studies. It also differs by concentrating on both the Mashriq (East) and the Maghreb (North Africa), rather than solely on the eastern Mediterranean. The community of interests, language, and culture of these two regions, plus the increasing importance of North Africa in world affairs, emphasises the practicality of this treatment.

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