[The Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI) brings you the fourth in a series of “Peer-Reviewed Article Reviews” in which we present a collection of journals and their articles concerned with the Middle East and Arab world. This series will be published seasonally. Each issue will comprise one-to-three parts, depending on the number of articles included.]
Acta Politica (Volume 53, Issue 2)
Does intra-party democracy affect levels of trust in parties? The cases of Belgium and Israel
By: Yael Shomer, Gert-Jan Put, Einat Gedalya-Lavy
Abstract: Previous research has shown a steady decline of citizen’s political trust and growing skepticism towards key institutions of representative democracy. Political parties, which perform the crucial role of linking citizens to the political system, are in the eye of the storm: citizens are generally more distrusting towards parties than other social and political institutions. The relevant literature mentions that parties often implement intra-party democratization to remedy party distrust. This article examines whether democratic candidate selection processes actually affect party trust among voters. The analysis is based on the cases of Belgium and Israel, where politicians made a strong case for intra-party democracy in recent history. The results indicate that, while inclusive selectorates indeed increase trust levels, decentralization decreases trust towards parties in both countries.
By: Hilde Coffé
Abstract: There is an ongoing debate in the public opinion and voting behaviour literature on whether policy content or party cues determine voters’ opinions and electoral behaviour. This study focuses on the issue of the integration of immigrants, and assesses to what extent the policy content and a radical right party label relate to voters’ likelihood of agreeing with the policy and of voting for the candidate introducing the policy. The analysis, using experimental video data with hypothetical political candidates embedded in a representative Dutch survey (LISS) (N = 3249), reveals that the influence of the radical right label is limited. It only negatively affects the likelihood of supporting a candidate and agreeing with the policy among voters who do not support a mainstream right or radical right party. The content of the policy plays a major role. In particular, a radical right compared with mainstream right policy towards the integration of immigrants decreases the likelihood of agreeing with the policy and supporting the candidate presenting such a policy among non-radical right voters. Radical right voters are substantially more likely to agree with a restrictive migration policy and to support a candidate presenting such a policy than voters of all other parties.
American Journal of Political Science (Volume 62, Issue 2)
Sectarian Framing in the Syrian Civil War
By: Daniel Corstange, Erin A. York
Abstract: How do civilians respond to civil war narratives? Do they react to ethnic frames more strongly than to alternatives? Governments and rebels battle for hearts and minds as well as strategic terrain, and winning the narrative war can shift legitimacy, popular support, and material resources to the sympathetically framed side. We examine the effect of one‐sided and competing war discourses on ordinary people’s understandings of the Syrian civil war—a conflict with multiple narratives, but which has become more communal over time. We conduct a framing experiment with a representative sample of Syrian refugees in Lebanon in which we vary the narrative that describes the reasons for the conflict. We find that sectarian explanations, framed in isolation, strongly increase the importance government supporters place on fighting. When counterframed against competing narratives, however, the rallying effect of sectarianism drops and vanishes.
American Political Science Review (Volume 112, Issue 2)
Social and Institutional Origins of Political Islam
By: Steven Brooke, Neil Ketchley
Abstract: Under what conditions did the first Islamist movements organize? Which social and institutional contexts facilitated such mobilization? A sizable literature points to social and demographic changes, Western encroachment into Muslim societies, and the availability of state and economic infrastructure. To test these hypotheses, we match a listing of Muslim Brotherhood branches founded in interwar Egypt with contemporaneous census data on over four thousand subdistricts. A multilevel analysis shows that Muslim Brotherhood branches were more likely in subdistricts connected to the railway and where literacy was higher. Branches were less likely in districts with large European populations, and where state administration was more extensive. Qualitative evidence also points to the railway as key to the movement’s propagation. These findings challenge the orthodoxy that contact between Muslims and the West spurred the growth of organized political Islam, and instead highlight the critical role of economic and state infrastructure in patterning the early contexts of Islamist activism.
Anthropology & Education Quarterly (Volume 49, Issue 2)
Care or Neglect?: Corporal Discipline Reform in a Rural Moroccan Classroom
By: Christine Nutter El Ouardani
Abstract: I examine parent, student, and teacher reactions in a rural Moroccan village to a national ban on corporal punishment in schools. I argue that although the ban has largely been ignored in the local primary school, talk about acts of corporal punishment are used to make claims about the relationship between rural citizen and state as represented by the teachers because of the way in which these practices index care and authority.
British Journal of Political Science (Volume 48, Issue 2)
By: Karolina M. Milewicz, Robert E. Goodin
Abstract: Theories of deliberation, developed largely in the context of domestic politics, are becoming increasingly relevant for international politics. The recently established Universal Periodic Review (UPR) operating under the auspices of the United Nation’s Human Rights Council is an excellent illustration. Our analysis of responses to its reports and recommendations suggests that the deliberative processes surrounding the UPR do indeed evoke co-operative responses even from countries with poor human rights records. Its highly inclusive, deliberative, repeated-play and peer-to-peer nature can serve as a model for how international organizations more generally can enhance deliberative capacity across the international system.
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (Issue 379)
By: Omer Sergi, Assaf Kleiman
Abstract: Fragmented texts in the Hebrew Bible mention a kingdom named Geshur, usually in contexts that denote its independent existence and relations with King David’s royal court (e.g., 2 Sam 3:3; 13:37–38; 14:32; 15:8). Scholars investigating the history of this kingdom have frequently commented on the ambiguous and non-informative nature of these verses, especially in regard to political history and foreign affairs. Others have emphasized the contribution of archaeological research for elucidating some of the aspects mentioned above, and, in particular, for demonstrating the existence of a territorial entity around the Sea of Galilee during the early first millennium B.C.E. Nonetheless, the dynamic discussion has not inspired a re-evaluation of the archaeological record in the northern Jordan Valley, the presumed home of the Geshurites, and most scholars have uncritically adopted the traditional archaeological views regarding the dating of sites located in this region. In this article, we challenge the common dating of some key sites (e.g., et-Tell and Tel ʿEn Gev) and consequently re-examine the nature of the political formation that emerged in the region in the early Iron Age and its possible identification with the kingdom of Geshur.
Late 1st-Millennium B.C.E. Levantine Dog Burials as an Extension of Human Mortuary Behavior
By: Helen Dixon
Abstract: Simple dog burials, dating primarily to the second half of the first millennium B.C.E. (Persian–Hellenistic periods [ca. sixth–first centuries B.C.E.]), have been excavated at more than a dozen Levantine sites, ranging from a handful of burials to more than one thousand at Ashkelon. This study systematizes previously discussed canine interments, distinguishing intentional whole burials from other phenomena (e.g., dogs found in refuse pits), and suggests a new interpretation in light of human mortuary practice in the Iron Age II–III-period (ca. tenth–fourth centuries B.C.E.) Levant. The buried dogs seem to be individuals from unmanaged populations living within human settlements and not pets or working dogs. Frequent references to dogs in literary and epigraphic Northwest Semitic evidence (including Hebrew, Phoenician, and Punic personal names) indicate a complex, familiar relationship between dogs and humans in the Iron Age Levant, which included positive associations such as loyalty and obedience. At some point in the mid-first millennium B.C.E., mortuary rites began to be performed by humans for their feral canine “neighbors” in a manner resembling contemporaneous low-energy–expenditure human burials. This behavioral change may represent a shift in the conception of social boundaries in the Achaemenid–Hellenistic-period Levant.
By: Daphna Ben-Tor
Abstract: In a recent article published in the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 375, Felix Höflmayer and his colleagues present a set of radiocarbon data from Tell el-Burak on the Lebanese coast and claim that these data argue for dating the early phase of the Middle Bronze Age in the Levant (Middle Bronze Age IIA/I) between ca. 2000 and the early eighteenth century B.C. Considering these radiocarbon dates, the authors assert that the low chronology for this period suggested by Manfred Bietak, based on archaeological evidence from Tell el-Dabʿa, should be raised by roughly 120 years. The aim of this article is to show that ceramic and glyptic evidence from Egypt and the Levant firmly support the low chronology and historical synchronisms proposed by Bietak.
Archaeology and Conservation of the Middle Phrygian Gate Complex at Gordion, Turkey
By: Semih Gönen, Richard F. Liebhart, Naomi F. Miller, Elspeth R. M. Dusinberre
Abstract: In 2016, a project was undertaken at Gordion, Turkey, to stabilize and conserve the remains of a rubble platform built early in the Middle Phrygian period (ca. 800–700 B.C.E.) under the vast Gate Complex leading to the megarons on the Citadel Mound. In the process, aspects of Middle Phrygian building strategies came to light that enhanced our understanding gained from the original excavation in the 1950s. This article outlines the archaeology of the Middle Phrygian Gate Complex and the sophisticated internal structures that lent stability to the rubble platform upon which it was built, and examines the recent evaluation and stabilization of the remaining rubble. Internal walls that created a casemate-like structure, combined with strategically placed juniper logs, assisted with the construction of the rubble fill and its structural stability. The use of water-soluble gypsum in the rubble led to the eventual collapse of the walls in antiquity. Conservation and stabilization in 2016 illuminated these features, made the rubble safe again, and improved the visitor’s experience of the site, allowing the gateway of the Early Phrygian period behind the Middle Phrygian Gate Complex to come into its own as a visible access point to the megarons within.
By: Ianir Milevski, Nimrod Getzov, Amir Ganor
Abstract: This article presents a newly discovered figurine of chalky limestone found at a cave close to Tel Halif in the northern Negev during salvage excavations conducted after the cave was partially looted. The figurine is compared with the corpus of figurines with similar iconographic characteristics. Two exemplars found years earlier at Tel Halif itself are re-examined. In light of new data, it is suggested that these figurines should be dated to the Chalcolithic period.
A Double Abecedary? Halaḥam and ʾAbgad on the TT99 Ostracon
By: Thomas Schneider
Abstract: This article attempts to advance the debate on the terms inscribed on an ostracon of the Egyptian 18th Dynasty from the excavation of Theban Tomb 99, suggested by Ben Haring to contain the first historical attestation of the Halaḥam sequence. It presents new etymologies for the words listed on the two sides of the document, all of them in Egyptian syllabic writing. The obverse contains at least the five initial consonants of the Halaḥam sequence; the words of the acrostic may form a mnemonic verse. Additionally, the reverse side may provide the first historical attestation of the beginning of the second and historically more consequential ancient alphabet sequence, the ʾAbgad. This sheds important new light on the history of the Semitic alphabets and Egyptian knowledge of alphabetic ordering in the fifteenth century B.C.E.
Distancing the Dead: Late Chalcolithic Burials in Large Maze Caves in the Negev Desert, Israel
By: Uri Davidovich, Micka Ullman, Boaz Langford, Amos Frumkin, Dafina Langgut, Naama Yahalom-Mack, Julia Abramov, Nimrod Marom
Abstract: The Late Chalcolithic of the southern Levant (ca. 4500–3800 B.C.E.) is known for its extensive use of the subterranean sphere for mortuary practices. Numerous natural and hewn caves, constituting formal extramural cemeteries, were used as secondary burial localities for multiple individuals, refecting and reaffirming social order and/or communal identity and ideology. Recently, two large complex caves located in the northern Negev Highlands, south of the densely settled Late Chalcolithic province of the Beersheba Valley, yielded skeletal evidence for secondary interment of select individuals accompanied by sets of material culture that share distinct similarities. The observed patterns suggest that the interred individuals belonged to sedentary communities engaging in animal husbandry, and they were deliberately distanced after their death, both above-ground (into the desert) and underground (deep inside subterranean mazes), deviating from common cultural practices.
Climate, Settlement History, and Olive Cultivation in the Iron Age Southern Levant
By: Israel Finkelstein, Dafina Langgut
Abstract: In this article, we suggest a palaeo-climate reconstruction of the Iron Age based on pollen diagrams for sediment cores extracted from the center of the Sea of Galilee and from the Zeʾelim ravine on the western shore of the Dead Sea. We describe three pollen zones that roughly correspond to the Iron Age I, Iron Age IIA, and Iron Age IIB–C. Pollen Zone 1 (ca. 1100–950 B.C.E.) is characterized by high arboreal and olive pollen percentages in both records, representing relatively wet climate conditions and intense olive cultivation in the regions west of the lakes. Pollen Zones 2 (ca. 950–750 B.C.E.) and 3 (ca. 750–550 B.C.E.) are typified by a profound reduction in olive cultivation. Based on Mediterranean tree pollen percentages in the Sea of Galilee record and sediment characteristics in the Zeʾelim profile, climate conditions still seem to have been humid, albeit slightly less than in Pollen Zone 1. The low arboreal pollen in Pollen Zones 2 and 3 in the Zeʾelim diagram is probably the result of intense human influence on the natural vegetation in the Judaean highlands. The lowest olive pollen values during the Bronze and Iron Ages were documented in both records at ca. 700 B.C.E., possibly the outcome of depopulation as a result of deportation and the succeeding abandonment of olive orchards. These and other trends discussed in the article show that climate is only one of the factors that influenced settlement processes and economic trends in antiquity.
Neolithic Kritou Marottou-Ais Giorkis, Cyprus—Living in the Uplands
By: Alan Henri Simmons, Katelyn DiBenedetto, Levi Keach
Abstract: For many years, the “Neolithic Package” was believed to be a latecomer to the Mediterranean islands. The oldest Neolithic remains were those from the Cypriot aceramic Khirokitia Culture, starting around 7000 CAL B.C. Late by mainland standards, the Khirokitia Culture had few parallels with either the Levantine or Anatolian mainland from which it derived. Recent research, however, has revolutionized perspectives on the colonization of these islands, with Cyprus again playing a major role. We now know that the island had a pre-Neolithic occupation around twelve thousand years ago. In addition, an early Neolithic occupation predating the Khirokitia Culture has been documented, with both Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and B (or Cypro-PPNB) phases as early as those on the mainland. Most sites are coastal; however, Cypro-PPNB Ais Giorkis is located in the foothills. Interdisciplinary excavations have revealed it to be a unique occurrence, with some of the earliest directly dated domesticates in the Near East, unusual architecture, and evidence for trade and feasting—all of which are summarized here. Ais Giorkis contributes to emerging research on Cyprus that has reoriented how we view island colonization, early seafaring abilities, domestication processes and accompanying social changes, and the spread of the Neolithic from its core areas.
Four Iron Age Silver Hoards from Southern Phoenicia: From Bundles to Hacksilber
By: Tzilla Eshel, Naama Yahalom-Mack, Sariel Shalev, Ofir Tirosh, Yigal Erel, Ayelet Gilboa
Abstract: Iron Age silver in the Levant has attracted scholarly attention regarding its function as currency. Scholars debate whether hacksilber can be interpreted as representing a pre-monetary economic system, using pre-portioned silver exchanged in standardized weights, which inspired the invention of coins. In this study, four Iron Age silver hoards from southern Phoenicia (Tell Keisan, Tel Dor, ʿEin Hofez, and ʿAkko) are examined from archaeological and analytical perspectives. The combination of a contextual analysis of the hoards, a typological study of the items in them, chemical analysis, and comparison with other Bronze and Iron Age southern Levantine hoards implies that the use of silver as currency changed throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages. In particular, contrary to common interpretations, the hoarding of silver in stamped bundles and the practice of hacking silver do not represent a single phenomenon. Rather, bundling was gradually replaced by the practice of hacking silver ingots to verify their quality. In Iron Age II, during every transaction, the hacked items were weighed using miniature silver items to balance the scales. We conclude that the “hacked silver” economic system was not based on “pre-weighing” and therefore cannot be defined as heralding the use of coins.
Comparative Political Studies (Volume 51, Issue 2)
New Approaches to Citizen-Building: Shifting Needs, Goals, and Outcomes
By: Calvert W. Jones
Abstract: New approaches to citizen-building are flourishing, yet theoretical tools are lacking and empirical research is limited. This article contributes in several ways. Theoretically, it offers a reconceptualization of the traditional “making of citizens” framework, aiming to adapt it to contemporary needs and concerns. Empirically, it offers an examination of the content of civics curricula as well as original data on the outcomes of an ambitious state-led social engineering campaign in the United Arab Emirates, where leaders seek to build more “globalization-ready” citizens—more entrepreneurial, market friendly, patriotic, and civic minded, yet still loyal to the regime. Using a difference-in-differences framework, I find evidence that social engineering is succeeding in some respects but backfiring in others, giving rise to citizens not only more patriotic but also more entitled—in other words, entitled patriots. Findings contribute to knowledge of state-led social engineering and citizen-building in the contemporary era.
Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East (Volume 38, Issue 1)
Palestine: Doing Things with Archives
By: Lila Abu-Lughod
Abstract: Abu-Lughod’s piece introduces the special section “Palestine: Doing Things with Archives.” The four essays in this forum explore the challenges and possibilities of archives. They not only do what historians excel at—uncovering or illuminating past moments that reframe our understandings of the past and present—but they linger on less conventional questions of the materialities and effects of archives, as well as the formidable challenges archives present for assembly, authority, access, categorization, and political futures.
How I Met My Great-Grandfather: Archives and the Writing of History
By: Sherene Seikaly
Abstract: Seikaly’s article reflects on a decade of research, contingent, accidental, and unconsciously autobiographical, to explore archival practices and the writing of history. She recounts her experience of stumbling across family papers that carried the story of Naim Cotran as a “man of capital.” She details Naim’s consumerism, his financial investments and property, and his land dispute with his brother, and then traces his experience of dispossession after the Nakba as a refugee in Lebanon. What happened to a man of capital who survived the catastrophe of 1948? What allows an archive to survive that event? What stories does it record and what does it render invisible?
Edward Said, the AAUG, and Arab American Archival Methods
By: Sarah M. A. Gualtieri
Abstract: Gualtieri’s article explores Edward Said’s participation in the Association of Arab American University Graduates (AAUG), an organization formed in the wake of the 1967 June War and for which Said served as vice president in the early 1970s. Describing itself as “an educational, cultural organization whose purpose is the dissemination of information,” the AAUG produced materials “expressive of the Arab point of view.” Many of the publications of the AAUG are considered to be foundational texts in Arab American studies. While much has been written about Said’s oeuvre in relation to postcolonial and literary studies, little is known about his connection to Arab American activism and scholarly production. Using the archives of the AAUG—including correspondence, position papers, memos, and the journal Arab Studies Quarterly—this article argues that the AAUG served as an incubator for Said’s theories in The Question of Palestine, Orientalism, and Covering Islam. It therefore seeks to draw out the connections among Saidian postcolonial theory, Arab American subjectivity, and archival practice.
By: Gil Hochberg
Abstract: This essay engages with two essay-films by the Palestinian artist Jumana Manna in order to advance a conversation about the politics of the archive and the role of creative engagement with “minor archives” in generating antihegemonic, antinationalist, and off-centered memory paths. The possibilities opened at the level of artistic representation by acting on the archive—altering, re-enacting, reproducing and relocating it—are central themes in Hochberg’s discussion, as are the related questions about the temporality of the archive, the role of ethnography, and Orientalism, in both limiting and facilitating the creation of alternative counter-dominant narratives that challenge notions of (national) coherence and cultural authenticity and purity.
By: Ann Laura Stoler
Abstract: Stoler’s article is an exercise in imagining how a collective might go about shaping the imaginative geography of a Palestinian archive. At issue is an archival assembly that is not constrained by the command—in form and content—dictated by colonial state priorities or even by Palestinian authorities. What concerns should be weighed and who shall be its archons? How might a principle and practice of dissensus speak to and through a vastly deterritorialized populace? Might this diasporic reality provide the very strength of this archive, its exemplary status, and political grace?
Turkey Psychoanalyzed, Psychoanalysis Turkified: The Case of İzzettin Şadan
By: Kutluğhan Soyubol
Abstract: Considering translation as a convoluted process of transformation between different cultures, this article scrutinizes the work of İzzettin Şadan, the initiator of psychoanalysis in Turkey. Through translations of the works of Western psychoanalysts such as Sigmund Freud, Ernest Jones, and others, Şadan attempted to produce a Turkish psychoanalytic canon. This canon nonetheless was bound to be different in form as it filtered through the cultural and socio-political structures of the early Turkish Republic. The article argues that Şadanian psychoanalysis accordingly engendered novel psychoanalytic meanings and conceptualizations. It also emerged to represent symbolically a resistance to, if not a break from, some features of Western (Freudian) psychoanalytic discourse, including those that relate to society and civilization. In sum, through a close reading of Şadan’s writings, the article demonstrates how the translation of psychoanalysis into Turkish involved in the process its reconfiguration to accommodate the cultural and sociohistorical conditions of the early Turkish Republic.
By: Sanem Güvenç-Salgırlı, Bahar Aykan
Abstract: Spheres of life incorporated within the orbit of security have been multiplying rapidly for the last two decades, marking a global trend. Turkey is no exception. In between multiple layers of the governmental structure, more and more areas are looped into matters of security. This article tries to make sense of this process by looking into the short video clips (or “public spots”) produced by the ministries, made allegedly to inform and educate the public on a variety of issues. Analyzing these clips, Güvenç-Salgırlı and Aykan observe the spread of security having a centrifugal expansion, without any preplanned direction. In so doing it is not only incorporating fields previously unimagined under its domain, but also it produces circuits, which are made up of elements and events that form an environment (milieu) where individuals are expected to govern through their capacities as self-entrepreneurs.
Islamic Law, Truth, Ethics: Fatwa and Jurisprudence of the Revolution
By: Youssef Belal
Abstract: This article is devoted to the study of questions of knowledge, law, and ethics in Islamic context. Starting with a discussion of assumptions about Islamic ethical practices in recent anthropological and historical works on the fatwa, it explores procedures of truth seeking and modes of reasoning in legal opinions authored by Islamic scholars, notably Yusuf al-Qaradawi, at the time of the Egyptian Revolution (2011). This text analyzes also the relationship between interiority and exteriority in ethical practices enabled by these legal options and exemplified by the assessment of the ruler’s faith. It studies the extent to which the very revolutionary gesture informs Islamic scholars’ own legal and ethical practice and enlightens anew the relationship between the inner and the outer as well as between the self and others. Finally, it explores the articulation between Islamic law and revolution in the Egyptian context and the ways in which the former’s authoritativeness and ethical performativity is re-enacted, in contradistinction to Western liberal revolutions instituting a new legal order declaring its rupture with the past law and indifferent to the individual’s morality.
Contemporary Arab Affairs (Volume 11, Issue 1-2)
Knowledge in Times of Crisis: Europe and the Middle East
By: Madawi Al-Rasheed
Abstract: This keynote speech addresses the context of producing knowledge about the Middle East and the problematic nature of this production especially at times of crisis. In order to evaluate this knowledge, we must consider the current context in which Middle East countries are engulfed. I argue that the so-called crisis in the Middle East is a reflection of another crisis in Europe, and that both have important consequences on the production of knowledge. The two crises are mirrors of each other and cannot be understood as isolated regional issues.
Reforming Arab Reason: An Inevitable-Possible Mission
By: Khalid Shibib
Abstract: As a humanitarian worker who was professionally involved for decades in crisis- and war-shaken countries, the author strove to understand the political, socioeconomic, and cultural factors contributing to conflicts. This contextualization, with a focus on Arab countries, confirmed what other thinkers found: the majority of political, economic, social, cultural, religious, and finally humanitarian crises in the Arab world are man-made and can be attributed to both extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Central to the latter appears to be a shared cultural construct that can be termed “Arab reason.” This essay tries to present information on various aspects of the crisis; to understand why reform efforts come so late and why are they are more difficult for Arabs than for other Muslims. It continues by looking at the knowledge systems that govern Arab reason and their evolution, including the decisive role of the religious knowledge system. From there, it proposes some reform ideas including a renewed legal reasoning process with the goal of a future-oriented, knowledge-based, and inclusive Arab Islamic vision. A pragmatic way forward could be an additional unifying eighth legal school (madhhab/bmadhahib) to counter sectarian conflicts and violence. This essay is built on a targeted literature search and is not a comprehensive review of the growing literature generated by distinguished thinkers on various aspects of Arab Islamic identity.
By: Wisam Kh. Abdul-Jabbar
Abstract: This study explores Habermas’s work in terms of the relevance of his theory of the public sphere to the politics and poetics of the Arab oral tradition and its pedagogical practices. In what ways and forms does Arab heritage inform a public sphere of resistance or dissent? How does Habermas’s notion of the public space help or hinder a better understanding of the Arab oral tradition within the sociopolitical and educational landscape of the Arabic-speaking world? This study also explores the pedagogical implications of teaching Arab orality within the context of the public sphere as a contested site that informs a mode of resistance against social inequality and sociopolitical exclusions.
Islamic-Secular Dialogue in the Arab World: A Crisis of Communication and the Revival of Violence
By: Mohammed El-Msaoui
Abstract: Many debates between Islamists and secularists have taken place in the Arab political sphere with the aim of building bridges of communication between the two actors who contributed to the transformations that have taken place in the Arab world. Despite the multiple dialogues between Islamists and secularists, conflict and tension have prevailed on both sides, with conflict taking on all forms of material and moral violence. One of the most significant indicators of the crisis in communication is the emergence of violence. That being so, this study broaches the problem using Habermas’s basic idea, which focuses on violence as a disease of human discourse and communication. According to Habermas, violence is the result of distorted discourse between fundamentalists and others; it is a distorted discourse because it does not recognize the other as it is. The study employs the Habermas communicative action theory as a central concept. Accordingly, Habermas’s theory of communication is invoked to understand the causes of the escalation of violence in the Arab political sphere.
Islamist and Non-Islamist Currents and the Struggle for Post-Gaddafi Libya
By: Youssef Mohammad Sawani
Abstract: This paper examines the origin and the relationship between Islamist and non-Islamist political trends in Libya, highlighting the development of the contestation between the two before and after the fall of Gaddafi’s rule. The relationship appears to be that of a contestation between Islamists and liberals but this may be misleading. Islamists are not united but they share an adherence to the establishment of a Muslim society and some form of a khilafa. However, non-Islamists may not easily be identified as “on current.” Indeed, the “current” includes an array of political factions of various dispensations with some not necessarily subscribing to liberal models of democracy. Some belong to pre-Gaddafi-era political parties or were political and human rights’ activists during Gaddafi’s reign. They range from leftist, nationalist, and liberal orientations to populist Arab nationalist forces (including the Ba‘th, Pan-Arabists, and others with socialist or communist orientations). When the uprising took place in 2011, the positions each trend took differed before some tactical unity was deemed necessary. When the regime fell, however, differences remerged and became more evident once the transitional structures were put in place. Just before and during the first elections in 2012, Islamists broke ranks with their struggle comrades and fired their cannons at the leaders of the liberal, nationalist, and other elements within the non-Islamist orientations. Islam then became crucial in political expression and rhetoric, especially for Islamist actors. Focusing on the development of this contestation, this paper analyzes the reaction of both Islamist and non-Islamist trends to the policies and tactics adopted by each side in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising and the post-Gaddafi phase. It suggests that although ideology, specifically references to Islam, became crucial in the political contention between Islamists and non-Islamists, the cleavage was not entirely ideological, as both trends considered the Islamic identity of Libya central to their political programs. The interviews with leading representatives of both trends that the author conducted for the purpose of writing this article confirm such a view on the role of ideology in the contestation. As the following discussion indicates, ideology is evidently part and parcel of each sides’ tools, ready to be employed against the other. However, when it does not suit all their purposes, they claim ideology has no role, offering insights into the instrumental and tactical approach to the ongoing contestation of both sides. The article therefore examines the struggle between the two factions as a political competition for the control of resources and positions of power, yet it also argues that ideology and ideas have a role to play, as they constitute the instruments deployed in this struggle, which has, with foreign involvement and backing of different sides, reduced Libya to a “failed state.” In fact although ideological contraposition figures in the contestation, political factionalism and contention in post-2011 were actually fuelled by political factors related to the struggle over access to power and resources, which are instrumental in enabling each side to shape the future state and its political order according to their plans. The struggle between Islamists and non-Islamists may have been the most visible, but it is certainly not the most significant factor in explaining the political dynamics and contention in the country since the fall of Gaddafi.
Islamists in Power: The Experience of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
By: Ahmed Zaghloul Shalata
Abstract: In the first parliamentary elections after Mr. Mubarak’s overthrow in February 2011, the Muslim Brotherhood’s newly formed Freedom and Justice Party had won nearly half the seats in the People’s Assembly. The Muslim Brotherhood, had, over the two previous years, gained political expansion in parliament. The Brotherhood entered into a coalition with other Islamist parties including two Salafist parties, forming an Islamist bloc, but their experience ended with their removal from power and significant changes in the structure of the Brotherhood.
Based on the political programs of the Islamist parties in Egypt, this article seeks to analyze the experience of Islamists in power by focusing on their practical perceptions of the Islamist political system.
The article concludes that the political Islamist organizations lacked a coherent mechanism to propel them from the stage of the organization’s (political party) management to a stage of state administration. Egyptian Islamist groups had no specific perception of the nature of the state, or of an applied model to implement the “Islamic state.” Although these groups had a declared project, which they had been attempting to establish for decades, their focus was solely on discussing the expected outcome they had hoped to achieve, while neglecting to elaborate on how their affairs could be run, once in power. This shortfall was due to an accumulation of the multiple problems the groups had faced, whether they be conceptual reasons of state, power issues, or the organizational obstacles strewn along the paths of the components that comprised the group, which had prevented them, over decades, from overcoming them. Hence, the traditional mechanisms they continued to apply while in power proved inadequate in responding to the crises inherent in the experience of government. They failed to introduce new mechanisms to address the issues as dictated by the necessity for practical experience and solutions once they had attained power.
Social Exclusion and the Growing Involvement of Tunisian Youth in the Salafi Movement: A Field Study
By: Majed Karoui
Abstract: The Salafi movement in Tunisia in general and in the area of Sidi Ali Ben Aoun in particular, emerged as an antisocial movement that adopted the defense of a cultural identity based mainly on the rejection of democracy and the foundations of the modern state, seeking change in every way through a set of well-studied strategies that made young people deeply involved. In general, the Salafi movement is not separated from the social context in which it was born. It is also a reflection of the social actors who, by engaging in the Salafi movement, desire to achieve their objectives in negotiations. The Salafi movement is a social movement born out of the womb of society and its crises. It then adopted the same society, which has been muddling in the ignorance of religion and worldly dichotomies, as a target for change. This study attributes the growth in the number of Salafist youth to social exclusion. The social conditions of the youth in the Tunisian town of Sidi Ali Ben Aoun and of Tunisian youth in general make them look for alternatives that will provides them with what the state and its institutions failed to provide: an income and a small capital that will elevate their status in the social pyramid as belonging to the surviving group. The research will focus on the relationship between the social exclusion of Tunisian youth and the growing involvement of the Salafi movement. The following questions reflect the core issues behind this investigation:
What are the representations of the youth of Sidi Ali Ben Aoun to the Salafi movement in their actions and interactions? How does social exclusion contribute to the growing involvement of Tunisian and Ben Aouni youth in the Salafi movement?
By: Salem Sari
Abstract: This study attempts to reveal the futility of perceptions of the state as self-established and self-sufficient. It argues that the state can only function if it is communicated and not separated. The study criticizes social, classical, and modern theories, searching for the contents, contexts, and mechanisms of the main concepts that continue to constitute the major problems to the theory of political partnership. The focus is on the theory of Habermas and his concepts of democracy, communicative action, and public space, which can be built today into an in-depth theory of sociopolitical partnership in a modern civil state.
The Tribal Impact on Political Stability in Sudan
By: Abdu Mukhtar Musa
Abstract: As in most Arab and Third World countries, the tribal structure is an anthropological reality and a sociological particularity in Sudan. Despite development and modernity aspects in many major cities and urban areas in Sudan, the tribe and the tribal structure still maintain their status as a psychological and cultural structure that frames patterns of behavior, including the political behavior, and influence the political process. This situation has largely increased in the last three decades under the rule of the Islamic Movement in Sudan, because of the tribe politicization and the ethnicization of politics, as this research reveals. This research is based on an essential hypothesis that the politicization of tribalism is one of the main reasons for the tribal conflict escalation in Sudan. It discusses a central question: Who is responsible for the tribal conflicts in Sudan?
The Fragmentation of the Palestinian Political Field: Sources and Ramifications
By: Jamil Hilal
Abstract: The mid-1960s saw the beginnings of the construction of a Palestinian political field after it collapsed in 1948, when, with the British government’s support of the Zionist movement, which succeeded in establishing the state of Israel, the Palestinian national movement was crushed. This article focuses mainly on the Palestinian political field as it developed in the 1960s and 1970s, the beginnings of its fragmentation in the 1990s, and its almost complete collapse in the first decade of this century. It was developed on a structure characterized by the dominance of a center where the political leadership functioned. The center, however, was established outside historic Palestine. This paper examines the components and dynamics of the relationship between the center and the peripheries, and the causes of the decline of this center and its eventual disappearance, leaving the constituents of the Palestinian people under local political leadership following the collapse of the national representation institutions, that is, the political, organizational, military, cultural institutions and sectorial organizations (women, workers, students, etc.) that made up the PLO and its frameworks. The paper suggests that the decline of the political field as a national field does not mean the disintegration of the cultural field. There are, in fact, indications that the cultural field has a new vitality that deserves much more attention than it is currently assigned.
The Social Actor: A Critical Appraisal of the Palestinian Context and its Challenges
By: Bilal Awad Salameh
Abstract: This article is based on a critical vision that attempts to highlight the importance of the social actor in the Palestinian context as a whole. It includes basic ideas about the author’s understanding and expectations of all the aspects associated with the role and profession of the social actor as a transforming mechanism of issues in the Palestinian context. It broaches fields of work, specialization, and concentration in viewing individual cases as manifesting a nationwide social phenomenon. If we accept that Palestinian society is vulnerable to psychological setbacks, its recovery, according to Fanon (1972) lies in the resistance against the colonizer.
The Syrian Conflict and “Women Terrorists”
By: Joseph Makanda, Emmanuel Matambo, Vumile Mncibi
Abstract: Studies on terrorism have often taken the usual bias towards studying and analyzing phenomena from a male-dominated perspective. The current article looks at jihadi feminism as a growing trend in contemporary terrorism. The paper argues that there is an increase of women from both traditionally Muslim and traditionally non-Muslim regions joining ISIS and taking part in the Syrian war on the side of Islamic extremists. The paper argues that women from Western countries, because of their understanding of feminism, are more combatant in championing religious terrorism than are women who have been brought up in Islamic role, who see their role mainly as that of helper of terrorist activists rather than active participants.
In Quest of a Second Boom: South Korea’s Middle East Policy under Park Geun-hye
By: Shirzad Azad
Abstract: In spite of her troubled presidency at home and premature, ignominious exit from power, Park Geun-hye made serious attempts to bolster the main direction of the Republic of Korea’s (ROK) foreign policy toward the Middle East. A collaborative drive for accomplishing a new momentous boom was by and large a dominant and recurring theme in the Park government’s overall approach to the region. Park enjoyed both personal motivation as well as politico-economic justifications to push for such arduous yet potentially viable objective. Although the ROK’s yearning for a second boom in the Middle East was not ultimately accomplished under the Park presidency, nonetheless, the very aspiration played a crucial role in either rekindling or initiating policy measures in South Korea’s orientation toward different parts of a greater Middle East region, extending from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to Morocco.
Roshdi Rashed: Formation of the Arab Scientific Mind
By: Mohammed Aref
Abstract: This review essay introduces the work of the Egyptian scientific historian and philosopher Roshdi Rashed, a pioneer in the field of the history of Arab sciences. The article is based on the five volumes he originally wrote in French and later translated into Arabic, which were published by the Centre for Arab Unity Studies and which are now widely acclaimed as a unique effort to unveil the achievements of Arab scientists. The essay reviews this major work, which seems, like Plato’s Republic to have “No Entry for Those Who Have No Knowledge of Mathematics” written on its gate. If you force your way in, even with elementary knowledge of computation, a philosophy will unfold before your eyes, described by the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei as “written in that great book which ever lies before our eyes—I mean the universe—but we cannot understand it if we do not first learn the language and grasp the symbols, in which it is written. This book is written in the mathematical language, and the symbols are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures, without whose help it is impossible to comprehend a single word of it; without which one wanders in vain through a dark labyrinth.” The essay is a journey through this labyrinth where the history of world mathematics got lost and was chronicled by Rashed in five volumes translated from the French into Arabic. It took him fifteen years to complete.
Dead Sea Discoveries (Volume 25, Issue 1)
New Light on the Ten Jubilees of 11QMelchizedek (11Q13)
By: Ariel Feldman
Abstract: This note suggests a new reading and reconstruction of the oft-cited 11QMelchizedek 2:6–8. This passage is a part of the “pesher for the last days” expounding on Lev 25:13 and Deut 15:2. Its vision of future liberation from spiritual captivity to Belial relies on the language and conceptual framework of the Jubilee Year. Moreover, the pesher refers to a temporal scheme of ten Jubilees. The new reading helps clarify the precise timing of the eschatological redemption, “the beginning of the first Jubilee after [the] te[n] Jubilees,” and its implication for the scroll’s scriptural exegesis.
By: Meike Christian
Abstract: This article is focussed on the question how to interpret the phrase בני שית in 4Q417 1 i 15. The analysis is based on a novel reconstruction of the preceding word, which is only poorly preserved. The common reconstructions (namely
“Sectual” Performance in Rule Texts
By: Shem Miller
Abstract: In this article, I examine descriptions of community meetings in Rule Texts to outline the content, authority, and functions of membership’s oral performance in the sectarian movement associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls. In particular, I explore portrayals of oral performance during local chapter meetings (1QS 6:1b–7a), nightly study sessions (1QS 6:7b–8a), general membership meetings (1QS 6:8b–13a; CD 14:3b–12a), covenant renewal ceremonies (1QS 1:24–26; CD 20:27–30), admission procedures (1QS 5:7c–9a, 6:13b–23; CD 15:5b–10a), and a meeting of Israel in the last days (1QSa 1:1–6a). Overall, I argue that oral performance consistently played a vital role in members’ lives, whenever and wherever they lived.
Psychological Essentialism in Serek ha-Yaḥad and the Two Spirits Treatise
By: Brett Maiden
Abstract: This paper investigates the psychological mechanisms that underpin Qumran sectarian dualism and its construction of in-group/out-group boundaries. Specifically, evidence from experimental and developmental psychology and cognitive anthropology is used to argue that Serek ha-Yaḥad and the Two Spirits Treatise (1QS 3:13–4:26) reflect a deeply-engrained psychological essentialism wherein non-group members are conceptualized as having inherently different biological essences. This essentialist tendency is easily extended to the social domain in what scholars call the “naturalization” of social groups. After reviewing this literature, the paper examines the Serek and Treatise’s use of kinship terms, the word “spirit,” and language denoting human nature and living species, in order to demonstrate that essentialist intuitions about outsiders provide a foundation for the sect’s dualistic worldview. Importantly, the essentialist thinking in these texts is also firmly grounded in and channeled through the intertextual interpretation of scripture, drawing heavily on the rich creation vocabulary in Genesis 1–3.
Computational Stylometric Approach to the Dead Sea Scrolls
By: Pierre Van Hecke
Abstract: The question of how to classify the different texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls is a central issue in scholarship. There is little agreement or even little reflection, however, on the methodology with which these classifications should be made. This article argues that recent developments in computational stylometry address these methodological issues and that the approach therefore constitutes a necessary addition to existing scholarship. The first section briefly introduces the recent developments in computational stylometry, while the second tests the feasibility of a stylometric approach for research on the scrolls. Taking into account the particular challenges of the corpus, an exploratory methodology is described, and its first results are presented. In the third and final section, directions for future research in the field are articulated.
Once Again on Word Order in the War Scroll (1QM)
By: Kasper Siegismund
Abstract: This contribution offers a critical evaluation of John Screnock’s hypothesis that the basic word order in 1QM is subject-verb, with inversion triggered by fronting of non-subject elements or by the use of intransitive verbs. After a detailed examination of the evidence, the opposite conclusion is reached. Basic word order is verb-subject, with inversion to subject-verb order with pragmatically marked subjects (focus fronting). There seems to be no causal relationship between transitivity and word order. Furthermore, it is argued that Screnock’s interpretation of 1QM 1:1–3 (which flows from his transitivity-based analysis) is highly unlikely, as it leads to a division of sentences that would produce a structure practically unattested in the rest of the text. In addition, the findings are applied to the general discussion of word order in Hebrew, in particular as an argument against recent attempts at describing Biblical Hebrew as a language with basic subject-verb order.
Defence and Peace Economics (Volume 29, Issues 1 & 2)
Casualty Rates of US Military Personnel During the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
By: Matthew S. Goldberg
Abstract: In Operation Iraqi Freedom, which ended in August 2010, nearly 3500 hostile deaths occurred among US military personnel and 32,000 more were wounded in action (WIA). More than 1800 hostile deaths occurred during Operation Enduring Freedom (in and around Afghanistan) through 2014 and about twenty thousand were WIA. A larger proportion of wounded personnel survived in Iraq and Afghanistan than during the Vietnam War, but the increased survival rates were not as high as some studies have asserted. The survival rates were 90.2 percent in Iraq and 91.6 percent in Afghanistan, compared with 86.5 percent in Vietnam. The casualty rates varied between the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and before, during, and after the respective surges. Amputation rates are difficult to measure consistently, but I estimate that 2.6 percent of all WIA and nine percent of medically evacuated WIA from the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters combined resulted in the major loss of a limb. Elevated non-hostile death rates (including deaths due to accidents, illnesses, homicides, or suicides) resulted in about 220 more deaths in Iraq and about 200 more deaths in Afghanistan than would have been expected in peacetime among populations of the size deployed to those two conflicts.
By: Jesse M. Cunha, Yu-Chu Shen, Zachary R. Burke
Abstract: We study the differential impacts of combat and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR) missions on the mental health of US Marine Corps members. The deployment experiences of any individual Marine are plausibly random conditional on the observable characteristics which are used to assign Marines into units. Leveraging this exogenous variation, we compare the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide deaths among Marines who deployed to either Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) or HA/DR missions between 2001 and 2011. We find that the hazard of PTSD is close to eight times higher among Marines returning from OEF/OIF compared to those never deployed, and just 1.33 times higher among those returning from HA/DR (and never participated in OEF/OIF). Those returning from OEF/OIF missions are 1.81 times more likely than those never deployed to die by suicide when they were still active duty, and the hazard increases to almost three after they have left the military. In contrast, we find no difference in the hazards of suicide death between those that deployed to only HA/DR missions and non-deployed Marines.
A cost–benefit analysis of terrorist attacks
By: Kjell Hausken
Abstract: A cost–benefit analysis of terrorist attacks is developed and placed within a systematic theoretical structure. For the target or object of the attack, we consider the lost value of human lives, lost economic value, and lost influence value, counted as benefits for the terrorist. The corresponding losses for the terrorist are counted as costs. The terrorist attacks if benefits outweigh costs. Bounded rationality is enabled where the three kinds of benefits and costs can be weighted differently. We account for two ex ante probabilities of successful planning and attack, and enable the terrorist to assign different weights to its multiple stakeholders. We introduce multiple time periods, time discounting, attitudes towards risk, and subcategories for the benefits and costs. The cost–benefit analysis is illustrated with the 11 September 2001 attack, and fifty-three incidents in the Global Terrorism Database yielding both positive and negative expected utilities. The paper is intended as a tool for scientists and policy-makers, as a way of thinking about costs and benefits of terrorist attacks.
Mediation, Peacekeeping And Civil War Peace Agreements
By: Karl DeRouen Jr., Ishita Chowdhury
Abstract: The post-civil war agreement phase is vulnerable to credible commitment problems, a lack of government capacity to implement, and/or mutual vulnerability to retribution from violating the agreement. This study’s main contribution is to demonstrate the combined utility of mediation and UN peacekeeping. Mediation builds trust and confidence and works with the parties to design an efficacious agreement conducive to, among other features, tamping down post-agreement violence. Peacekeeping stems violence and facilitates the implementation of the agreement. Agreements that are mediated and followed by UN peacekeeping are expected to be more robust in terms of staving off violence. We report the effects of the mediation–peacekeeping interaction using a method correcting for a common misinterpretation of interaction terms. We test logit and hazard models using a sample of full and partial civil war peace agreements signed between 1975 and 2011. Controlling for agreement design, democracy, and income per capita, the results indicate mediation and its interaction with peacekeeping reduce the probability of renewed/continuing violence and have a positive impact on agreement duration. We also report brief case study evidence from the 1990s peace process in Guatemala.
A model of dynamic conflict in ethnocracies
By: Dripto Bakshi, Indraneel Dasgupta
Abstract: We model an infinitely repeated Tullock contest, over the sharing of some given resource, between two ethnic groups. The resource is allocated by a composite state institution according to relative ethnic control; hence the ethnic groups contest the extent of institutional ethnic bias. The contest yields the per-period relative influence over institutions, which partly spills over into the next period, by affecting relative conflict efficiency. Our model generates non-monotone evolution of both conflict and distribution. Results suggest that external interventions, when effective in reducing current conflict and protecting weaker groups, may end up sowing the seeds of greater future conflict.
Economic Sanctions and Banking Crises in Target Economies
By: Emre Hatipoglu, Dursun Peksen
Abstract: What effect do economic sanctions have on the stability of banking systems in targeted economies? This manuscript advances the hypothesis that economic sanctions increase the likelihood of systematic banking crises by deteriorating the target economy’s macroeconomic conditions and limiting its access to international capital. To test the argument, we gathered data for over 125 emerging economies for the years from 1970 to 2005. The findings indicate that sanctions are likely to raise the probability of banking crises. The results also show that financial sanctions are more detrimental to the stability of banking systems than trade sanctions. Further, we find that the hypothesized effect of sanctions is conditioned by the extent of economic cost inflicted on targeted economies. One major implication of the findings is that sanctions, as external shocks, can potentially destabilize the financial stability of target countries in addition to the well-documented adverse effects on economic growth, political stability, and humanitarian conditions.
By: Asha Abdel-Rahim, Dany Jaimovich, Aleksi Ylönen
Abstract: We use a unique data-set gathered during a short-lived interwar period in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan to compare characteristics of the households returning after the conflict with those that stayed in their communities of origin. We found that returning households seemed to face worse economic conditions, particularly in the case of female-headed returnee households. Nevertheless, our results show that returnees tend to perform better on different health indicators. Using a detailed set of variables about hygiene and sanitary habits, we explore the hypothesis that the latter result may be related to changes in attitudes given the distinct experiences during displacement. We show that returnees are indeed more likely to adopt these measures.
Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict (Volume 11, Issue 1)
The big, the bad, and the dangerous: public perceptions and terrorism
By: Nazli Avdan, Clayton Webb
Abstract: Does coordination affect threat perceptions? The attacks in Paris and Brussels in 2015 and 2016 received a significant amount of attention in the media. The attacks were transnational, fatal, and perpetrated by the same group in western European countries. We argue that these are not the only features of the attacks that matter. The attacks involved coordination among teams of militants. This coordination signals sophistication. Sophistication amplifies threat perceptions independent of group reputation, fatality rate, or target location because sophistication suggests a greater capability to inflict harm. We provide experimental evidence of the relationship between coordination and threat perceptions. Our results contribute to a growing literature looking at the features of terrorist attacks and public perceptions of terrorism, and lay the groundwork for future research on the political and security consequences of coordinated terrorist attacks.
By: Jan Andre Lee Ludvigsen
Abstract: That drone warfare may cause “blowback” is a well-established argument–commonly used to contest drones’ effectiveness. One of the unintended consequences of drones includes the opportunity it provides terrorists who can use drones in their propaganda. Al-Qa‘ida in the Arabian Peninsula’s e-magazine Inspire is demographically targeting Western Muslims, and aims to encourage to “homegrown” terrorism and/or recruitment of “foreign fighters.” This study examines how drone warfare is portrayed in Inspire, using a qualitative discourse analysis. It is found that the magazine, commonly portray drones as a failing policy that mainly causes civilian deaths and oppress Muslims. Drones are used to further polarize Inspire-readers and the United States, whereas drone warfare is portrayed as cowardly and inhumane. Overall, this portrayal may have implications for the overall effectiveness of drones.
Unipolar politics and global peace: a structural explanation of the globalizing jihad
By: S. Yaqub Ibrahimi
Abstract: Following the end of the cold war, the international system transformed from a bipolar to a unipolar system. Unipolarity is not peaceful. It has contributed to the generation of conflict-producing mechanisms and nonstate actors that have driven sovereign states in lengthy asymmetric wars. Drawing on IR debates on the “peacefulness” of the unipolar system, this paper investigates how unipolarity and unipolar policies contributed to the transformation of “domestic jihad” into “global jihadism” and the emergence of Jihadi-Salafi Groups (JSGs). By focussing on the emergence of these actors within the unipolarity context, this paper adds asymmetric warfare in scholarly debate on the peacefulness of the unipolar system which is conventionally approached from the “interstate warfare” perspective. The purpose of this paper is developing a structural explanation of the emergence and expansion of JSGs and their impact on global peace.
A dangerous science: psychology in Al Qaeda’s words
By: Emma Grace
Abstract: Terrorist organizations’ use of psychology in analysing psychological issues in the everyday lives of their members and developing coping strategies has not been sufficiently investigated in the terrorism research. This qualitative study investigates al-Qa‘ida’s view of psychology, its analysis of psychological issues, and the utilization of coping strategies among terrorists. The study is based on 255 documents from the Bin Laden’s Bookshelf (Office of the Director of National Intelligence, “Bin Ladin’s Bookshelf” (2015). Retrieved from https://www.dni.gov/index.php/features/bin-laden-s-bookshelf) and Harmony database documents (The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point (CTC) (Harmony program, 2012))m. Retrieved from https://ctc.usma.edu/programs-resources/harmony-program). The results indicate that al-Qa‘ida perceived psychology as a dangerous and important science. Psychological issues identified in this study include three types of suicide, depression, anxiety, security stress, diversity stress, and enforced idleness. Terrorists used both religious and secular coping strategies to overcome psychological issues. These findings can contribute to future research and counterterrorism efforts in understanding both the survivability and vulnerability of terrorists.
Electoral Studies (Issue 52)
Kinship, partisanship, and patronage in Arab elections
By: Daniel Corstange
Abstract: This article examines the connection between kinship, partisanship, and patronage voting in Arab world elections. It argues that tribes and extended families enjoy structural advantages that reduce transaction costs in patron–client exchanges, making kinship voting a pragmatic strategy in clientelistic vote markets with weak parties. Using data from seven Arab countries, it demonstrates that patronage oriented voters place greater weight on candidates’ kinship affiliations and deemphasize other attributes such as morality, ability, and issue positions. It also shows that patronage considerations correspond to greater importance placed on kinship over partisan affiliations, consistent with the low credibility and modest capacity of the Arab world’s weak and personalized parties to deliver benefits to voters.
By: Paul Marx, Elias Naumann
Abstract: The surge of immigration to Europe starting in 2015 is one of the most important political challenges in recent history. In this research note, we address the question of whether the “refugee crisis” has contributed to welfare chauvinistic attitudes in Germany, a country attracting a large share of asylum seekers. Moreover, we ask whether party rhetoric in general and from a new radical right-wing party in particular has influenced the expression of such attitudes. Using individual-level panel data, we show that welfare chauvinism increased markedly during the first year of the crisis. This increase is not restricted to new radical right wing voters. Although parties diverged in their position on immigration, we observe increased welfare chauvinism among supporters of all parties. Only support for a harsher version of welfare chauvinism (making benefits conditional upon citizenship) increased disproportionately among new radical right-wing voters. We conclude that the refugee crisis activated dispositions to make in-group/out-group distinctions that are to some extent independent of party rhetoric.
European Journal of Development Research (Volume 30, Issue 2)
By: Sintayehu Hailu Alemu, Luuk van Kempen, Ruerd Ruben
Abstract: The aim of the paper is to test the importance of social networks in the acquisition of technical know-how among apple growers in Southern Ethiopia. What contribution do social networks make in knowledge transfer alongside more formal sources such as training and education? We take special interest in the role of faith-based networks, as apple cultivation was originally introduced into the study area by individuals and organizations linked to the Protestant church. The network effect is proxied by the frequency of contact of an individual producer (“ego”) with his/her most salient resource persons (“alters”) as well as the number of visits to their orchards. We find a positive relation between both types of social interaction and knowledge acquisition, although the efficacy of these varies with the producers’ level of education. Protestant producers have been able to maintain a knowledge advantage with respect to Orthodox Christian producers ever since apple cultivation took off in the 1990s.
International Organization (Volume 72, Issue 2)
Deals with the Devil? Conflict Amnesties, Civil War, and Sustainable Peace
By: Geoff Dancy
Abstract: Do legal amnesties for combatants help end civil wars? International policy experts often take it for granted that amnesties promote negotiated settlements with rebels. However, a large number of amnesties are followed by continued fighting or a return to the battlefield. What, then, are the factors that make amnesties effective or ineffective? In this article I use a disaggregated data set of all amnesties enacted in the context of internal war since 1946 to evaluate a bargaining theory of amnesties and peace. Testing hypotheses about conflict patterns using models that account for selection, I find that (1) only amnesties passed following conflict termination help resolve civil wars, (2) amnesties are more effective when they are embedded in peace agreements, and (3) amnesties that grant immunity for serious rights violations have no observable pacifying effects. These policy-relevant findings represent a new breakthrough in an ossified “peace versus justice” debate pitting security specialists against global human rights advocates.
Dynamics of Political Protests
By: Graig R. Klein, Patrick M. Regan
Abstract: The links between protests and state responses have taken on increased visibility in light of the Arab Spring movements. But we still have unanswered questions about the relationship between protest behaviors and responses by the state. We frame this in terms of concession and disruption costs. Costs are typically defined as government behaviors that impede dissidents’ capacity for collective action. We change this causal arrow and hypothesize how dissidents can generate costs that structure the government’s response to a protest. By disaggregating costs along dimensions of concession and disruption we extend our understanding of protest behaviors and the conditions under which they are more (or less) effective. Utilizing a new cross-national protest-event data set, we test our theoretical expectations against protests from 1990 to 2014 and find that when protesters generate high concession costs, the state responds in a coercive manner. Conversely, high disruption costs encourage the state to accommodate demands. Our research provides substantial insights and inferences about the dynamics of government response to protest.
International Political Sociology (Volume 12, Issue 1)
By: Joanna Tidy
Abstract: War and peace are gendered and gendering geopolitical processes, constituting particular configurations of masculinity and femininity. When men are considered in relation to war and peace the majority of scholarly accounts focus on soldiers and perpetrators, typically observing their place in the gendered geopolitical solely through military/ized masculinities. In contrast, this article examines fatherhood as a masculine subjectivity, interacting in a nexus with other masculinities to produce an intelligible pro-peace intervention in war, and considers the implications for our understandings of gender and the geopolitical. To analyze this political subjectivity of what I term “paternal peace,” the article considers the case of Bob Bergdahl. Bergdahl’s son was a US soldier held by a Taliban-aligned group for five years until 2014. During this time Bergdahl was publically critical of US foreign policy, presenting his son’s release as part of a peace process that could end violence in Afghanistan. I unpack how Bergdahl’s public political subjectivity was the outcome of a “gender project” drawing on accounts of “valley” fatherhood in combination with particular forms of diplomatic and military masculinity. I consider how Bergdahl’s intervention was publically received, and how the geopolitical reach of it was pacified within gendered and racialized coding.
Crafting the “Well-Rounded Citizen”: Empowerment and the Government of Counterradicalization
By: Niklas Altermark, Hampus Nilsson
Abstract: In recent years, counter-radicalization work has come to focus on empowering vulnerable communities and individuals through programs implemented by local governments and welfare services. This article examines this new regime of counter-radicalization, focusing on how such programs seek to immunize people allegedly susceptible to radicalization by making them “active citizens.” In contrast to the stated ambitions of these programs and much scholarly work on prevention, we do not see counter-radicalization by citizenship empowerment as a way of giving back power to the communities where terrorism emerges. Rather, these programs are set up to manage the self-image and behaviors of individuals perceived as “risky,” which means that they operate by shaping subjects. Undertaking an in-depth analysis of two programs of prevention through empowerment, we outline the rationalities underpinning this new way of countering radicalization, showing how they make use of “citizenship” as a political technology.
Journal of Arabic Literature (Volume 49, Issue 1-2)
Al-Jāḥiẓ on Misarticulation: Bayān 1.34.4-74.8
By: James E. Montgomery
Abstract: The Kitab al- Bayan wa-l- Tabyin (The Book of Clear Communication) by Abu m ʿUthman al-ḥ Jahiz (d. 255/868) is an encyclopaedic study of communication and its place within human societies—specifically of communication through Arabic, the language of divine revelation, and its place within the ʿAbbasid polity. God’s use of Arabic in the āQurʾan endowed the community of Muslims with a special status. The proper use of Arabic was central to how man fully and appropriately thanked God for His gift of creation. It was also central to how the āQurʾan was properly recited and explicated. This article presents a translation of the majority of a chapter from the first volume of Kitab al-Bayan wa-l-Tabyin yy in which al-ḥ Jahiz explores the phenomenon of misarticulation (luthghah). His exploration of this phenomenon touches on phonetics, physiology and anatomy, speech disorders (considered by al-Jahiz ḥ to be “defects”), linguistic barbarisms, and mimicry, and thus it becomes an exposition of what clear communication is not.
By: Geert Jan van Gelder
Abstract: Muhammad Ibn Dawud al-h Isbahani (d. 297/910) was a theologian who lived in Baghdad, where he succeeded his father as the leader of the juridico-theological school called al-hZahiriyyah. He wrote several books but the only one that is preserved is a work of literature and poetry. His al-Zahrah (The Flower) consists of one hundred chapters, mostly containing poetry by many poets including himself, as well as some anecdotes and passages in prose. The first fifty chapters deal with various aspects of love and the second half with various genres and kinds of poetry. Chapter 87 is entitled Dhikr al-shiʿr alladhi yustazraf li- khurujihi ʿan hadd ma yuʿraf, “On Poetry That Is Deemed Curious Because It Goes Beyond What Is Conventionally Known.” In a more or less unordered, partly associative sequence, this chapter offers many freaks of versification: lipograms; palindromes; lines that only use undotted, or dotted, or connected, or unconnected letters; pangrams; acrostics; unrhymed epigrams that seem to rely on non-verbal language; lines containing Persian or Greek words and expressions, etc. Many of the features of these poems are usually associated with a later stage of Arabic literature: they became more frequent especially after the appearance of the verbal artistry and artifices in the very popular Maqamat of al-r Hariri (d. 516/1122). Ibn Dawud was therefore in a sense a pioneer. Many poems in the text pose problems. The chapter has never been investigated in detail; two passages were studied in articles by Michele Vallaro. The present article deals with the poems and anecdotes in the chapter, providing translations and commentary.
Praise of the Prophet and Praise of Self: Sīrat Banī Hilāl and Epic Narrative in Performance
By: Susan Slyomovics
Abstract: How does an epic begin in performance and in narration? Questions surrounding the beginning of an Arab oral epic performance differ from those surrounding the origins of the text. This essay explores several levels of beginning in the Sirat Bani Hilal epic, a cycle of heroic tales recited throughout the Arabic and Amazigh-speaking world, with reference to versions by the oral epic poet aʿAwad Allah ʿAbd al- Jalil lʿAli that I collected in Upper Egypt in the 1980s. By drawing on the writings of Pierre Cachia, a pioneering scholar in the study, transcription, and English translation of vernacular Arabic literature, I ask how the epic poet begins reciting an epic in performance and how the epic hero is born in text, performance, and scholarly histories. Answers may be found both in the history of Egyptian folklore studies and the tradition of praise-poetry (ḥmadiḥ) sung or recited by poets and storytellers to initiate oral epic performance.
Abū Zayd al-Hilālī: Trickster, Womanizer, Warrior, Shaykh
By: Dwight F. Reynolds
Abstract: Sirat Bani Hilal (the Epic of the Bani Hilal) is rooted in the tenth-century invasion of North Africa by the Bani Hilal Bedouin tribe after they left their homeland of the Najd in the Arabian Peninsula. Told in a combination of poetry and prose similar to the style of other epic tales such as that of ‘Antar, Sayf ibn Dhi Yazin, and Dhat al-Himmah, Sirat Bani Hilal is nevertheless unique in that it is the only one of the folk epics traditionally to be performed in sung verse to the accompaniment of musical instruments (rather than spoken or read aloud). It is also distinctive for being a tale that recounts the elaborate interactions among a constellation of main figures rather than being primarily about the exploits of a single hero. Among these central characters, however, one in particular deserves notice for his psychological complexity— Abu Zayd al-Hilali, the black hero of the Bani Hilal tribe. Abu Zayd, it is argued here, combines many of the features of the “classic hero” as delineated by Otto Rank, Lord Raglan, and Joseph Campbell, as well as characteristics of the Trickster figures studied by Carl Jung, Paul Radin, M.C. Lyons, and others. He is at times the chivalrous hero, a model of manly virtues, but also capable of cunning and deceptive behavior that borders on the dishonorable, and in a few infamous scenes he kills innocent people and tells outright lies to cover his tracks, leaving modern audiences baffled and conflicted. At the same time, however, for reasons spelled out in this essay, Abu Zayd is the character with whom modern Egyptian audiences most clearly identify: a black hero denigrated for his skin color, capable of great deeds of heroism, chivalry, and religious devotion, as well as acts of an intensely transgressive nature.
“The Language of the Eyes”: Speech Acts and the Gaze in a Monologue by Badīʿah Maṣābnī
By: Marlé Hammond
Abstract: The script of a short film from 1932 by the cabaret star ʿBadiʿah ā Masabni features the voice of a woman holding forth on the subject of women’s eyes and the effects they have on male onlookers. The characteristics of the text, a monologue entitled “Lughat al-yʿuyun,” or “The Language of the Eyes,” are analysed in the light of speech act theory, with a view toward understanding the dynamics of gender and subjective agency that permeate it. Special attention is paid to the gaze, both the gaze emanating from the depicted women’s eyes and the gaze of the presumably male spectator. Structures of gender and agency as they apply to eyes in the film script are then compared to formulations of the beloved’s eyes in the classical Arabic poetic tradition, as well as to depictions of eyes in a contemporary colloquial poem by Bayram al-sTunisi. The comparisons reveal the relatively subversive nature of the film. The piece concludes with reflections on the film’s feminist impulse.
Orientalism and World Literature: A Re-reading of Cosmopolitanism in Ṭāhā Ḥusayn’s Literary World
By: Wen-chin Ouyang
Abstract: Pierre Cachia’s masterful literary biography of Taha Husayn (1956) identified cultural exchange and particularly translation as the catalyst for the Egyptian cultural and literary renaissance epitomized in the person of Taha Husayn Ḥ(1889-1973). This paper takes Cachia as a point of departure and pursues an understanding of Taha Husayn Ḥwithin the framework of world literature and locates his vision of Egyptian modernity and national identity in the circulation of ideas, concepts, bodies of knowledge and worldviews in the Mediterranean world. It focuses on the role of Orientalism and European Classicism in the cosmopolitanism underpinning his program of cultural and educational reform, and interrogates the conceptual category of “nation,” narratives of hNahdah, and theories of world literature.
Journal of Civil Society (Volume 14, Issue 2)
Do associations support authoritarian rule? Evidence from Algeria, Mozambique, and Vietnam
By: Jörg Wischermann, Bettina Bunk, Patrick Köllner, Jasmin Lorch
Abstract: Whether associations help to democratize authoritarian rule or support those in power is a contested issue that so far lacks a cross-regional, comparative perspective. In this article we focus on five types of associations in three post-socialist countries, situated in different world regions, that are governed by authoritarian regimes. We first explore how infrastructural and discursive state power impact such associations and vice versa. We then discuss whether these associations support the development of citizens’ collective and individual self-determination and autonomy and/or whether they negate such self-determination and autonomy–a state of affairs that is at the core of authoritarianism.
Our analysis addresses decision-making in associations and three specific policy areas. We find that most of the covered associations accept or do not openly reject state/ruling party interference in their internal decision-making processes. Moreover, in most of these associations the self-determination and autonomy of members are restricted, if not negated. With respect to HIV/AIDS policy, associations in Algeria and Vietnam toe the official line, and thus contribute, unlike their counterparts in Mozambique, to negating the self-determination and autonomy of affected people and other social minorities. Looking at enterprise promotion policy, we find that the co-optation of business and professionals’ associations in all three countries effectively limits democratizing impulses. Finally, in all three countries many, but not all, of the interviewed associations support state-propagated norms concerning gender and gender relationships, thus contributing to limiting the self-determination and autonomy of women in the private sphere.
Journal of Economic Cooperation and Development(Volume 39, Issue 1)
By: Lotfali Agheli, Sara Hashemi
Abstract: The modern transport systems manage traffic, travel scheduling and passenger reservation efficiently. These use information and communication technology (ICT) in order to increase demand for convenience, safety and speed. Therefore, investing in ICT has essential effect on transport sector. This article aims to examine the effects of ICT on growth of transport value added among the selected Middle- East countries. It applies a panel data model over the period 2000-2014 and uses ICT penetration ratio as proxy variable for ICT. The findings show that labor active in transport sector; machinery and transport equipment and ICT penetration ratio have significant positive effects on value added of transport sector. Thus, improving the ICT infrastructure and training the transport agents, besides physical investment in machinery and transport equipment cause higher growth in transport and related services.
Competition in the Banking Sector of Pakistan: Evidence from Unscaled and Scaled Revenue Equations
By: Samina Sabir, Abdul Qayyum
Abstract: The objective of this paper is to empirically analyze the competition in the banking sector of Pakistan spanning the period 1995-2014. Two decades ago, banking sector reforms were initiated and implemented in Pakistan to spur competition in the banking sector. To examine competition, augmented Panzar and Rosse unscaled and scaled revenue equations is estimated by controlling risk and size of banks using balanced panel data of twenty-two commercial banks. Results are robust and reveal that the commercial banks in Pakistan generate revenues in the environment of monopolistic competition and this reflects the positive impact of banking sector reforms in creation of competition among banks.
Effect of External Debt on Economic Growth of Sudan: Empirical Analysis (1969-2015)
By: Elwasila S. E. Mohamed
Abstract: This study examines the effect of external debt on economic growth of Sudan. The model built uses gross domestic product as the dependent variable to measure economic growth as a function of the ratio of external debt to exports, exchange rate and foreign direct investments as the explanatory variables using annual time series for the period 1969-2015. Empirically, the study employs the econometric techniques of the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) unit root test for stationarity, the Johansen cointegration method and the Vector Error Correction Method (VECM). The cointegration test shows that a long-run equilibrium relationship exists among the variables of the study. Findings from the VECM show that external debt proxied by the external debt to exports ratio has contributed positively to the Sudan economy, while exchange rate and foreign direct investment have negative effects on GDP growth which is consistent with findings of most empirical studies at the macroeconomic level. The study recommends that the government should ensure macroeconomic and price stability and maintaining access to foreign loans so that to supplement low the levels of domestic savings in order to enable long term economic growth. Exchange rate needs to be stabilized and perceived effect of foreign direct investments on economic growth needs be reinvestigated with enhancement of human capital and institutions.
Comparative Islamic Perspectives in Money, Monetary Policy, and Social Wellbeing
By: Dr. Masudul Alam Choudhury
Abstract: Moral and ethical context of money and monetary policy in the creation of a stable and real growth perspective of the economy and wellbeing criterion is formalized. This derivation and casting it into a generalized analytical model is premised on the cardinal Islamic ontological law of unity of knowledge. This spells out the essence of pervasive complementarities between the good things of life as the life-sustaining possibilities of maqasid as-shari’ah, the purpose and objective of shari’ah in term of its direct relationship with the ontological law of Tawhid, oneness of God spelled out in terms of the unity of knowledge and pervasive organic complementarities between the maqasid-goods. The paper thereby makes a distinct difference between the essential reference to Tawhid, thus shari’ah at-Tawhid. This primal conception and methodological worldview is distinctly contrary to the man-made vagaries of what is called “shari’ah compliance.” Against such background this paper undertakes a comparative study of the nature of money and monetary policy. This approach leads into the model of money, finance, and real economy model and its various ramifications. An analytical approach is adopted within the comparative perspectives of money and monetary policy for the Islamic case.
Journal of Near Eastern Studies (Volume 77, Issue 1)
Achaemenid Elamite Administrative Tablets, 4: BM 108963
By: Mark B. Garrison, Charles E. Jones, Matthew W. Stolper
Abstract: Not available
By: Sajjad Alibaigi, Iraj Rezaei
Abstract: Not available
The Stela of the Outline Draftsman Ṯnr and His Family (Cairo Museum JE 18924)
By: Dina Metawi
Abstract: Not available
The Pitti Palace Rock Crystal Ewer and the Sordid Story of How and Why It Came to Exist
By: Paul Walker
Abstract: Not available
Old Assyrian Royal Families as Private Entrepreneurs in the Anatolian Trade
By: Hakan Erol
Abstract: Not available
Notes on Chronology in the Phrygian Highlands: Cultic Installations, Defenses, and Clamp Cuttings
By: Geoffrey D. Summers
Abstract: Not available
By: Steve Tinney
Abstract: Not available
By: Oren Tal, Itamar Taxel, Annette Zeischka-Kenzler
Abstract: Not available
Dhimma Agreements and Sanctuary Systems at Islamic Origins
By: Sarah Mirza
Abstract: Not available
Journal of Politics (Volume 80, Issue 2)
Social Signals and Participation in the Tunisian Revolution
By: David Doherty, Peter J. Schraeder
Abstract: Revolutionary protests can spread surprisingly rapidly. Social contagion may play a key role in this process: people who observe others participating may be more likely to do so themselves, thus reinforcing the pro-participation signal. We leverage data from two surveys to assess the relationship between exposure to pro-participatory social signals and individual-level participation in the Tunisian revolution. We benchmark these effects to those associated with individual-level characteristics, including those tied to political and economic grievances. We find robust evidence of the importance of social signals: those who reported having friends who participated and those who lived in neighborhoods where others participated in the protests were substantially more likely to participate, even after controlling for an array of individual-level and contextual confounds. We find scant support for the expectation that participants and nonparticipants were distinguished by their commitment to democracy or by economic grievances.
Journal of the American Oriental Society (Volume 138, Issue 1)
Abū Ṭayyib al-Washshāʾ and the Poetics of Inscribed Objects
By: Yaron Klein
Abstract: In Kitab al-Muwashsha, a unique work on good manners and high-culture etiquette, al- Washshaʾ (ca. 255–325/869–937) recorded the practices of a group of courtiers and other members of the elite in Abbasid society known as the fzurafaʾ (“the refined ones”). This group conducted itself according to a strict etiquette (ẓarf) governing dress, posture, speech, and even smell. One of the most interesting practices associated with the fzurafaʾ is their inscribing of poetry on a variety of objects, from garments, rings, musical instruments, and wine vessels to apples and citron, even on their bodies. This paper examines the practice of inscribing poetry on objects as a unique way of “performing” poetry. In this “refined” practice, poetry was not recited aloud, but rather given a voice by virtue of its physical display in space.
Royal Gardens, Parks, and the Architecture Within: Assyrian Views
By: Pauline Albenda
Abstract: Inscriptions of Assyrian kings disclose that these rulers maintained and improved the land near the palace. This paper brings together the pictorial versions of what may be described as the “Assyrian royal landscape,” that is, outdoor scenery designed for royal purposes and represented on the stone panels that lined the walls of the palaces at Nimrud, Nineveh, and Dur-Sharrukin. The royal landscapes differ from reign to reign, since they each reflect some aspect of the particular king’s rule. The description and discussion of the individual scenes also take into account the rationale behind their creation. Textual and archaeological data are supportive additions, and the previous studies of other scholars are also considered. The discussion of scenes carved on the stone panels follows in chronological sequence the reigns of four Assyrian kings: Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BCE), Sargon II (721–705 BCE), Sennacherib (704–669 BCE), and Ashurbanipal (668–627 BCE). The chronological presentation demonstrates that royal landscape imagery in the sculptural arts progressed as a method of documentation by the Assyrian kings.
Near Eastern Archaeology (Volume 81, Issue 1)
The Survey of the Site and Its Insights
By: Joe Uziel, Aren M. Maeir
Abstract: Since its infancy, archaeological research has used survey as a major tool in both regional studies (see, e.g., Conder and Kitchener 1881) and as a tool for project planning. In the former, survey flourished—despite certain critiques as to the validity of the data collected (e.g., Waelkens and Poblome 2004)—whereas the latter was often used minimally in the interpretation of an individual site’s history. In this sense, the survey at Tell es-Safi/Gath was groundbreaking in its approach— not only as a tool for planning the project, but as the basis for determining aspects of the history of the site (Uziel and Maeir 2005, 2012). The survey was planned by the division of the site into separate fields, based on discrete micro-topographical features. As opposed to an arbitrary grid, the use of the topography of the site considered that these features may have been formed by the changing settlement of the site over time. For example, the eastern slopes (Areas A and E), which have been extensively excavated, each had its own local phasing, which was determined through their separate survey. Had we used a random grid, it is likely the parts of each of these terraced steps would have been lumped together, making the survey a tool for overall evaluation of the site, but not determining differences in the various areas. This proved critical in the planning of the project, which later, through the implementation of the survey results, managed to determine excavation areas according to the research design of the project.
New Insights into the Philistines in Light of Excavations at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath
By: Louise A. Hitchcock, Aren M. Maeir
Abstract: Even though the arrival of the Philistines in the southern Levant is an event that happens “off camera,” that is, before the appearance of their settlement remains, it is an event that was narrativized in the recent past by archaeologists working in Philistia who interpreted the local production of Aegean style pottery as evidence of a massive colonization by Mycenaean migrants (Hitchcock and Maeir 2016a). By and large, the understanding of the Philistines and their culture was centered around the biblical and Egyptian images of the Philistines, and their continued reception and interpretation until modern times.
Philistine Decorated Pottery at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath
By: Linda G. Meiberg
Abstract: Almost all of the excavated areas at Tell es-Safi/Gath have yielded Philistine decorated pottery. This includes Areas A (Strata A6 and A5), E (Stratum E3), F (Stratum F11), and P (Stratum P2) on the upper tell, as well as Area D (Stratum D5) in the lower city, thus indicating that the consumption, if not actual production, of Philistine decorated pottery was quite widespread throughout the entire site during the twelfth through tenth centuries B.C.E.
Philistine Burial Customs in Light of the Finds at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath
By: Joe Uziel, Aren M. Maeir
Abstract: Despite over a century of research conducted on the Philistines and their material culture, a very small quantity of finds relating to their burial customs has been reported. This has led to quite a lot of speculation on Philistine mortuary customs, with little evidence in support. At a number of sites, suggestions to distinguish “Philistine” burials were attempted, most notably, the erroneous attribution of the anthropoid coffins to the Philistines (Dothan 1982), the suggested cremation burials found at Azor (Dothan and Dothan 1992; Ben-Shlomo 2008, 2012; Buchennino and Yannai 2010), and the burial caves yielding Philistine bichrome pottery at Tel Eton (Edelstein and Aurant 1992). However, the problematic interpretations of these finds, coupled with the fact that none of this evidence was found at the main urban sites of the Philistines, calls into question their centrality within the Philistine realm, and their attribution on a whole to the ethnic group that populated the southern Coastal Plain.
What Language(s) Did the Philistines Speak?
By: Brent Davis
Abstract: The evidence that we have for the language(s) spoken by the Philistines is not plentiful, but what we do have is interesting (though far from conclusive). Two types of evidence predominate: (1) inscriptions from Philistine sites (thus these inscriptions may have been produced by Philistines), and (2) Philistine words and names borrowed into other languages of the region and recorded (however imperfectly) in non-Philistine records.
Microarchaeology at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Area A
By: Steve Weiner, Elisabetta Boaretto
Abstract: The overall objective of archaeological excavations is to extract as much reliable information as possible from the whole archaeological record: both macroscopic and microscopic. An effective approach to achieve this goal is to integrate observations on the macroscopic and microscopic records as the excavation proceeds by operating an on-site analytical laboratory at the excavation. In this way important primary context locations can be better identified as they are exposed, and the excavation and sampling strategy can be adapted accordingly (Weiner 2010).
Excavations in Area D of the Lower City: Philistine Cultic Remains and Other Finds
By: Amit Dagan, Maria Eniukhina, Aren M. Maeir
Abstract: During the first decade of the Tell es-Safi/Gath Excavation Project, various areas in the upper city were excavated. Based on the results of the surface survey, however, it was clear that there was extensive settlement in the area to the north of the upper city up until the Elah Valley riverbed. Ten years ago, the excavations were expanded to the lower city, commencing with Area D (fig. 1). Since then, Area D has been extensively excavated, with a broad range of finds mainly from the Iron Age (for additional excavations in Area K of the lower city, see Welch in this issue). Here we will describe some of these finds, with a particular focus on the Philistine cultic remains.
Iron Age Metal Production at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath
By: Adi Eliyahu-Behar, Vanessa Workman
Abstract: While the increasing appearance of iron objects between the late twelfth and early eleventh centuries B.C.E. has been the greatest indicator for the shift from bronze to iron use that marks the transition to the Iron Age, a nuanced understanding of the technological phenomenon comes from evidence and artifacts of production. The origins of iron production technologies are still hotly debated. In recent years, new and pertinent archaeological data regarding actual iron production, has finally surfaced. Considerable iron production remains of both smelting and smithing had been identified at major sites throughout the region.
Women in Distress: Victims of the Iron Age Destruction at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath
By: Marina Faerman, Aren M. Maeir, Amit Dagan, Patricia Smith
Abstract: The widespread signs of destruction and fire seen at Tell es-iSafi/Gath in the upper and lower parts of the city (Namdar et al. 2011; Zukerman and Maeir 2012) include the charred skeletal remains of three women found in Area D, Stratum D3, and five individuals found in Area A, Stratum A3. All appear to have been victims of the same event, namely, the destruction of the city at the end of the ninth century B.C.E. by Hazael of Aram (Maeir 2012). We provide here a detailed description of these remains and the circumstances surrounding their deaths using standards published in Bass 1995 to determine their age and sex, and the Munsell color chart (Ellingham et al. 2015) to estimate the extent and pattern of burning on the bodies.
Iron Age Animal Husbandry at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath: Notes on the Fauna from Area D
By: Ron Kehati, Amit Dagan, Liora Kolska Horwitz
Abstract: Faunal remains comprise a significant portion of finds recovered from most archaeological sites in Israel. Among other issues relating to factors such as animal evolution and ecology, their examination can elucidate past human diet, symbolic and cultural behavior, technology relating to animals and animal products, as well as the site’s environment and even paleoclimate of a region (e.g., Reitz and Wing 2008; Russell 2011). These issues were considered when we examined the faunal assemblage recovered from the late Iron Age I (tenth century B.C.E.) through Iron Age IIA-B (post-830 B.C.E.) deposits excavated in Area D at Tell es-iSafi/Gath.
Expanding the Lower City: Area K at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath
By: Eric L. Welch
Abstract: Excavations in the lower city of Gath have been ongoing since 2009. In Area D, in the westernmost excavated portion of the lower city, excavations have demonstrated the presence of a well-fortified lower city as early as the eleventh century B.C.E., with the most substantial remains dating to the ninth century B.C.E. (Dagan et al., this issue). With the discovery of a fortified lower city as early as Iron Age I, new research questions about the lower city began to emerge. Of particular interest were questions about the extent of ancient Gath’s lower city and the timeline for when the lower city was inhabited.
Judahite Gath in the Eighth Century B.C.E.: Finds in Area F from the Earthquake to the Assyrians
By: Jeffrey R. Chadwick, Aren M. Maeir
Abstract: After Philistine Gath fell to the Arameans in the late ninth century B.C.E. (Maeir 2008; 2012: 47–48) the huge city atop Tell es-Safi/Gath was a ghost town for several decades. Some structures had been burnt or otherwise destroyed, but many were simply abandoned to the elements. As years passed, winter storms and the processes of nature eroded the roofs and walls of hundreds of ownerless houses and other buildings. The devastation was alluded to by the Judahite prophet Amos when he predicted the eventual demise of Samaria: “Go down to Gath of the Philistines,” he challenged the Israelites, to behold what complete desolation is like (Amost 6:2; Maeir 2004). Aside from the presence of a few squatters who settled in the north lower-city ruins near the Elah riverbed, the forlorn ghost town of Gath slowly decayed away, until a cataclysmic earthquake shook the entire region somewhere around 760 B.C.E. (Chadwick and Maeir, forthcoming; Maeir 2012:49–50).
Textile Production at Iron Age Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath
By: Deborah Cassuto
Abstract: Textiles in antiquity were multifunctional, and used much as they are in modern times. When we think of textiles, our first thoughts are of clothing. In antiquity, as in modern times, clothing demonstrated social status (e.g., royal, common), occupation (e.g., priestly, military) and ranged from simply constructed frocks to finely manufactured prestige garments. Textiles were also used as furnishings, such as rugs, wall carpets, cushions, and curtains, as boat sails and shelters, or sacks for storage or carriage. In short, they were consumed by everyone for a multitude of needs, ranging from the mundane to the festive, from the functional to the opulent.
Iron Age Adornment at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath
By: Josephine A. Verduci
Abstract: Between 1998 and 2014, Iron Age strata from Areas A, C, D, E, F, and P yielded a rich assemblage of 172 objects of adornment. These objects come from contexts dated to the Late Bronze Age-Iron Age transition through to Iron Age IIB. Tomb T1, containing the skeletal remains of over seventy individuals (adults and children) and dated to late Iron I-early Iron IIA, also yielded a large and varied assemblage of 154 adornment objects, not including sixty-five items of shell that were most likely also used as items of adornment. Among these 326 objects, are examples of metal, stone, and vitreous materials, which are represented by beads, pendants, rings, bangles (bracelets, anklets, and armlets), earrings, and fibulae.
Petrographic and Technological Analysis of the Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath Pottery
By: David Ben-Shlomo
Abstract: In archaeological research, pottery analysis is of importance for relative dating and reconstructing daily life, as well as for understanding trade patterns and cultural contacts. Trade patterns in table ware and commodities carried in pottery containers can help illuminate the economy and administration of an ancient society. The production technology of pottery, and especially its mode of production, can also reflect social, economic, and political realities in a general manner. However, according to many ethnographic and archaeological studies, the technology of pottery production is relatively conservative, and does not change rapidly.
Cooking Installations through the Ages at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath
By: Shira Gur-Arieh
Abstract: While it is debated when exactly humans began regularly to cook their food (Sandgathe and Berna 2017), it is clear that once they did, they never looked back. Cooking raw food improves its nutrient values by enabling more complete digestion, it kills bacteria, and it sometimes helps to preserve the food. But above all, cooking makes many food products taste much better. The combination of such practical benefits, which are essential for our wellbeing, with the communal and social aspects of eating, are what makes cooking and cuisine so central in the culture of many societies worldwide. Yet, although archaeologists are aware of the important role of cooking in the overall assemblage that defines different human cultures, comprehensive study of archaeological cooking installations is still not commonly practiced in excavations of Levantine protohistoric and historic sites (Ebeling and Rogel 2015: 343–44). Such comprehensive studies of cooking technologies, fuel materials, and their spatial and chronological development over time, have the potential to provide invaluable information on topics such as human interaction with the environment, subsistence practice, intercultural transformation, and cultural affiliation, to mention just a few.
Seals and Sealings at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath
By: Stefan Münger
Abstract: The currently published glyptic assemblage from Tell es-iSafi/Gath comprises more than sixty seals and sealings (Keel 2013: 94–123; see also Maeir, Shai, and Kolska Horwitz 2011). This corpus provides sound evidence that seals—mostly worn as adornments—and the practice of sealing were part of daily life at Tell es-Safiâ/Gath throughout the centuries. In the following, a few outstanding glyptic finds by the current expedition are presented.
Plant Use in the Bronze and Iron Ages at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath
By: Suembikya Frumin, Ehud Weiss
Abstract: The long history of settlement at Tell es-Safiâ/Gath provides an opportunity to study changes in vegetation and its use in different cultures and periods, as well as aspects relating to local biodiversity over time. These changes may shed light on the local development of agriculture, on cultural changes, on ancient human migrations, and foreign influences. Analyzing archaeological data from several time periods and cultures within the same landscape offers new directions in the study of past cultures, and the origins of their formation (Frumin et al. 2015; Frumin 2017). In the case of the appearance of Philistine culture, which occurred partly through migration, this type of data enables analysis of invasion events using archaeological data, with the aim of reconstructing changes in diet, land use, and in regional and interregional linkages associated with a specific migrant culture.
What We Can Learn from the Flint Industries at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath
By: Francesco Manclossi, Steven A Rosen
Abstract: Within Levantine archaeology, the analysis of chipped stone tools from the Metal Ages is reasonably well established. Chipped stone tool manufacture is a reductive process, leaving large quantities of diagnostic waste products, allowing detailed reconstruction not only of the specifics of technologies and function, but also of such issues as on-site/off-site production, trade, and degrees of craft specialization—and ultimately offering insights into social and economic processes not always available from other sources. The materials from Tell es-Safiâ/Gath from the Early Bronze (EB), Late Bronze (LB), and Iron Ages (IA) provide a long-term view of these processes at the site, and offer a case study for larger-scale processes.
By: Liora Kolska Horwitz, Rona Winter-Livneh, Aren M. Maeir
Abstract: Referring to the dearth of historical archaeological research in Israel, in Between Past and Present: Archaeology, Ideology, and Nationalism in the Modern Middle East, author Neil Silberman states: “Just as the story was beginning to get interesting—when the modern cultures of the region were in the process of formation—the archaeological picture went blank” (1989:233). Since Silberman published his book, the status of historical-archaeological research—notably of the Islamic and Ottoman periods in Israel—has certainly improved. To a large extent, the same cannot be said of archaeological research—either on objects, sites, or historic landscapes—relating to the British Mandate and the early years of the State of Israel.
Review of Radical Political Economics (Volume 50, Issue 1)
Property, Geopolitics, and Eurocentrism: The “Great Divergence” and the Ottoman Empire
By: Eren Duzgun
Abstract: The Ottoman Empire has thus far remained at the margin of the “Great Divergence” debate. Relatedly, no systematic attempt has been made to overcome Eurocentric views about the early modern Ottoman Empire. This paper seeks to fill this gap by problematizing and re-historicizing arguably the core concept of the Great Divergence debate, that is, capitalism. Drawing from the theory of social-property relations, the paper reconsiders the question of the origin of capitalism, and by doing so, provides not only new comparative insights on the early modern Ottoman Empire, but also the preliminary outlines of an alternative non-Eurocentric reading of world historical development.
Security Studies (Volume 27, Issue 2)
Going on the Run: What Drives Military Desertion in Civil War?
By: Holger Albrecht, Kevin Koehler
Abstract: Under which circumstances do soldiers and officers desert in a violent domestic conflict? This article studies individual military insubordination in the Syrian civil war, drawing on interviews with deserters from the Syrian army now based in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon. A plausibility probe of existing explanations reveals that desertion opportunities originating in conflict events and the presence of safe-havens fail to explain individual deserters’ decision making. Accounting for socio-psychological factors—moral grievances and fear—generates more promising results for an inquiry into the conditions under which military personnel desert. While moral concerns with continued military service contribute to accumulating grievances among military members engaged in the civil war, fear—that is, soldiers’ concerns for their own safety—is a more effective triggering cause of desertion. The article presents a theory-generating case study on the causes of military insubordination and disintegration during violent conflict.
By: Barbara Elias
Abstract: Alliance politics are critical yet understudied in counterinsurgency interventions. Despite the importance of local allies, traditional research on alliances fails to account for the challenges of managing in-country counterinsurgency security partners or explain variation among which types of policy requests from large intervening allies are likely to result in compliance or defiance by local partners. When did US intervening forces have leverage in Iraq and Afghanistan, and when was American influence limited? Utilizing thousands of US government documents to analyze over 250 US demands of allies in Kabul and Baghdad, this paper reexamines established variables in the literature on inter-alliance bargaining—namely allied interests and dependencies—to offer a new model describing the interaction of these variables in asymmetric counterinsurgency partnerships. The theory predicts when large allies are likely to influence local partners and when these intervening forces will likely fail to coerce them.
The Arsenal of Insurrection: Explaining Rising Support for Rebels
By: Ryan Grauer, Dominic Tierney
Abstract: Recent scholarship has established several key dynamics in civil wars: since the nineteenth century, rebel victories have increased in likelihood; external support is one of the most significant predictors of rebel victory; and rebel groups have become increasingly likely to receive foreign backing. What is missing is an explanation of why patterns of third-party aid to rebels changed over time. Data on foreign assistance to rebels over the last two centuries reveals the odds of groups receiving aid increased from about one in five to about four in five. The nature of the patron also altered significantly, from great powers, to lesser states, and then non-state actors. We explain these patterns using three variables: (1) great-power competition; (2) norms of national self-determination; and (3) globalization. This paper explores this theory with a case study of aid to rebel groups in Algeria since the 1830s.
By: Theodore McLauchlin
Abstract: This article examines the impact of the ethnic exclusiveness of regimes on commitment problems and hence on civil conflict duration. It argues that members of privileged in-groups in highly exclusive regimes can be trapped into compliance with the regime. Ethnic exclusion helps to construct privileged-group members as regime loyalists. They therefore fear rebel reprisals even if they surrender or defect and consequently persist in fighting. The article finds in particular that, in ethnically exclusive regimes, privileged-group members mistrust even rebels who mobilize on a non-ethnic agenda and regard rebel reassurances, including non-ethnic aims, as suspect. Exclusion therefore induces privileged-group cohesion, an effect more resistant to rebel reassurances than previously recognized. A case study of the Syrian civil war shows this dynamic at a micro level, and a cross-national statistical analysis gives partial evidence that it lengthens civil conflicts on a large scale.
Social & Legal Studies (Volume 27, Issue 2)
Relived Vulnerabilities of Palestinian Refugees
By: Maissaa Almustafa
Abstract: The international refugee protection regime failed in protecting millions of refugees during the current Syrian conflict. However, for more than half a million Palestinian refugees who have resided in Syria since 1948, this failure has been persistent since such time as they were never protected by the international protection regime. These Palestinian refugees are now reliving the trauma of their statelessness through the current Syrian conflict. Their lack of protection reveals a complex layering of the failure of the legal framework of refugee protection. This case demonstrates the limits of an international protection regime that was initially formulated to address a Eurocentric set of concerns. This article links the current protection gaps for Palestinian refugees from Syria with the structural flaws of the international refugee protection regime. The article argues that the particular legal frameworks that were established to govern the statelessness of Palestinian refugees since 1948 have contributed in prolonging this unresolved crisis and pushed stateless Palestinians into a new cycle of displacement and victimization.
Studies in Conflict & Terrorism (Volume 41, Issues 2-5)
Foreign Fighters and Transnational Jihad in Syria
By: Meirav Meshali-Ram
Abstract: Foreign fighters arrive in Syria from across the Muslim world, yet the configuration of their countries of origin remains a puzzle. Examining alternative explanations for joining transnational jihad, the article draws insights from the cases of Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, two major countries of foreign fighters’ origin, compared with Egypt, from where limited figures of volunteers have joined the Syrian war. The article shows that the sources of volunteering fighters may be well understood in combined terms of religious sentiments and national politics. Foreign fighters come largely from Muslim countries where restrained state–Islamists relations channel Islamic grievances to transnational arenas.
Jihadi-Salafism in Jordan and the Syrian Conflict: Divisions Overcome Unity
By: Joas Wagemakers
Abstract: Over the last decade, a rift has emerged among Jihadi-salafis in Jordan between the “Zarqawiyyun”—who see Abu Mus‘ab al-Zarqawi as their model and concentrate on combat—and the “Maqdisiyyun”—who want more scholarly guidance, emphasize the establishment of an Islamic State and follow Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi. The conflict in Syria, however, offered options for both: a jihad against a reviled regime and the possibility to set up an Islamic state. It thus had the potential to unite the “Zarqawiyyun” and the “Maqdisiyyun.” This article analyzes why this did not happen.
Settling on Violence: Expansion of Israeli Outposts in the West Bank in Response to Terrorism
By: Anna Getmansky, Tolga Sinmazdemir
Abstract: How does terrorism affect land control in intrastate conflicts? This article explores this question in the case of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict during the Second Intifada (2000–2005), and shows that Palestinian attacks led to an expansion of Israeli outposts in the disputed territories of the West Bank. Following suicide attacks, there is an increase in outposts in home districts of the perpetrators. The number of outposts also increases following deadly attacks against Israelis in West Bank districts where these attacks take place. These results suggest that Israeli settlers use outpost expansion as retaliation against Palestinian communities they perceive to be involved in violence, and this shifts territorial control against Palestinians.
By: William Adair Davies
Abstract: A comparative analysis of Islamic extremism post-9/11 to 2015 and the effectiveness of the counter-terrorism (CT) authorities to counter it in both Western Europe and the United States was conducted. Four measures of effectiveness revealed that 2010-2015 saw a gradual increase in jihadi attacks and in casualties emanating from these attacks, and more jihadists, foreign fighters, and material supporters. Additionally, 2013-2015 saw a twenty-two percent reduction both in Western Europe and the US counter-terrorism agencies’ ability to counter Islamic extremism. We are losing the War on Terror and our citizens are less safe than they were six years ago. Further analysis revealed that singleton jihadists: (1) were much harder than group-based jihadists to uncover, (2) have been increasing since 2009, and (3) have generated over seventy percent of all jihadi violence. Finally, numerous similarities exist between Western Europe and the United States with respect to jihadism in their homelands and their respective counter-terrorism effectiveness, indicating close cross-Atlantic counter-terrorism collaboration since 9/11. This in-depth analysis provides essential threat/hazard information to security, law enforcement, intelligence, and policymaking personnel and the greater homeland security communities.
The Terror Speaks: Inside Pakistan’s Terrorism Discourse and National Action Plan
By: Pamir H. Sahill
Abstract: This article, employing a poststructuralist critical discourse analysis, reveals cracks, discrepancies, and inconsistencies in Pakistan’s discourse on terrorism and practice. I argue that Pakistan continuously constructs a “monstrous enemy” and magnifies it in a way that conceals alternative representations of reality that could show that the state, by presenting itself as a victim of terrorism, is using phenomena of political violence to serve its political objectives inside and outside the boundaries of the state. The article argues that after a militant attack on a school in northwest Pakistan, critical, liberal, and dissenting narratives mingled with the dominant state discourse in a fashion that strengthen illiberal practices in the country, thus undermining the ideals of democracy.
By: Mohammad E. A. Alqattan, Tim Gray, Selina M. Stead
Abstract: If piracy attacks are unreported, a misleading impression is given of piracy situations in regions where there could be serious consequences for ships traveling in waterways on the assumption that they are piracy-free waters. However, sometimes not reporting piracy attacks could help to contain piracy before it expands, because reporting can lead to the media over-focusing on piratical incidents, and armed guards being deployed on ships, which causes pirates to use heavier arms and escalates the level of conflict. Piracy that took place during 2003-2012 in the north and the center of the Arabian Gulf has never been reported to the International Maritime Bureau. The present article examines this case of unreporting, and discusses its causes and consequences.
Terrorism and Political Violence (Volume 30, Issues 2 & 3)
Terrorist Organization Proscription as Counterinsurgency in the Kurdish Conflict
By: Vicki Sentas
Abstract: Proscription—the designation of non-state actors as terrorist organizations—operates as one technique of counterterrorism listing, whereby individuals and populations associated with armed non-state actors are targeted for disruption, stigmatisation, and prosecution. This article examines the effects of the globalised proscription of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on the Kurdish conflict as a mode of counterinsurgency warfare. It argues that calling proscription a counterinsurgency strategy better connects its preemptive functions and objects with its deleterious effects on targeted populations. Moreover, this article argues that the transnational organization of the ban of the PKK casts light on how proscription extends and deepens colonial practices of counterinsurgency.
By: David Randahl
Abstract: This article uses a large-n dataset to investigate the effect of terrorist attacks with American victims on the popularity of the US president. The study uses two broad theoretical frameworks to analyze this effect, the score-keeping framework and the rally-effect framework. The findings of the study show that, when excluding the effect from the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, actual terrorist attacks have no generalizable short-term impact on the popularity of the US president. This indicates that even though the topics of national security, terrorism, and the president’s ability to handle these issues are important in the political debate in the United States, actual terrorism has little or no short-term impact on presidential approval ratings.
Beheading the Hydra: Counterinsurgent Violence and Insurgent Attacks in Iraq
By: Joshua Eastin, Emily Kalah Gade
Abstract: We evaluate the effectiveness of anti-insurgent violence as a means to suppress insurgency with micro-level data from the Iraq War. Our findings suggest that while violence against insurgents increases the incidence of future insurgent attacks, the intensity of this violence can significantly influence the outcome. Rather than shifting monotonically, the effect is actually curvilinear, first rising, and then contracting. We argue that at low to moderate levels, violence against insurgents creates opportunities for these groups to signal strength and resolve, which enables them to build momentum, heighten civilian cooperation, and diminish political support for counterinsurgency efforts in these forces’ home countries. The result is an escalation in insurgent attacks. However, at higher levels, this effect should plateau and taper off as insurgent attrition rises, and as civilian fears over personal safety displace grievances that might otherwise provoke counter-mobilization. Our empirical tests on data from the Iraq War, 2004-2009, demonstrate robust support for this argument.
The Al Qaeda Brand: The Strategic Use of the “Terrorist” Label
By: Elena Pokalova
Abstract: Al-Qa‘ida leaders have consistently praised the Chechen insurgents as an exemplary front of global jihad. Ayman al-Zawahiri recently applauded the steadfastness of the Chechen rebels and indicated that their resolve for jihad is worthy of emulation. Ever since the world found out about a war going on in the Muslim republic in the North Caucasus, al-Qa‘ida leadership has attempted to represent the Chechen struggle as one of its own battlefields. In turn, the Russian government has tried to justify its policies in the North Caucasus through demonstrating to the world that the Kremlin is fighting nothing less than Osama bin Laden’s agents in Chechnya. The North Caucasus insurgents in turn have embraced some of al-Qa‘ida’s narratives. While such narratives have proliferated, the factual evidence to show the direct links between the North Caucasus insurgents and al-Qa‘ida is still lacking. The article examines how terrorist groups such as al-Qa‘ida use framing for strategic ends. The evidence discussed here suggests that al-Qa‘ida, the North Caucasus insurgents, and the Russian government have adopted similar narratives. However, the lack of evidence to back up such narratives indicates the differences in reasons driving the convergence of the narratives.
The Developing Economies (Volume 56, Issue 1)
By: Felor Ebghaei, Arzu Akkoyunlu Wigley
Abstract: This study examines the role of exports in the transmission of horizontal and vertical spillovers of foreign direct investment for the Turkish manufacturing industry by using firm‐level data. Our objective is to test whether the export capacity of firms is one of the determinants of the occurrence of the horizontal and vertical spillovers generated by foreign direct investment. In order to determine whether the productivity effects arising from horizontal and vertical (backward and forward) spillovers are conditioned by the exports of firms, value added and total factor productivity equations for Turkish manufacturing industry firms for the years 2003-11 are estimated using the panel data method. Our estimation results show that the productivity effects generated by horizontal, backward, and forward spillovers of foreign direct investment are more pronounced for export‐oriented firms.
Third World Quarterly (Volume 39, Issues 2-5)
Drugs of choice, drugs of change: Egyptian consumption habits since the 1920s
By: Philip Robins
Abstract: Much has been written and published about the 25 January 2011 Egyptian revolution from the perspective of contemporary history and political science. Much less attention has focused on social policy. I am unaware of any scholarly material that has dealt with illicit drugs during the critical 2011-2016 period, yet increasing drugs consumption provided a social backdrop to the events of that period. This paper identifies historical trends in illicit drugs consumption over the course of the last century to the beginning of the Arab Spring. During much of this period hashish was the drug of choice. This paper argues that drug consumption was on the rise in Egypt well before the downfall of President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, but that it has grown markedly since the ousting of the former president. It will ask which have been and are the drugs of choice in contemporary Egypt. It will further ask how this composition has changed and why, giving special focus to the relatively new mass, opioid drug, Tramadol.
Maintaining disorder: the micropolitics of drugs policy in Iran
By: Maziyar Ghiabi
Abstract: This article analyses the ways in which the state “treats” addiction among precarious drug (ab)users in Iran. While most Muslim-majority as well as some Western states have been reluctant to adopt harm reduction measures, the Islamic Republic of Iran has done so on a nationwide scale and through a sophisticated system of welfare intervention. Additionally, it has introduced devices of management of “addiction” (the ”camps”) that defy statist modes of punishment and private violence. What legal and ethical framework has this new situation engendered? And what does this new situation tell us about the governmentality of the state? Through a combination of historical analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, the article analyses the paradigm of government of the Iranian state with regard to disorder as embodied by the lives of poor drug (ab)users.
Humanitarian interventions and the media: broadcasting against ethnic hate
By: Kerstin Tomiak
Abstract: Humanitarian interventions routinely come with media components, because of the media’s assumed ability to counter hate and support reconciliation. Radio programmes for peace should enable audiences to withstand manipulation and react non-violently in conflict situations. Based in the ideological tradition of modernisation theory, these programmes assume that violent conflict can be overcome by educating individuals. Based on original data from South Sudan, this paper argues that social structure and duty to leaders play a bigger role and that present media interventions are ill suited to the problem. Interventions need to be tailored to the situation instead of relying on generalised responses.
Hurdles to peace: a level-of-analysis approach to resolving Sudan’s civil wars
By: Johan Brosché, Allard Duursma
Abstract: Why do some peace agreements end armed conflicts whereas others do not? Previous studies have primarily focused on the relation between warring parties and the provisions included in peace agreements. Prominent mediators, however, have emphasised the importance of stakeholders at various levels for the outcome of peace agreements. To match the experience of these negotiators we apply a level-of-analysis approach to examine the contextual circumstances under which peace agreements are concluded. While prominent within the causes of war literature, level-of-analysis approaches are surprisingly scant in research about conflict resolution. This article compares two Sudanese Peace Agreements: the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (2005) that ended the North-South war and led to the independence of South Sudan, and the Darfur Peace Agreement (2006) which failed to end fighting in Darfur. We find that factors at the local, national and international level explain the different outcomes of the two agreements. Hence, the two case studies illustrate the merit of employing a level-of-analysis approach to study the outcome of peace agreements. The main contribution of this article is that it presents a new theoretical framework to understand why some peace agreements terminate armed conflict whereas others do not.
The Turkish Constitutional Court, laicism and the headscarf issue
By: Lacin Idil Oztig
Abstract: From 1989 onwards, the Turkish Constitutional Court justified the headscarf ban in universities by citing laicism. Interestingly, in 2014, the Court found the headscarf ban in courts unconstitutional and revoked it by again citing laicism as the main reason. How can this seemingly paradoxical practice be explained? This article traces the trajectory of the headscarf issue in Turkey by analysing and contextualising the constitutional court decisions. In order to explain how and why the constitutional court issued two opposing views of the headscarf ban, this article focuses on the changing political climate and legal developments that took place in Turkey between 2008 and 2014.
Power, politics and perception: the impact of foreign policy on civilian–peacekeeper relations
By: Vanessa F. Newby
Abstract: This article responds to a recent call for increased empirical evidence on the ‘local turn’ in the peacebuilding literature and discusses the impact of the international on local consent for peace operations. Using fresh empirical material this article examines the case of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). It shows how local perceptions of the foreign policies of peacekeeping contingents matter, and how this affects the functionality of the mission. This article highlights the heterogeneity of both United Nations peacekeeping missions and local populations, an issue that is insufficiently discussed in the literature on local engagement in peacebuilding/peacekeeping.
Qatar’s humanitarian aid to Palestine
By: Elia Zureik
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to document Qatar’s recent contribution of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. We consider Qatar as an example of a mini state that relies on its wealth and soft power to further its interests in the Middle East and support a beleaguered Arab-Muslim state. The paper carries out analysis of Arabic newspapers and other documentary evidence to contextualise and estimate Qatar’s financial contribution 2010–2016. Contextualising Qatar’s aid necessitates considering Israel’s military control of the Palestinian Territories, and its ability through hard power to regulate the inflow of aid to Palestine. The paper concludes by calling for adopting the political economy perspective in dealing with humanitarian aid.
The cyber frontier and digital pitfalls in the Global South
By: Niels Nagelhus Schia
Abstract: How does digitalisation lead to new kinds of global connections and disconnections in the Global South? And what are the pitfalls that accompany this development? Much of the policy literature on digitalisation and development has focused on the importance of connecting developing countries to digital networks. Good connection to digital networks may have a fundamental impact on societies, changing not only how individuals and businesses navigate, operate and seek opportunities, but also as regards relations between government and the citizenry. However, the rapid pace of this development implies that digital technologies are being put to use before good, functional regulatory mechanisms have been developed and installed. The resultant shortcomings–in state mechanisms, institutions, coordination mechanisms, private mechanisms, general awareness, public knowledge and skills–open the door to new kinds of vulnerabilities. Herein lie dangers, but also opportunities for donor/recipient country exchange. Instead of adding to the already substantial literature on the potential dividends, this article examines a less studied issue: the new societal vulnerabilities emerging from digitalisation in developing countries. While there is wide agreement about the need to bridge the gap between the connected and the disconnected, the pitfalls are many.
By: Morgan Brigg
Abstract: Moral common sense frames the relationship between privileged and at-risk populations underpinning contemporary Responsibility to Protect (R2P) discourse. This article develops an alternative by considering the relationship between archetypes of would-be rescuers and victims through Jean Baudrillard’s theorisation of symbolic exchange. Baudrillardian analysis connects personal morality and affective intersubjective symbolic exchange with the politics of international order. This leads, first, to an argument that current foundations for advocating R2P risk participating in a problematic moral economy of symbolic exchange between would-be rescuers and victims. Nonetheless, and secondly, the article deploys symbolic exchange to develop suggestions for partially re-figuring R2P’s humanitarian impulse by engaging “locally”–both through one’s self (in the ethical relation suggested by Emmanuel Levinas) and with diverse forms of political order (following Jacques Rancière’s conception of politics). Doing so supports moves to engage a wide array of individual actors in a more interactive and less hierarchical form of R2P, to drive deeper consideration of local complexities of R2P through engagement with diverse local forms of political order, and to develop a more inclusive understanding of ‘humanity’ in order to bolster R2P’s normative foundations.
The global securitisation of youth
By: Mayssoun Sukarieh, Stuart Tannock
Abstract: This article looks critically at the new global youth, peace and security agenda, that has been marked by the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 in December 2015. It argues that this agenda needs to be situated within the broader context of the securitisation of development, and that the increasing interest in youth as a security subject and actor is shaped by three overlapping sets of global security concerns: the concept of the youth bulge is a euphemism for the problem of growing surplus populations worldwide; the ideal of youth as peacebuilders is a model for eliciting youth support for the current global social and economic order; and the spectre of globally networked youth being radicalised by extremist groups has legitimated joint state and private sector projects that are taking an increasingly active role intervening in the online lives of young people around the world. The article draws on an analysis of a collection of core documents that form the heart of the global youth and security agenda; and it argues for the need for greater critical reflexivity in considering the growing attention being paid to youth as a social category in global development and policy discourse.
Aid and state-building, Part II: Afghanistan and Iraq
By: Dr Nematullah Bizhan
Abstract: Part I of this article found that, in South Korea and Taiwan, institutional legacy and continuity as well as the politics of aid did matter for post-war state-building. The inheritance and continuity of Weberian states and the receipt of aid either as budget support or increasingly aligned with local priorities helped to foster state-building. Part II of the study in this article explores a different dynamic of post-war aid to Afghanistan and Iraq which had a legacy of neopatrimonial and weak states. It argues that under more adverse initial conditions–for a neopatrimonial state–the role of aid regime and state-building strategies become even more important. Under these conditions, aid and state-building strategies may undermine state-building if they induce discontinuity in the existing state capacity and create parallel institutions to those of the state. Depending on the policies, state weakness may be reinforced if leaders are preoccupied with the politics of patronage.
Washington Quarterly (Volume 41, Issues 1 & 2)
The End of Elite Unity and the Stability of Saudi Arabia
By: Stig Stenslie
Abstract: Not available
By: Ron E. Hassner
Abstract: Not available
America Must Lead on Nuclear Energy to Maintain National Security
By: Laura S. H. Holgate, Sagatom Saha
Abstract: Not available
Abstinence or Tolerance: Managing Nuclear Ambitions in Saudi Arabia
By: Nicholas L. Miller, Tristan A. Volpe
Abstract: Not available
The Hard Part: The Art of Sanctions Relief
By: Richard Nephew
Abstract: Not available
The New American Way of War: Special Operations Forces in the War on Terrorism
By: Daniel Byman, Ian A. Merritt
Abstract: Not available
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