MER Article Gun Belt in the Beltway On August 22 and 23, 1993, Saudi Arabia’s finances received rare front-page coverage in the New York Times, inaugurating a period of hand wringing inside the Beltway and among the academy’s consulting class over the kingdom’s future. This is a tradition going back decades, to the 1940s, when the Sau Robert Vitalis • 3 min read
MER Article The Most Obscure Dictatorship The camera avoids faces, except those of the plainclothes police. The black-and-white images are hazy, jumpy. They evoke the antiquated style of negatives that have escaped the censor and customs searches. “This could be any country,” says the commentator -- Chile under Gen. Pinochet, or Burma under Alain Gresh • 16 min read
MER Article From the Editor (November/December 1995) This issue marks a milestone for MERIP, as we celebrate this fall our twenty-fifth year as an organization and, in May 1996, 25 years of publication. It also marks a point of transition for me: As those of you who have seen our most recent appeal letter already know, at the end of this year I will b Joe Stork, The Editors • 2 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks (September/October 1995) Agha, Hussein J. and Ahmad S. Khalidi. Syria and Iran: Rivalry and Cooperation (London: Pinter, 1995). Amnesty International. Syria: Repression and Impunity (London, 1995). Archibugi, Daniele and David Held, eds. Cosmopolitan Democracy: An Agenda for a New World Order (Cambridge: Polity Press, 199 The Editors • 2 min read
MER Article Ideology and Revolution in Iran Ervand Abrahamian, Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993). Hamid Dabashi, Theology of Discontent: The Ideological Foundations of the Islamic Revolution in Iran (New York: New York University Press, 1993). John Foran, Fragile Resistance: Soci Misagh Parsa • 7 min read
MER Article Categories of Power Regular readers of this magazine will know that one of our defining characteristics has been a commitment to understanding the Middle East in terms of political economy: the relationship between forms of political power and the social relations of production and distribution at the local and international levels. Edward Said’ Joel Beinin • 5 min read
MER Article Sex Tourism in Cairo She doesn’t look like a classic madam. About 50 years old, Hagga lives in a simple flat in the chic Cairene quarter of Muhandisin. Her black abaya (cape and headscarf) evince a more traditional outlook. Even her language is full of religious references. “Tomorrow you can have two girls, God willing. Karim El-Gawhary • 5 min read
MER Article Strategic Myths: Petra's B'doul Until 1985, the small B’doul tribe resided among the historic ruins of Petra. They made most of their income from tourism, serving as guides, renting out their caves, and selling food and beverages. They also sold archaeological objects found among the ruins, mostly the shards of pots. In 1985 the Anna Ohannessian-Charpin • 3 min read
MER Article Tourists with Agendas One bizarre aspect about life in Palestine is the scrutiny to which we are subjected by journalists, researchers and political tourists who descend daily. Birzeit University is particularly attractive to researchers who come to “do Palestine.” At first glance, the benefits would seem great: publicit Salim Tamari • 2 min read
MER Article Designer Heritage Is Israel experiencing an identity crisis? Some such symptoms are evident in a confusion over the territorial, historical and cultural boundaries of contemporary Israeli society. The tourism industry, with its consumer demands and political agendas, is exacerbating this crisis. Joel Bauman • 12 min read
MER Article Itineraries of Peace In Near East Travel’s East Jerusalem office, a satellite photograph of the Middle East is framed under glass, inscribed with the names of countries and major cities. National borders are unmarked. The Holy Land -- so the map is labeled -- appears as a single, seamless territory. A full-page adverti Rebecca L. Stein • 12 min read
MER Article Boom Box in Ouarzazate In 1987, during one of my first visits to Morocco, I attended a series of rock concerts in Marrakesh with a group of friends who had been invited to the event to represent their youth group. The organizers of the concerts, the local Grand Atlas association, invited us to tour the medina. During one Susan Ossman • 9 min read
