MER Article

Oman’s Consultative Council Elections

The scant international coverage of Oman’s 2015 Consultative Council elections is not surprising. An absolute monarchy widely perceived as a bastion of political stability, Oman rarely features in world news. The sultanate’s strong ties with both Iran and the Arab Gulf monarchies allow it to play an

(Author not identified) • 8 min read

MER Article

Editor's Picks (Summer 2016)

Achcar, Gilbert. Morbid Symptoms: Relapse in the Arab Uprising (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2016). Abu-‘Uksa, Wael. Freedom in the Arab World: Concepts and Ideologies in Arabic Thought in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016). Al-Nakib, Farah. Kuwait Transformed: A History of Oil and Urban Life

(Author not identified) • 1 min read

Current Analysis

Some Initial Thoughts on the Chilcot Report

We asked a few MERIP friends and Iraq scholars for their reflections on what they have read so far of the report now regarded as the official assessment of British involvement in the Iraq war.

(Author not identified) • 10 min read

Current Analysis

Letter to UN Secretary-General Regarding Saudi Arabia's Removal from List of Armies Charged with War Crimes

"The ruling Saudi regime obviously knows how to use its wealth to manipulate dysfunctional international bodies such as the UN. However, in the eyes of the global community it stands charged with overwhelming evidence of war crimes and of fundamental human indecency."

(Author not identified) • 4 min read

Current Analysis

After Orlando

The media has been full of misleading and politically charged speculation about the massacre of 49 people at Orlando's Pulse nightclub. We asked some MERIP friends to comment on the misinformation and the telling silences in the coverage.

(Author not identified) • 13 min read

MER Article

Editor's Picks (Spring 2016)

Abboud, Samer. Syria (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2016). Abu Saif, Atef. The Drone Eats with Me: A Gaza Diary (Boston: Beacon Press, 2016). Al-Hardan, Anaheed. Palestinians in Syria: Nakba Memories of Shattered Communities (New York: Columbia University Press, 2016). Alper, Loretta and Jeremy Earp. The Occupation of the American Mind

(Author not identified) • 1 min read

MER Article

North Africa's Invisible Refugees

It is December 2014, and on a chilly desert night in a refugee camp, a family sits in a circle inside their tent. Each family member wraps as much of his or her person as possible in a shared blanket. The mother, Almuadala, is making tea on a charcoal furnace.

(Author not identified) • 9 min read

Current Analysis

Suspend US Military Aid to Egypt

Scholars of the Egypt and the Middle East call on President Obama to stop the longstanding US support for Egypt's undemocratic military regime.

(Author not identified) • 3 min read

Current Analysis

Open Letter from Scholars of Yemen

Scholars write for the third time to condemn the actions of the US-Saudi-French alliance violating international humanitarian law in the southern Arabian Peninsula.

(Author not identified) • 2 min read

MER Article

Editor's Picks (Winter 2015)

Aarts, Paul and Carolien Roelants. Saudi Arabia: A Kingdom in Peril (London: Hurst, 2015). Beinin, Joel. Workers and Thieves: Labor Movements and Popular Uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2015). Bennis, Phyllis. Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Te

(Author not identified) • 1 min read

MER Article

Editor's Picks (Fall 2015)

Abulhawa, Susan. The Blue Between Sky and Water (New York: Bloomsbury, 2015). Agrama, Hussein Ali. Questioning Secularism: Islam, Sovereignty and the Rule of Law in Modern Egypt (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012). Alajaji, Sylvia Angelique. Music and the Armenian Diaspora: Searching for

(Author not identified) • 2 min read

Current Analysis

Scholars of Egypt Protest Crackdown on Freedom of Expression

November 18, 2015   President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi Arab Republic of Egypt   Ahmed al-Zind Minister of Justice, Arab Republic of Egypt   Sedky Sobhy Minister of Defense, Arab Republic of Egypt   Yasser Reda Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United States

(Author not identified) • 6 min read