MER Article Boycott Fever in Jordan Sipping coffee in downtown Amman, a friend just returned from a three-week stay on a scholarship in the United States surprised me by saying, “I don’t know if I should smoke.” Had she fallen victim to the American anti-smoking frenzy? Not exactly, she continued: “You know, I’m boycotting American pr Sa'eda Kilani • 10 min read
MER Article Kuwait's Economic Quandary Aiming to restore Kuwait's historic role as a hub of trade in the Persian Gulf, a member of the ruling family is spearheading a team to consider the deepening of economic ties with Iran and, eventually, with Iraq. Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmad Al Sabah's effort to Karen Pfeifer • 8 min read
MER Article The Iraqi Klondike Talk of a "new Middle East" was very much in vogue in the early 1990s. With a seeming Pax Americana reigning over the region after the Gulf war, and with Israel and its neighbors apparently nearing a comprehensive settlement, it looked as if economic interests, not political rivalries, (Author not identified) • 14 min read
Current Analysis Business as Usual in Syria? Over a year after Bashar al-Asad succeeded his father as president of Syria, the Ba'thist regime has proven once again that it can best operate as a closed system. The reversals of political and economic liberalization in February and March of 2001 are not the only indicators. Just Bassam Haddad • 8 min read
Current Analysis Khatami and His "Reformist" Economic (Non-)Agenda Mohammad Khatami is widely expected to be the winner in Iran's June 8 presidential election. He will, most probably, serve a second term, despite his own reluctance to enter the race, and the disappointment of those who gave him his surprise landslide victory in the tight contest of Sohrab Behdad • 7 min read
MER Article Economic Reform in Egypt Texts Reviewed Ray Bush, Economic Crisis and the Politics of Reform in Egypt (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999). Nicholas S. Hopkins and Kirsten Westergaard, eds. Directions of Change in Rural Egypt (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1998). Marsha Pripstein Posusney, Labor and the State i Agnieszska Paczynska • 5 min read
MER Article Under Siege By mid-November, Israel had imposed over 50 days of closure on the whole of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinian persons and goods were refused entry into Israel, or exit from the confines of the Occupied Territories. Mobility within Palestinian-controlled areas was also curtailed. According to Leila Farsakh • 10 min read
MER Article Mining for Fish Around 10,000 of the estimated million people employed in Egypt’s fishing sector are based in ‘Izbat al-Burg, situated at the northernmost tip of the Nile’s Damietta Branch and bordered on the east by the vast Lake Manzala. As recently as nine years ago, Lake Manzala was a major fishing area and a co Amal Sabri, Ray Bush • 12 min read
Current Analysis The Collapse of WTO Negotiations: Implications for the Middle East The failure of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial meeting to agree to launch a new global trade agreement, amidst protests of the WTO's policies by labor and environmental activists outside the meetings and developing countries' delegates inside, was a major setback for proponents of greater deregulation Robert Naiman, Steve Niva • 6 min read
MER Article Change and Stasis in Syria Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, observers and citizens of Syria have anticipated a political shake-up that would transform domestic realities and set the country on a new political and economic course. Such anticipation was not groundless: Syria’s geostrategic context in the early 1990s seemed ripe for regional Bassam Haddad • 19 min read
MER Article No Jubilee for the Middle East? The website of Jubilee 2000-United Kingdom lists 57 countries that have Jubilee 2000 campaigns for the cancellation of the unpayable debt of the poorest countries by the year 2000. [1] No country from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) appears on this list. [2] Robert Naiman • 8 min read
Current Analysis Egypt: An Emerging "Market" of Double Repression Recently, Egyptians have entertained dreams of political reform only to be crushed in October by a cosmetic ministerial reshuffle. President Hosni Mubarak ordered this reshuffle following a plebiscite approving him for a fourth presidential term; a massive wave of pre-election propaganda predictably Fareed Ezzedine • 6 min read
