MER Article Regionalism and Geopolitics in the Maghrib In February 1993, the Arab Maghrib Union (AMU) marked its fourth anniversary. Despite the great hopes that were vested in this regional economic organization, it has not thrived. [1] There have been five summit meetings since the Treaty of Marrakesh was signed to great fanfare, but the heads of stat Robert Mortimer • 8 min read
MER Article The Economic Dimension of Yemeni Unity To the outside world, the unification of the two Yemens in 1990 resembled the German experience in miniature. North Yemen (the Yemen Arab Republic, YAR) was considered a laissez faire market economy, whereas the South (the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, PDRY) was “the communist one.” When, w Sheila Carapico • 17 min read
MER Article State and Bourgeoisie in the Persian Gulf It is a widely held myth that Gulf businessmen accumulated their fabulous wealth by using traditional commercial acumen and guile refined over generations. Undoubtedly in a few cases this is true, but most businessmen in the modern, post-oil Gulf made their money less glamorously. For some, the vehicle was land Fareed Mohamedi • 8 min read
MER Article Amirahmadi, Revolution and Economic Transition Hooshang Amirahmadi, Revolution and Economic Transition: The Iranian Experience (SUNY, 1990). Misagh Parsa • 3 min read
MER Article Democracy Dilemmas in Jordan On September 2, 1991, the public liberties committee of the lower house of the Jordanian parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, issued a shocking report on torture of political detainees in Jordanian prisons. The shock was not that no one knew these things, but rather that the report had been issued Abla Amawi • 14 min read
MER Article Funding Fundamentalism While Islamic fundamentalism has become a major political force in the Arab world in recent years, particularly in the countries of the Maghrib, it is in Sudan where the Islamist movement has realized its greatest ambition: controlling the levers of state power and setting itself up as a model for s Abbashar Jamal • 12 min read
MER Article A Tale of Two Families Virtually every aspect of life in North Yemen has changed dramatically since 1977, including those aspects of Yemeni society which represent continuity with the past: tribalism, rural life and use of qat. [1] The driving force for change has been economic. By 1975, Yemen was caught up in the dramati Cynthia Myntti, Sheila Carapico • 13 min read
MER Article On the Way to Market Iraq’s debt and deteriorating economy have been regularly cited as causes for the invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, but they almost always take second place to explanations that stress Baghdad’s regional ambitions. In fact, the economic crisis that deepened through the early months of 1990 was the Kiren Aziz Chaudhry • 25 min read
MER Article Arab Economics After the Gulf War On February 6, 1991, Secretary of State James Baker admitted before the House of Foreign Affairs Committee that economic factors, particularly widespread Arab resentment that oil wealth was not more equitably distributed, had played a role in the dynamics leading to the Gulf war and would remain one Yahya Sadowski • 15 min read
MER Article Economic Impact of the Crisis in Egypt Egypt was facing a severe foreign exchange shortage when the Gulf crisis broke out. Its debt arrears were piling up and it was finding it more and more difficult to obtain new loans. The Gulf crisis threatens to make this situation even worse. Here’s how: Remittances sent home by some 1 million Egy Marsha Pripstein Posusney • 3 min read
MER Article Iraq Since 1986: The Strengthening of Saddam In June 1986, we wrote that the situation in which Iraq found itself “underlines the vital need for the establishment of democracy...however broadly this may be defined.” Four years later, this plea has become more urgent; the regime has become even more powerful and repressive and has now extended Marion Farouk-Sluglett • 15 min read
MER Article "We Are Willing to Pay for Settlements But Not for Health Care" One key to understanding how the Israeli economy (malfunctions is that the Histadrut (The General Federation of Workers in Israel; up to 1965 the “Jewish Workers in Israel”) was never simply a trade union. Joel Beinin • 10 min read
