Current Analysis The Battle Over Higher Education in Iran The educated middle class that played an influential role in electing Hassan Rouhani to the Iranian presidency in June 2013 is anxious to see his promises of “prudence and hope” fulfilled. One area that Rouhani’s administration is expected to reform is higher education, which was targeted for politi Mohammad Ali Kadivar • 10 min read
Current Analysis Breaking Point One of the many plot lines lost in the summertime discussions of a US strike on Syria is the pace of refugee movement out of the country. As it stands, the refugee crisis is overwhelming and likely to stay that way. Another external military intervention would further accelerate the mass flight and Omar S. Dahi • 8 min read
Current Analysis A Separation at Iranian Universities On August 6, with the new academic year approaching, the government-backed Mehr News Agency in Iran posted a bulletin that 36 universities in the country had excluded women from 77 fields of study. The reported restrictions aroused something of an international uproar. Parastou Dokouhaki, Nazanin Shahrokni • 15 min read
MER Article Investing in Inequality Beginning in the late summer of 2008 teachers in Egypt have waged a series of public protests against new assessment exams that would determine whether they would receive pay increases or not. In protest teachers argue that the exams are humiliating, questioning their ability to teach regardless of performance or Marion Wood Dixon • 12 min read
MER Article Jordan's New "Political Development" Strategy “We have a problem here. There is no real [opposition] party except for the Muslim Brotherhood.” [1] So an official of Jordan’s new Ministry of Political Development and Parliamentary Affairs summed up the raison d’etre of his place of employment. Anne Baylouny • 11 min read
MER Article Amazigh Activism and the Moroccan State When primary school students in the major Berber-speaking regions of Morocco returned to class in September 2004, for the first time ever they were required to study Berber (Tamazight) language. The mandatory language classes in the Rif, the Middle Atlas, the High Atlas and the Sous Valley represent David Crawford, Paul Silverstein • 13 min read
Current Analysis Behind the Battles Over Middle East Studies An ideological campaign to reshape the academic study of the Middle East in the United States has begun to bear fruit on Capitol Hill. In late 2003, the House of Representatives passed legislation which would, for the first time, mandate that university-based Middle East studies centers “foster deba Zachary Lockman • 20 min read
Current Analysis What Is Wrong with What Went Wrong? It is no exaggeration to say that Bernard Lewis is the most influential writer on Middle Eastern history and politics in the United States today. Not only has he authored more than two dozen books on the Middle East, he trained large numbers of two subsequent generations of historians of the region. Adam Sabra • 15 min read
Current Analysis Afghan Girls' Struggle for Schooling When the first snows started to melt in March, schoolchildren in towns and villages across Afghanistan put on fresh uniforms, strapped satchels across their backs and headed off for a new semester. Despite disruptions in education from more than twenty years of fighting and civil war, education remains a high Jeanette O'Malley • 5 min read
MER Article Women and Gender in Middle East Studies: A Roundtable Discussion Ellen Fleischmann, an editor of this magazine, recently invited scholars who write and teach about women and gender issues in the Middle East to participate in an electronic mail roundtable discussion of the field. The questions generated very positive reactions; many people who could not participate in this roundtable for Ellen Fleischmann • 6 min read
MER Article Women and Gender in Middle East Studies In the past two decades, there has been growing interest in the study of women and gender issues in the Middle East, reflected in the greater number of books, journal articles, dissertations and conference panels devoted to such topics. [1] As a result, many scholars in Middle East studies have come Simona Sharoni • 8 min read
MER Article From One East to the Other Although direct encounters between the two extremes of Asia began in the seventh century [1] and the Imperial Treasures contain many items from the Middle East dating back more than a thousand years, systematic study of the Middle East in Japan did not emerge until the “modernization process” of the Modjtaba Sadria • 7 min read
