MER Article Editor's Picks (Spring 2011) Cairoli, M. Laetitia. Girls of the Factory: A Year with the Garment Workers of Morocco (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2011). Dabashi, Hamid. Shi‘ism: A Religion of Protest (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2011). Dahlgren, Susanne. Contesting Realities: The Public Sphere and Morality The Editors • 1 min read
MER Article Evolutionary Constant Nadav Shelef, Evolving Nationalism: Homeland, Identity and Religion in Israel, 1925–2005 (Cornell, 2010). Zachary Lockman • 5 min read
MER Article Hizballah in the Sights Thanassis Cambanis, A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah’s Legions and Their Endless War Against Israel (Free Press, 2010). Lara Deeb • 20 min read
MER Article Conspiracy of Near Silence Shortly before the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, the administration of President George W. Bush began paying a great deal of public attention to the suffering of Iraqi women under the regime of Saddam Hussein. In speeches and meetings with Iraqi women in exile, the Bush administration Nadje Al-Ali, Nicola Pratt • 13 min read
MER Article Tunisian Labor Leaders Reflect Upon Revolt The Tunisian revolution of January 2011 drew upon the participation of nearly every social stratum. Organized labor threw its weight into the struggle early on, in an important sign of the breadth and depth of opposition to the rule of the dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. In mid-March, the Sacrame Chris Toensing • 7 min read
MER Article Sudan's Referendum Amidst Revolution On February 7, 2011, the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission presented President Omar al-Bashir and First Vice President Salva Kiir with the results of the January 2011 vote on southern self-determination. It was a formality: During the three-week voting tabulation process, both presidents had publ Edward Thomas • 13 min read
MER Article What's the Line? Much of what was written from Egypt on and after January 25, 2011 was captivating and intense -- as one might expect from reporters witnessing a democratic movement overthrowing a dictator. But the Beltway reporting that tried to explain US policy was another matter. Peter Hart • 5 min read
MER Article Sulayman the Malevolent ‘Umar Sulayman, the director of Egyptian military intelligence from 1993 until his appointment as vice president in late January 2011, has had a close relationship with the United States for decades. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly favored him to lead an “orderly, peaceful transition” away from ex-President Husni Mubarak. Katherine Hawkins • 8 min read
MER Article Troubadours of Revolt Rami ‘Isam, a 23-year old pony-tailed singer for the so-so rock band Mashakil, based in Mansoura, showed up at Tahrir Square on January 28, 2011, guitar in hand and ready to join the pro-democracy revolt. His music soon became an important component of the Tahrir scene, as the insurrectionists set u Ted Swedenburg • 4 min read
MER Article The 18 Days of Tahrir On January 26 Tahrir Square was under occupation. Hundreds of riot police bearing shields and batons formed cordons along the perimeter to prevent anyone suspected of being a demonstrator from approaching. Traffic was light, an unusual scene for one of Cairo’s busiest intersections. On the sidewalks Ahmad Shokr • 8 min read
MER Article The Praxis of the Egyptian Revolution If there was ever to be a popular uprising against autocratic rule, it should not have come in Egypt. The regime of President Husni Mubarak was the quintessential case of durable authoritarianism. “Our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the Mona El-Ghobashy • 31 min read
MER Article From the Editors (Spring 2011) Revolution is a weighty word, one as freighted with past disappointments as with hopes for the future. In the Arab world, where the first spontaneous popular revolutions of the twenty-first century have begun, cabals of colonels long expropriated the term to glorify their coups d’état. It is an acc The Editors • 6 min read
