MER Article Editor's Picks (Summer 2011) Abdulhadi, Rabab, Evelyn Alsultany and Nadine Naber, eds. Arab and Arab American Feminisms: Gender, Violence and Belonging (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2011). Allen, Roger and Shawkat M. Toorawa, eds. Islam: A Short Guide to the Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2011). Amb The Editors • 1 min read
MER Article American "Blood Money" and a Question of Reparations In the city of Lahore, Pakistan on January 27, 2011, a 36-year old American CIA contractor named Raymond Davis was charged with double murder in the deaths of two Pakistani men, Faizan Haider and Fahim Shamshad. Newspaper accounts describe Davis firing his gun at two men on motorcycles whom he belie Susan Slyomovics • 8 min read
MER Article Shoring Up the National Security State Many expected the Obama administration to slow or altogether stop the growth of the national security state that its two predecessor administrations brought into being, but just the opposite has occurred. Prisoners are still held without charge at Guantánamo Bay; the Patriot Act is still the law; t Nina Farnia • 10 min read
MER Article A Journey of a Thousand Steps On July 9, 2011, South Sudan will officially become independent. When southern Sudanese voted in the January 9 referendum on independence, they sought to affirm their African identity and shed the Arab identity that they felt had been imposed upon them by successive regimes in Khartoum. They also si Marie-Joëlle Zahar • 13 min read
MER Article Taking Out the Trash On February 12, 2011, thousands of Egyptians flooded Tahrir Square to celebrate the previous night’s ouster of Husni Mubarak, their country’s dictator of 30 years. It was an unusually bright and clear-skied Cairo Saturday, full of promise of a new Egypt. From atop the October 6 bridge that spans the Jessica Winegar • 8 min read
MER Article Sectarianism and Its Discontents in Post-Mubarak Egypt The complex Muslim-Christian relations of post-Mubarak Egypt are perhaps best glimpsed through five distinct reactions to the May 7, 2011 attacks on two churches in Imbaba, a poor quarter of Cairo, that left 15 dead and over 200 injured. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces announced that those r Mariz Tadros • 16 min read
MER Article Striking Back at Egyptian Workers Mainstream narratives of the ongoing 2011 Egyptian revolution center around a “crisis of the state.” Among the elements of the crisis were the utter failure of top-down political reform, as shown in the shamelessly rigged 2010 legislative elections; mounting corruption and repression; emerging opportunities for collective action offered by networking Hesham Sallam • 17 min read
MER Article From People to Citizens in Tunisia While Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation will undoubtedly remain the iconic image of the 2011 Tunisian revolution, another set of pictures has also stuck in the minds of Tunisians. On the evening of January 14, despite an army curfew, a man staggered across Avenue Habib Bourguiba, shouting, “Ben Ali Nadia Marzouki • 9 min read
MER Article The Making of North Africa's Intifadas As the waves of protest inspired by Tunisia continue to roll across the Middle East and North Africa, analysts have remained puzzled by the mysterious timing, incredible speed and cross-national snowballing of these uprisings or intifadas. In the six months following the electrifying scenes of thous John P. Entelis, Laryssa Chomiak • 16 min read
MER Article Understanding the Political Economy of the Arab Revolts The revolts sweeping the Arab Middle East and North Africa in early 2011 have been characterized as uprisings against neoliberal economic policies as well as authoritarian rule. But while there is widespread agreement on the political dimension of the revolts, there has been some confusion regarding Omar S. Dahi • 10 min read
MER Article From the Editor (Summer 2011) A Beltway bromide that will not die is, “No one ever went broke betting against peace in the Middle East.” Of dull wit and unclaimed provenance, the saying nonetheless makes the rounds every time the White House reiterates its commitment to resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The Editors • 9 min read
