Agrarian Politics and the Slow Revolution Yet to Come Almost a decade after the 2011 uprisings, we now have an excellent synthetic text by Habib Ayeb and Ray Bush, long-time activists and researchers of (North) African agrarian questions as they relate to food sovereignty, social equality, and the ecology. Max Ajl • 6 min read
The Post-Oslo Neoliberal Laboratory A review of Toufic Haddad, Palestine LTD. Neoliberalism and Nationalism in the Occupied Territories (London: I.B. Taurus, 2016), 368pp. Toufic Haddad begins his sharply critical examination of the international donor and financial community’s role in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) since the 1993 Oslo peace accords between Israel Ibrahim K. Shikaki • 13 min read
Toward Religious Zionist Hegemony in Israel Religious Zionism provides ideological leadership to the ascendant right-wing bloc and increasingly to Jewish Israeli society as a whole. Yoav Peled • 14 min read
The Battle for South Yemen Despite the recent agreement brokered by Saudi Arabia, it may also be the case that the fight for the future of the country has begun between forces that want militarily either to occupy or liberate South Yemen. Susanne Dahlgren • 12 min read
The Political Economy of Erdoğan’s Syria Gamble The Turkish invasion of northern Syria, with President Trump's acquiescence, illustrates Turkish President Erdoğan’s authoritarian populist penchant for treating foreign policy as an extension of domestic crisis management. But it will only further aggravate the interlinked economic and political problems facing the AKP-led government—regardless of whether Şahan Savaş Karataşlı • 17 min read
Trauma as a Counterrevolutionary Strategy Recent research in Egypt demonstrates how trauma can be (and has been) weaponized as a counterrevolutionary strategy by military and political elites who seek to maintain and strengthen their economic and political power. Vivienne Matthies-Boon • 12 min read
Egypt’s Post-2011 Embrace of Russian-Style Misinformation Campaigns Since the 2013 coup, Egypt’s posture vis à vis information and cyber warfare has evolved from a defensive one—geared toward domestic surveillance and blocking—to an offensive one also focused on influence operations abroad. This shift has pulled Egypt further into an open embrace of Russia. Nathaniel Greenberg • 14 min read
Regional Authoritarians Target the Twittersphere Saudi Arabia’s illicit infiltration of Twitter turns out to be only the tip of the iceberg of regional regime’s efforts to wrest control of political discourse on social media. Alexei Abrahams • 11 min read
Trump’s Enabling Role in Rising Regional Repression US President Donald Trump’s public embrace of autocrats and his virtual silence on their repressive behavior appears to have made autocrats, particularly those allied to the United States, less constrained than they were in the past. Adria Lawrence • 10 min read
Regional Uprisings Confront Gulf-Backed Counterrevolution Wealthy, ambitious and emboldened by US acquiescence, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have emerged as key protagonists in thwarting popular movements. Jonathan Fenton-Harvey • 11 min read
Resurgent Protests Confront New and Old Red Lines in Jordan In response to multiple waves of protests, including a surge of protests in 2019, the Jordanian state has worked hard to establish and enforce five red lines for the protests not to cross in order to rein in the potential impact of unified protests across the kingdom. Curtis Ryan • 15 min read
Thinking Critically About Regional Uprisings In order to broaden our frameworks for thinking critically about the new round of uprisings, MERIP editorial committee member Jillian Schwedler asked a number of critical scholars for their perspectives on how we should be thinking about regional protests and what is often overlooked or misunderstoo Jillian Schwedler • 20 min read
