MER Article Letter from the Curfew Zone “What can we do?” asked Marwan, a service worker at the temporary quarters of the Birzeit University the morning President Bush announced a cessation of hostilities in the Gulf. “Whatever happens, it’s always on the head of the Palestinians.” He turned back to his own Herculean task -- attempting Penny Johnson • 5 min read
MER Article The Bourgeoisie and the Baath For more than a quarter of a century, Syria has been ruled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party, which claims to be leading the country not only to unity and freedom but also to socialism. In the early years of its rule, the Baath made great efforts to develop central Volker Perthes • 19 min read
MER Article Yemen: Unification and the Gulf War On May 22, 1990, the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (the PDRY, or South Yemen) and the Yemen Arab Republic (the YAR, or North Yemen) joined to become the Republic of Yemen. “A Tale of Two Families” reflects the malaise in North Yemen on the eve of unification; the situation in the south, sinc Sheila Carapico • 4 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 Iraqi Contractors: Clients, Loyal Supporters or Interlopers The contracting sector has consistently been the preserve of Iraq’s private sector and has provided an important source of state patronage. The Iraqi Union of Contractors, founded in 1988, was the only independent corporate association in the country. In contrast to labor, professional, student and business associations, it was Kiren Aziz Chaudhry • 2 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 From the Editors The disorder of George Bush’s “new world” did not take long to reveal itself: On the muddy mountainsides along Iraq’s borders with Iran and Turkey, hundreds of thousands of Kurds seek refuge from the depredations of Iraq’s army, while the rest of Iraq’s battered society confronts The Editors • 3 min read
MER Article Parsa, Social Origins of the Iranian Revolution Misagh Parsa, Social Origins of the Iranian Revolution (Rutgers, 1989). Misagh Parsa’s work successfully lays out the essential factors behind the Iranian revolution and the subsequent triumph of the clergy in establishing a consolidated Islamic state. His text provides a sharp analysis of the soci Mostafa Vaziri • 1 min read
MER Article Choueiri, Arab History and the Nation-State Marxism in the United States developed on the margin of society. Shunned by organized labor, it has confronted this society as an outsider. Until the 1970s, the most successful American Marxist works of scholarship were macro studies by economists, written as if from a distance and emphasizing econo Peter Gran • 3 min read
MER Article Egyptian Political Economy Robert Bianchi, Unruly Corporatism: Associational Life in Twentieth-Century Egypt (Oxford, 1989.) Joel Migdal, Strong Societies and Weak States: State-Society Relations and State Capabilities in the Third World (Princeton, 1988). These two important new books address some of the central questions Roger Owen • 8 min read
MER Article Al Miskin After reporting for years from Beirut and Jerusalem for the New York Times, Thomas Friedman is now featured as that newspaper’s diplomatic correspondent and resident expert on the Middle East, his status enhanced by a cozy tennis court relationship with Secretary of State James Baker. An article in Al Miskin • 4 min read
