MER Article

State Incubation of Iraqi Capitalism

The scene was the presidential palace in Baghdad, July 7, 1983. A campaign to solicit gold and money donations from ordinary citizens to support the Iraqi war effort had just begun. A furious Saddam Hussein was receiving a group of Iraqi contractors to convince them to increase their donations. He s

Isam al-Khafaji • 21 min read

MER Article

From the Editors (September/October 1986)

The US Federal Reserve Bank recently reported that over one third of the wealth in the United States is currently held by only 1 percent of all families. And in recent years, it seems, concentration has actually been increasing. Wealth, and the power that goes with it, is in the hands of the very fe

The Editors • 3 min read

MER Article

The CIA in Afghanistan

President Reagan’s campaign to fund the Nicaraguan contras has distracted public attention from the much larger covert war operation in Afghanistan. The Afghanistan funding is currently at least $275 million per year but it may be double that—the exact sums are discreetly hidden as “other procuremen

• 4 min read

MER Article

Helms, Iraq: Eastern Flank of the Arab World

Christine Moss Helms, Iraq: Eastern Flank of the Arab World (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1984).

Muhammad Ja'far • 2 min read

MER Article

Black, Garrison Guatemala

George Black with Milton Jamail and Norma Stoltz Chincilla, Garrison Guatemala (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1984).   A Chicana from California on a recent political study trip to Guatemala elicited a special tour from guards at Guatemala’s seat of government, the National Palace, by putting on

Martha Wenger • 1 min read

MER Article

Hussain, Political Perspectives on the Muslim World

Asaf Hussain, Political Perspectives on the Muslim World (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984).

Fred H. Lawson • 1 min read

MER Article

Vercellin, Crime de Silence

Giorgio Vercellin, Crime de Silence et Crime de Tapage: Panorama des lectures sur l'Afghanistan contemporain (Naples: Institute Universitario Orientale, 1985).   Giorgio Vercellin, of the University of Venice, has undertaken the unusual and difficult task of reviewing the mass of recent published

Fred Halliday • 1 min read

MER Article

Oil Politics in the Arab World

Giacomo Luciani, The Oil Companies and the Arab World (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984). Yusif Sayigh, Arab Oil Policies in the 1970s (London: Croom Helm, 1983). Abdulaziz al-Sowayegh, Arab Petro-Politics (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1984). David Howdon, ed., The Energy Crisis Ten Years Afte

Michael Renner • 3 min read

MER Article

Owen, Migrant Workers in the Gulf

Roger Owen, Migrant Workers in the Gulf (London: Minority Rights Group, Report No. 68, 1985).   Today, as oil prices plunge, the six million foreign workers in the Gulf are feeling the crunch. Roger Owen's new survey of Gulf migrant workers is especially welcome, for the future of Gulf societies i

James Paul • 2 min read

MER Article

Turner, Capitalism and Class in the Middle East

Bryan S. Turner, Capitalism and Class in the Middle East: Theories of Social Change and Economic Development (Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1984).

Danny Reachard • 2 min read

MER Article

Kapuscinski, Shah of Shahs

Ryszard Kapuscinski, Shah of Shahs (San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1985).

Fred Halliday • 1 min read

MER Article

Authoritarian States in the Third World

Clive Thomas, The Rise of the Authoritarian State in Peripheral Societies (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1984). Anthony D. Smith, State and Nation in the Third World (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983).

Iftikhar Ahmad • 4 min read