MER Article Faded Dreams of Contracted Democracy Iraq now has an elected provisional national assembly and elected provincial councils. In the end, the $467 million given to a US contractor to build democracy had little to do with these achievements. Kevin Begos • 9 min read
MER Article The Curious Case of Oil-Exporting Jordan From time to time, the boring economic data regurgitated by Jordan’s amply staffed ministries offers up a tantalizing mystery. In the Monthly Statistical Bulletin (May 2004) published by the Central Bank of Jordan, for example, one learns that Jordanian export of refined oil products increased 46 ti Pete Moore • 1 min read
MER Article QIZs, FTAs, USAID, and the MEFTA Jordan is the poster child for the Bush administration project of “transforming” the political order in the Middle East through free trade. If Jordan is any guide, however, economic liberalization does not lead inexorably to the diffusion of political power. Pete Moore • 12 min read
MER Article Slavery, Genocide and the Politics of Outrage In October 1999, PBS aired The Wonders of the African World, a six-part documentary produced by the renowned African-American intellectual, Henry Louis Gates, wherein the Harvard educator travels from Egypt to Sudan and down the Swahili coast of East Africa and up though parts of West Africa examining the encounter Hisham Aïdi • 48 min read
MER Article The Bush Team Reloaded On September 20, 2001, just nine days after the attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) laid out a consensus agenda for President George W. Bush's “war on terrorism.” In addition to military action to oust the Taliban in Afghanistan Jim Lobe • 14 min read
MER Article Iraqi Elections Just once, one wishes, events in post-invasion Iraq could transpire without instantly being spun as helping or hurting President George W. Bush. There was no such luck after images of Iraqis cheerfully -- even joyously -- voting in the January 30, 2005 elections for a provisional national assembly z Chris Toensing • 3 min read
MER Article "The Future is on Our Side" Mustafa Barghouthi is the secretary and co-founder of the Palestinian National Initiative (Mubadara), formed in 2002 to advocate for an immediate end to the occupation of Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967, a Palestinian state on those territories, and expedited reform of Palestinian Jimmy Bishara • 7 min read
MER Article Taha Sa'd 'Uthman Taha Sa‘d ‘Uthman (1916–2004), a life-long trade union and leftist political organizer, passed away at the age of 88 last November. His funeral in Cairo’s ‘Umar Makram mosque was attended by over 1,000 people representing the spectrum of Egypt’s progressive forces -- trade unionists, lawyers, human Joel Beinin • 1 min read
MER Article Hisham Sharabi MERIP mourns the passing in mid-January 2005 of Hisham Sharabi, a formidable thinker and extraordinary teacher who, along with Edward Said and Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, led a generation of activist Palestinian intellectuals who lived and worked in the United States. Sharabi died of cancer at the age of 78 Chris Toensing • 1 min read
MER Article Hadi Salih I never saw Hadi Salih (1949–2005) without his trademark innocent grin. Perhaps he was born wearing a smile and simply forgot it was there. Faleh A. Jabar • 2 min read
MER Article From the Editors (Spring 2005) Not so long ago, commentators were fond of noting how Samuel Huntington’s “third wave of democracy” had shattered upon the adamantine breakwater of Arab despotism. Today, with Palestinians, Iraqis and male Saudi Arabians all going to the polls in the space of a month, with Egyptians and Lebanese taking The Editors • 3 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks (Summer 2004) American Friends Service Committee. When the Rain Returns: Toward Justice and Reconciliation in Palestine and Israel (Philadelphia: American Friends Service Committee, 2004). Cohen, Stephen P. The Idea of Pakistan (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2004). Collins, John. Occupied by Memo The Editors • 1 min read
