MER Article Rebels, Reformers and Empire For 20 years leading up to the uprisings of 2010-2011, Egypt and Tunisia suffered the ill effects of neoliberal economic reform, even as the international financial institutions and most economists hailed them as beacons of progress in the Arab world. For ten years preceding the revolts, workers and Karen Pfeifer • 21 min read
Current Analysis Fuel Subsidy Policy and Popular Mobilization in Syria On February 17, Syrian Minister of Oil Muhammad al-Lahham warned Parliament that the price of fuel would have to increase [http://www.sana.sy/%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%84%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B9%D8%A8-%D9%8A%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B9-%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9 Zachary Cuyler • 5 min read
MER Article Contesting Welfare State Politics in Kuwait In October 2013, Kuwait’s Prime Minister Jabir al-Mubarak introduced his government’s agenda with a bombshell -- that “the current welfare state to which Kuwaitis are accustomed is not viable.” [1] Government projections estimate that expenditures will exceed oil revenues in only a few years if spen Rivka Azoulay, Madeleine Wells • 13 min read
MER Article Bread Is Life ‘Abd al-Qadir is tall, handsome and unassumingly stylish. With his well-cropped beard, Bob Marley T-shirt and Nike kicks, the young man would not look out of place on the gentrified streets of Brooklyn, the art scene of Belleville or the bustling beaches of his dream destination, Rio de Janeiro. Ins Jose Ciro Martinez • 17 min read
MER Article Center-Periphery Relations in Morocco In Nador, a regional capital located on the Mediterranean Sea at the eastern end of the Rif Mountains in Morocco, coffee shop talk often turns to the relationship with the capital city, Rabat, a five-hour car ride or a nine-hour train or bus ride to the west. Nadoris are sensitive about their status David McMurray • 13 min read
MER Article Poverty Mapping At the spring 2013 meetings, World Bank President Jim Young Kim set 2030 as the target date for eradicating extreme poverty, defined as subsistence on less than $1.25 per day, across the globe. In line with this goal, the United Nations created a New Global Partnership to lift the 1.2 billion poores Mona Atia • 6 min read
MER Article Small Farmer Uprisings and Rural Neglect in Egypt and Tunisia “We should make it up to the peasants,” Muhsin al-Batran, erstwhile head of the economic affairs unit in Egypt’s Ministry of Agriculture, told the official daily al-Ahram two months after the toppling of Husni Mubarak in 2011. “Make it up” -- why? And what is it that needs to be made up? Habib Ayeb, Ray Bush • 14 min read
Current Analysis Boom, Bust and Boom in Dubai It’s easy to be critical of Dubai [http://newleftreview.org/II/41/mike-davis-fear-and-money-in-dubai] and its socioeconomic model. Pete Moore • 5 min read
MER Article Jordan's Military-Industrial Complex and the Middle East's New Model Army Raise the subject of Arab military-industrial production and the country that springs to mind is Egypt. A historian might recall Iraq’s early arms industry; a Gulf analyst might think of the weapons development projects being financed by the United Arab Emirates. Few would think of Jordan. But accor Shana Marshall • 12 min read
Current Analysis The Bouazizi Effect in Morocco On December 17, 2010, a young Tunisian itinerant seller named Mohamed Bouazizi had a minor run-in with the cops. It was just another of many, but at this last indignity, the now world-famous produce vendor snapped. Later that day, in protest against his interminable humiliation at the hands of the p David McMurray • 3 min read
MER Article Bush and Ayeb, Marginality and Exclusion in Egypt Ray Bush and Habib Ayeb, eds. Marginality and Exclusion in Egypt (London: Zed Books, 2012). Marginality and Exclusion in Egypt is an insightful volume addressing the various forms of inequality that plague Egyptian society, with particular focus on the poor and working classes. With few exceptions, Mona Atia • 2 min read
MER Article Reflections on Two Revolutions Interpreting a revolutionary event is a contentious undertaking. Why it began, how it unfolded, to whom its legacy belongs -- these are questions of enduring debate. The mass protests in Egypt that deposed Husni Mubarak and continued for months in 2011-2012 still generate divergent narratives and co Ahmad Shokr • 26 min read
