The MERIP Podcast

The MERIP Podcast Episode Nine: The MERIP Roundtable, "On The Regional War"

Featuring Maziyar Ghiabi, Shana Marshall and Kevin Schwartz

James Ryan • 1 min read

MER Article

From the Oil Weapon to Boycott, Mobilizing in Support of Palestine in the Gulf

50 years after the 1973 oil embargo, some Gulf citizens oppose normalization with their wallets.

Samar Alwan • 5 min read

MER Article

Simply Sportswashing?—A Perspective on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

The concept of “sportswashing,” in exposing how states or corporations use sporting events to cleanse their images on international stages, draws our attention to human rights abuses, labor conditions, political repression and the regulation of social behavior. Yet, examining the language around Qat

Jamal Abu Eisheh, Ali Alsayegh, Samuel Munayer, Rami Rmeileh, Zachariah Zahid • 10 min read

MER Article

Constructing Qatari Citizenship in the Shadow of the World Cup

As fans from around the world travel to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup, this mega sporting event reveals how processes of division and unification are central to Qatari state power. While the World Cup constructs and fortifies a distinctly Qatari nationalism, the tournament has not erased the underlyi

Jaafar Alloul, Laavanya Kathiravelu • 13 min read

MER Article

National Football Masculinities and the Game in Egypt

As football fans around the world tune in to the World Cup in Qatar, President Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi’s regime is rather turning its back on the game, which used to constitute a centerpiece of Egyptian nation building. Based on research conducted for his book, Egypt’s Football Revolution: Emotion, ma

Carl Rommel • 13 min read

MER Article

The Politics of “Unskilled" Labor in Qatar—An Interview with Natasha Iskander

With the approach of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Natasha Iskander speaks to Arang Keshavarzian about the politics of labor that underpin the tournament – and their devastating effects. From the deliberate framing of migrant workers as “unskilled” to the regulation of workers protests, minimal refor

Natasha Iskander, Arang Keshavarzian • 14 min read

Current Analysis

Constructing Qatari Citizenship in the Shadow of the World Cup

While the World Cup constructs and fortifies a distinctly Qatari nationalism, the tournament has not erased the underlying tensions and inequities in Qatar’s migration system and citizenship policies. Beginning with the “Hayya Card,” a new visa tied to the purchase of a FIFA ticket, Jaafar Alloul an

Jaafar Alloul, Laavanya Kathiravelu • 13 min read

Current Analysis

The Politics of “Unskilled" Labor in Qatar—An Interview with Natasha Iskander

With the approach of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Natasha Iskander speaks to Arang Keshavarzian about the politics of labor that underpin the tournament – and their devastating effects. From the deliberate framing of migrant workers as “unskilled” to the regulation of workers protests, minimal refor

Natasha Iskander, Arang Keshavarzian • 14 min read

MER Article

Remembering Slavery at the Bin Jelmood House in Qatar

Memories of enslavement are often silenced and yet suffuse everyday life in the Gulf. As governments across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries memorialize a maritime, pre-oil Indian Ocean past as part of their nation-building projects, the Bin Jelmood House—a museum in the heart of Doha—st

Nidhi Mahajan • 10 min read

Current Analysis

Jordan, Morocco and an Expanded GCC

A recent report suggests [http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140414/DEFREG04/304140018/] that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) may be looking to expand…again. The report says that, during a March summit, the group of six Arab petro-princedoms extended invitations to both Jordan and Morocco to jo

Curtis Ryan • 4 min read

Current Analysis

Saudi Bullying of Qatar

Just ahead of a planned state visit [http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-plans-visit-to-saudi-arabia/2014/02/03/bd0463ec-8d03-11e3-95dd-36ff657a4dae_story.html] from President Barack Obama, Saudi Arabia is brandishing the threat [http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/asia-pacific/saudi-arabi

Sheila Carapico • 2 min read

Current Analysis

Collective Frustration, But No Collective Action, in Qatar

In late June 2013, as neighboring Arab states continued their struggles against popular pressure for political reform or regime change, the Gulf emirate of Qatar undertook its own, voluntary transfer of power. Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, patriarch of modern Qatar, appeared on state television t

Justin Gengler • 8 min read