Digest of Middle East Studies最新文献

{"title":"Memory, fear, and manipulated sectarianism: Exploring Christian views and intercommunal dynamics in Al-Hasakah amidst the Syrian uprising\u0000 记忆、恐惧与被操纵的宗派主义:探究叙利亚起义期间哈塞克省的基督教观点和社区间动态\u0000 Memoria, miedo y sectarismo manipulado: explorando los puntos de vista cristianos y las dinámicas intercomunales en al-Hassakeh en medio del levantamiento sirio","authors":"Haian Dukhan,&nbsp;Sinan Hawat","doi":"10.1111/dome.12332","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dome.12332","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Syrian uprising and subsequent civil war have been extensively studied with a predominant emphasis on sectarianism between the Sunni and Alawite sects. This narrow focus overlooks the profound influence of other religious and ethnic elements within Syrian society. This article aims to broaden the analytical lens by examining the position and attitudes of Christians in the Al-Hasakah governorate regarding the Syrian uprising and opposition forces. The article addresses two key inquiries: first, the factors influencing Christians' position in Al-Hasakah regarding the Syrian uprising, and second, the ramifications of these positions on intercommunal relationships in the region. The paper argues that the collective memory of fear experienced by Christians, manipulated by the Syrian regime, has contributed to the emergence of “sectarianism from below” and “sectarianism from above.” The former reflects the construction of sectarian identities by Christians in response to discrimination and marginalization, while the latter pertains to influential institutions perpetuating sectarian identities and divisions. The findings highlight the complex interplay of factors shaping communal attitudes and relations during times of upheaval and conflict.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"33 3","pages":"210-224"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141508604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Power and competition in the transitions toward postrentierism: The cases of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates\u0000 后食利主义转型中的权力与竞争:以沙特阿拉伯和阿联酋为例\u0000 Poder y competencia en las transiciones hacia el posrentismo: Los casos de Arabia Saudita y Emiratos Árabes Unidos","authors":"Robert Mason","doi":"10.1111/dome.12331","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dome.12331","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The imperatives of economic diversification mean that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are scrambling to secure international markets and investments amid a series of domestic changes taking place, including centralized decision making, the marginalization of other traditional modes of governance, and rising nationalism. While there is some evidence of formal security-related cooperation in the Gulf Cooperation Council as well as an informal security alliance operationalized by Saudi Arabia and the UAE at the onset of the Arab uprisings, these two states have gone on to pursue competing economic policies. This article assesses the economic and political interactions of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, arguing that contrary to Rosecrance's concept of “virtual states” with an emphasis on services, expertise, and creativity, connected to visions strategies in these cases, their primary power remains rooted in territorial aspects. It also finds that there are other factors such as leadership style, political and economic role conceptions, the regional and international balance of power, threat perception, and alliance formation that will continue to determine the shape and form of their cooperation or competition.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"33 3","pages":"225-244"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141508605","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"I balance suffering(s): The politics and moralities of humanitarian caseworkers in Egypt as a refugee transit point\u0000 平衡苦难:埃及中转站人道主义工作者的政治与道德\u0000 Equilibro el(los) sufrimiento(s): la política y la moralidad de los trabajadores sociales humanitarios en el punto de tránsito de Egipto","authors":"Ramy Magdy,&nbsp;Mai Yasser","doi":"10.1111/dome.12330","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dome.12330","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In a world where asylum and migration have become major concerns for countries of transit and destination, political neutrality seems to be demanded from humanitarian workers. But under the pressures of workload, limited funds, and complex settings, these actors deviate from expectations and practice extra-legal authority of a unique political nature. When handling asylum cases, these agents take crucial decisions that decisively impact the lives of asylum seekers. In legally fragile transit points where the rule of law faces challenges and where asylum seekers come seeking further resettlement in European countries, rejected applicants face risky fates of deportation, jail, violence, or death. In turn, humanitarian caseworkers pushed by workloads, purse strings, emotional burnout, and compassion fatigue, flatten the sufferings of their applicants, balance, and rank them. Caseworkers have to rank sufferings and decide who may eventually survive and who may simply be left to a risky unknown. In Agambian terms, this extralegal authority draws the lines, creates a zone of exception and throws rejected applicants into the realm of “Bare Life” where they become “Homo Sacer,” whose life is worthless. Using Lipsky's theorization of street-level bureaucrats and in-depth interviews, the paper tackles these crucial issues by interviewing caseworkers from a variety of international organizations operating in the transit point of Egypt. These caseworkers are responsible for conducting different roles in the Refugee Status Determination process.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"33 3","pages":"265-281"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141508657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Verbal evasion among Iranian presidential candidates","authors":"Nouroddin Yousofi,&nbsp;Ahmad Najafi","doi":"10.1111/dome.12327","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dome.12327","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Clarity is an integral part of communication and a highly substantial speech principle. However, it is widely recognized that when public figures are confronted with unfavorable questions, they may choose to break the principle of clarity in communication and avoid direct reponses. In this regard, the present study attempts to provide a synopsis of the aspects of answering and evading employed by politicians in the context of Iran. To accomplish this goal, Bull's framework of evasion in news interviews and its subgenre was adopted. Data were collected from the tenth presidential candidates' debates in 2009 (the freest and the most controversial presidential debate, among others) between six Iranian candidates, including MirHosseyn Musavi, Mehdi Karubi, Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad, and Mohsen Rezaee. After analyzing the conversations, the questions in the debates were divided into two groups: those answered and those not. The unanswered questions, based on Bull's 12 techniques of evasion, were analyzed and incorporated into one of the 12 categories. The findings indicated that Iranian presidential candidates were largely evasive, and most of the time, they “ignored the question” when they were not eager to answer. Moreover, it was revealed that reformists, compared to fundamentalists, were more evasive.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"33 3","pages":"303-326"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141529602","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Social class, smartphone advertising exposure, self-esteem, and materialism: The case of children in Lebanon","authors":"Rita Sayah","doi":"10.1111/dome.12329","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12329","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The current compounded economic crisis in Lebanon has increased poverty rates and widened the gap between families of different socioeconomic classes. Little is known about the impact of advertising, particularly smartphone advertising, on the self-esteem and materialism levels of children in developing countries like Lebanon. This study aimed to measure the differences among children coming from lower and upper socioeconomic classes in the following: smartphone advertising exposure, materialism and self-esteem, vulnerability to the effects of smartphone advertising exposure on materialism, and vulnerability to the effects of materialism on self-esteem. It was found that advertising affected negatively the self-esteem of the children coming from lower social classes, including the “newly poor,” because in the current economic situation, children who are more exposed to advertising are more likely to believe in advertising, have lower self-satisfaction, and believe themselves to be inferior for not owning the various products that are advertised, which lead them to become more materialistic than children from wealthier families. On the other hand, advertising had a reinforcing effect on materialism among more affluent children. In addition, and contrary to the expected, children from higher social classes, and not children from deprived households, were more susceptible to the impact of advertising on materialism. These findings enlighten us on the significant role that today's advertising plays in societies with wide socioeconomic disparities.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"33 3","pages":"282-302"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141624583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Battling for hearts and minds: Sources of Turkish, Iranian, and Saudi soft power in the Middle East","authors":"Fatma Aslı Kelkitli","doi":"10.1111/dome.12328","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dome.12328","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article examines the sources of Turkish, Iranian, and Saudi soft power in the Middle East through the utilization of Joseph Nye's soft power concept. The study is based on three claims. The first claim argues that there exists an increasing discrepancy between espoused values and actual practices in Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia at home, which may undermine their soft power. The second claim contends that cognizant of the fact that the Palestinian cause is a major concern for most of the Middle Eastern people, all of the three states pursue an active foreign policy to alleviate the plight of the Palestinians. Finally, the last claim upholds that Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have been benefitting, albeit to varying extents, from high culture products such as education and popular culture products such as mass entertainment and tourism to appeal to the public in the Middle East.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"33 3","pages":"245-264"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141515533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Localization of the counterinsurgency in Sinai: A case study on integrating local population into counterinsurgency combat operations in Sinai","authors":"Mohamed Saad","doi":"10.1111/dome.12320","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dome.12320","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Integrating local militias in the counterinsurgency (COIN) operations in Sinai has achieved tangible successes. The presence of local fighters contributed to the penetration of the Islamic State—Sinai Province network. The integration of locals into the ongoing COIN process has imposed a degree of local participation in local governance and decision-making. Nevertheless, this article argues that there are two approaches to local integration into the COIN operation; the first is institutional integration, in which the state integrates local fighters at an institutional level in the ranks of the security apparatus. The second is the collaborating militia approach. In this pattern, the state resorts to warlords and tribal chiefs to mobilize irregular militias, coordinating with the regular forces in the COIN process without formally merging them into security institutions’ ranks. The Egyptian model in the Sinai is one of the latter type. The collaborating militia integration approach into COIN operations contributes to wooing elites to create narrow patronage networks of cronies, preventing systematized community participation in the decision-making process, which leads to keeping the factors of rebellion alive below the surface even if the rebels are defeated militarily.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"33 2","pages":"108-124"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dome.12320","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140838973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The international political economy of Saudi Arabia: Sovereign fund and foreign policy","authors":"Curran Flynn,&nbsp;Shafi Aldamer","doi":"10.1111/dome.12317","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12317","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article develops a framework for attributing motivations to Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) investment by noting that there are two major subdivisions, those that argue that the investments are undertaken due to macroeconomic factors and those that argue there is a political element as well. The political literature is divided into three subcategories of domestic political considerations, geopolitical competition and economic diplomacy. The literature of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) does not include any discussion of economic diplomacy as a consideration, an omission this article seeks to rectify. Using a realist understanding of international political economy (IPE), the article explores the influence of elites, the nature of PIF investments in America, India, China and Russia, and collaboration with other SWFs on investment. The article concludes that economic diplomacy should be considered as one of a multitude of variables that determine how and where the PIF invests.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"33 2","pages":"149-165"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dome.12317","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140919237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editor's introduction—April 2024","authors":"Catherine Warrick","doi":"10.1111/dome.12319","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dome.12319","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;This issue of the &lt;i&gt;Digest of Middle East Studies&lt;/i&gt; may be one of our most wide-ranging yet, even in light of DOMES's long history of publishing diverse scholarship on nearly every possible aspect of Middle East affairs. In this issue, scholars address issues of counterinsurgency in Sinai, the role of first ladies in authoritarian systems, sovereign wealth fund policy in Saudi Arabia, sign language accessibility in Kuwait, and the history of propaganda in Iran. What they all have in common at their core, though, is an explanation of how political structures, policies, and actors work to produce the outcomes we observe; each of these articles presents careful academic research that can guide better understandings of social and political phenomena.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Addressing a topic of wide and enduring interest to both academics and policymakers, Saad (&lt;span&gt;2024&lt;/span&gt;) explains the strengths and potential weaknesses of the Egyptian approach to combatting insurgency in Sinai through a “collaborating militias” approach that draws on elites and patronage networks. This approach may work to defeat insurgents militarily but because it does not engage communities more deeply, it can leave in place some of the factors that drive rebellion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Menshawy (&lt;span&gt;2024&lt;/span&gt;) makes the interesting and persuasive argument that first ladies in authoritarian regimes are not mere window dressing, but important elements of authoritarian durability. The regime of Hosni Mubarak benefitted politically from the work, and the variable visibility, of Suzanne Mubarak on a range of issues. But at the same time, Mrs. Mubarak was not merely a tool for the regime's use, but an actor with agency of her own, who herself benefited from the system to which she contributed. This article builds on existing literature about first ladies in other systems and suggests a path for its possible extension to authoritarian contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Flynn and Aldamer (&lt;span&gt;2024&lt;/span&gt;) offer a particularly timely piece that addresses the question of what motivates investments by sovereign wealth funds. Deeply grounded in the literature, this article builds on previous work to assess the state of research on this topic and argues that sovereign wealth fund investments are, in part, responsive to the needs of economic diplomacy, not merely macroeconomic factors.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Almubayei (&lt;span&gt;2024&lt;/span&gt;) provides an important and likely ground-breaking contribution on the state of sign language, and on sign language policy, in Kuwait. In the social science literature, there is very little published work on sign language in the Arab world; this piece is based on field research in Kuwait with users of sign language and experts in regional sign language policies. It is both a descriptive contribution of information previously inaccessible to many audiences and a basis for the further development of policy in this important area.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The final work in this issue, although by no means last in any other sense,","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"33 2","pages":"106-107"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dome.12319","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140581327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The propaganda war in Iran among the former allies, 1945–1949: The Soviet perspective as seen through Soviet documents","authors":"Soli Shahvar","doi":"10.1111/dome.12321","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dome.12321","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article gives an interesting picture of how the Soviets viewed the propaganda war in Iran during the second half of the 1940s. It is mainly based on documents from the USSR's Ministry of Interior, the use of which is considered an innovation in the existing literature on the subject. Most of the attention of the Soviet sources discussed concerns the propaganda war, which began in 1943 between the three Allied powers that had invaded Iran during WWII, taking on the character of a combined struggle when the competition for Iranian oil was woven into the mix. To a large extent, this continued well into the years after WWII when, toward its end, it became even more intense. The main promoter of pro-Soviet propaganda was the Tudeh party, and it was very successful in promoting the Soviet agenda in Iran, at least until the middle of 1946, mainly at the expense of British interests. In the remaining years until the end of the 1940s, the USA began to prevail in the struggle, and this was quite clear to all, including the Soviets, who admit to this openly in their situational assessment from the beginning of 1950.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"33 2","pages":"184-203"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dome.12321","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140581330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}