{"title":"Optimism, pessimism, and perceptions of the Jordanian government's COVID-19 response","authors":"Abdulfattah Yaghi","doi":"10.1111/dome.12284","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dome.12284","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study aims to examine people's optimistic and pessimistic perceptions of the government's capacity, intention, and performance during and after the lockdowns declared in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was administered in Jordan and responses were collected from a convenience sample of 1245 citizens during April and May 2020. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and multiple regression reveal the following findings: (a) people expressed high levels of pessimism and low levels of trust and satisfaction concerning the government's intention, capacity, and performance, (b) people perceived the government to be a complex, multi-faceted entity rather than a homogeneous entity, and (c) in assessing government performance, people considered the following dimensions: totality of government, institutions of public administration, high-ranking public officials, and ordinary, public sector employees.</p><p>本研究旨在分析约旦政府为响应2019冠状病毒病<b>(</b>COVID-19)大流行而宣布封城的期间和封城之后人民对政府能力、意图和绩效的乐观感知和悲观感知。2020年4月和5月期间,在约旦进行了一项在线调查,并从一项包含1,245名公民的方便抽样中收集回复。描述性统计、因素分析和多元回归(分析)揭示了以下结果:(a)人们对政府的意图、能力和绩效表达了高度的悲观感知和低度的信任和满意度;(b)人们认为政府是一个复杂的、多方面的实体,而不是一个同质的实体;(c)在评估政府绩效时,人们考虑了以下方面:全政府、公共行政机构、高级公职人员和普通公共部门雇员。</p><p>Este estudio tiene como objetivo examinar las percepciones optimistas y pesimistas de las personas sobre la capacidad, la intención y el desempeño del gobierno durante y después de los cierres declarados en respuesta a la pandemia de COVID-19. Se administró una encuesta en línea en Jordania y se recopilaron las respuestas de una muestra de conveniencia de 1245 ciudadanos durante abril y mayo de 2020. Los hallazgos de las estadísticas descriptivas, el análisis factorial y la regresión múltiple revelan los siguientes hallazgos: (a) las personas expresaron altos niveles de pesimismo y bajos niveles de confianza y satisfacción con respecto a la intención, capacidad y desempeño del gobierno; (b) la gente percibía al gobierno como una entidad compleja y multifacética en lugar de una entidad homogénea; y (c) al evaluar el desempeño del gobierno, las personas consideraron las siguientes dimensiones: totalidad del gobierno, instituciones de la administración pública, funcionarios públicos de alto rango y empleados ordinarios del sector público.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"32 1","pages":"21-39"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9880646/pdf/DOME-32-21.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9153150","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":"Promoting multiculturalism and tolerance: Expanding the meaning of “unity through diversity” in the United Arab Emirates","authors":"Hamdullah Baycar","doi":"10.1111/dome.12282","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12282","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has sought to establish a national identity among its nationals since its inception in 1971. Contrary to the pessimism in its first few years, the UAE was able to create a national identity among its nationals despite their initially differing loyalties. The UAE has now embarked on a phase of creating a new national identity that includes non-nationals, encompassing migrants and expats. This study argues that this new identity aims to include, at least discursively, non-nationals, presenting them as an integral part of society. It should be noted that this new identity does not seek to standardize or assimilate the whole population, in contrast to the first identity, which aimed to standardize the nationals. Its primary aim is rather to express its appreciation of the migrant population through the notions of tolerance, diversity, and multiculturalism, while also preventing complaints from the nationals. This study analyses the ways of including non-nationals in a new national identity through national gatherings (national days), institutional activities (heritage festivals, cultural gatherings, cultural center visits and activities), media analyses (state-sponsored media), and foreign policy initiatives that emerged (or presented) due to domestic diversity, such as Pope's visit.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"32 1","pages":"40-59"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dome.12282","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50152274","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":"Gender quotas in the Arab world ‐ 20 years on","authors":"Bozena C. Welborne, Gail J. Buttorff","doi":"10.1111/dome.12274","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12274","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"102 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77447361","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":"Gender quotas in the Arab world - 20 years on","authors":"Bozena C. Welborne, Gail J. Buttorff","doi":"10.1111/dome.12274","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12274","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article aims to survey the state of the literature on gender quotas in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), explicitly focusing on where it stands in terms of their institutional, political, and societal impact after two decades of implementation. In addition, it considers how MENA scholarship on the topic compares with the global literature and includes insights into how region-specific work contributes to our understanding of gender quotas as an electoral and legislative institution overall.</p><p>本文旨在调查关于中东和北非(MENA)性别配额的文献情况,明确聚焦于性别配额在实施20年后的制度影响、政治影响和社会影响。此外,本文还考量了关于该主题的中东和北非地区研究如何与全球文献进行比较,并包括了一系列见解,后者有关于特定地区的研究如何有助于我们从整体理解性别配额作为一项选举制度和立法制度。</p><p>Este artículo tiene como objetivo examinar el estado de la literatura sobre las cuotas de género en el Medio Oriente y África del Norte (MENA), enfocándose explícitamente en su posición en términos de su impacto institucional, político y social después de dos décadas de implementación. Además, considera cómo la erudición de MENA sobre el tema se compara con la literatura mundial e incluye información sobre cómo el trabajo específico de la región contribuye a nuestra comprensión de las cuotas de género como una institución electoral y legislativa en general.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"31 4","pages":"340-358"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71979046","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":"Editor's introduction","authors":"Catherine Warrick","doi":"10.1111/dome.12280","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12280","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This issue of the <i>Digest of Middle East Studies</i> is the second of two special issues in this year's volume of the journal. In January, we were pleased to bring out a special issue on sectarianism featuring critical and highly original scholarship on the topic. This October issue has as its focus the scholarship on gender issues in the region. Like sectarianism, gender is a topic that has long been of interest to scholars and policymakers alike, but (again like sectarianism) has also been subject to culturalist and essentializing assumptions. The scholarship of the past two decades, however, has increasingly begun to correct this earlier trend, and the works featured in this issue are at the very leading edge of critical approaches to understanding the relationship between gender and political institutions, social movements, and political economy. Furthermore, the articles of this issue ably demonstrate not only advances in the scholarship on gender and politics, but the essential contributions that the study of gender makes to the understanding of political actors, institutions, and processes generally. We are, one hopes, well past the years when gender was considered a minor or niche topic in both scholarship and policy environments.</p><p>This issue is honored to have as guest coeditor the political scientist and gender scholar Gamze Çavdar, whose adept framing of the scholarship is presented in the first article, placing these works in the broader context of their relationship and contributions to existing academic literatures. After this framing article, we present six research articles on political economy, institutions, and social movements; these studies are richly interdisciplinary and timely, and I am confident that they will be deeply interesting to a wide audience. Each article is an excellent piece of scholarship on its particular topic, but the issue as a whole serves as a representation of developments in the scholarship of gender issues in the region more broadly. Those looking for both a bird's-eye view of this broad topic and a substantive examination of its particular complexities should find this a useful collection.</p><p>As always, I wish to thank the peer reviewers whose assessments and feedback have contributed to the quality of the work presented here. I am also grateful for the skilled assistance of the journal's editorial assistant, Misha Datskovsky. Most of all, I must thank the authors for their outstanding contributions to this issue, and we hope that you find these articles engaging and stimulating.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"31 4","pages":"274-275"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dome.12280","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71974658","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 afterlife goes on: The biographical consequences of women's engagement in the 2011 Egyptian uprising","authors":"Nermin Allam","doi":"10.1111/dome.12278","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12278","url":null,"abstract":"<p>What are some of the effects of women's participation in the 2011 Egyptian uprising on their personal biographies? A small body of feminist scholarship has examined how gender mediates the consequences of social movement participation for women. These studies have largely focused on participants' experiences under Western democracies and within women's movements, yet we know less about the impact of participation on women protestors in Arab autocracies. Using the case of the 2011 Egyptian uprising, the study demonstrates how women's participation in the uprising has influenced their personal biographies in the absence of opportunities and resources. I focus on two examples from women's biographies: women's decision to remove the hijab and to leave their family homes and the decision by some protestors to change their careers and work in the area of women's rights. Drawing from the literature on gender and the consequences of social movements, I apply an analytical framework consisting of two key mechanisms: women's experiences during contention and their exposure to new critical networks. Building on 20 interviews with former protestors and activists, I show how women's encounters with gender-based violence in protests and exposures to new social and political networks influenced their personal and professional lives. The article contributes to the growing literature that has sought to explain the transformative impacts of social movements beyond the overtly “political” sphere of policies.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"31 4","pages":"380-396"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dome.12278","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71959133","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 afterlife goes on: The biographical consequences of women's engagement in the 2011 Egyptian uprising","authors":"Nermin Allam","doi":"10.1111/dome.12278","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12278","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75884742","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":"The question of collaboration between secular feminists and pious feminists in Turkey","authors":"Pınar Dokumacı","doi":"10.1111/dome.12275","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12275","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79275373","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":"The study of women and gender in the Middle East and North Africa beyond culturalism","authors":"Gamze Çavdar","doi":"10.1111/dome.12276","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12276","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87276664","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":"The study of women and gender in the Middle East and North Africa beyond culturalism","authors":"Gamze Çavdar","doi":"10.1111/dome.12276","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12276","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The study of the Middle East and North Africa region has long been dominated by culturalist assumptions that this region is unique and thus common concepts and theories that are applied to other parts of the world do not apply here. This has particularly been the case with regard to the study of women and gender. This special issue brings together six cutting edge research articles that fundamentally challenge this culturalist assumption by making connections with disciplinary theories and concepts. By focusing on the three themes of political economy, institutions, and social movements, these articles demonstrate variation across both time and place with respect to gender and politics in the region and at the same time make important contributions to the broader literatures on these subjects.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"31 4","pages":"276-292"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dome.12276","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71951957","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}