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7801. Book Review: Between Muslims: Religious Difference in Iraqi Kurdistan

Author:
Nicole Plante
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
Between Muslims: Religious Difference in Iraqi Kurdistan is an ethnography written by Andrew Bush. It is based on three years of ethnographic and archival research in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Pulling from this research, the book argues that many Muslims choose to turn away from piety, but in doing so, they do not turn away from Islam in general nor from other pious Muslims. Instead, they find other ways of orienting themselves to Islam. It is these different orientations that the author explores through the lens of ordinary life and experiences. Ultimately, Between Muslims is an approachable and thorough account of the experiences of Iraqi Kurds that speaks to important issues in the study of Islam and the Middle East. The book includes an introduction, five core content chapters, and an epilogue addressed to readers. The introduction begins with Bush laying out his three central claims of the book. He argues that many Muslims turn away from piety but remain Muslim and that one way to explore their relationship with Islam is through their relationships. He then provides a brief background and context for his work. He first explains what he means by turning away from piety and different orientations to Islam. From there, he describes how his book will contribute to larger discussions by exploring a different kind of religious orientation and how religious orientation is present in everyday life. Following this, Bush discusses his choice of using ordinary relationships. He then discusses Iraqi Kurdistan, the Kurdish people, and Islamic traditions to provide context for his work. The introduction provides a thorough background for the book and addresses various counterarguments. In doing so, the introduction gives readers an understanding of where the book is grounded theoretically and how it will contribute to current scholarship in meaningful ways.
Topic:
Islam, Religion, Book Review, and Kurds
Political Geography:
Iraq, Middle East, and Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI)

7802. (Un)Making Masculinities: Tracing How Men’s Responses to Violence Impact the Home in the Occupied West Bank

Author:
Lottie Kissick-Jones
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
The methods of indigenous ‘elimination’ implemented by settler colonial Israel are more complex than the physical eviction of Palestinians from their homes, though this indeed remains crucial. Through my primary research in the occupied West Bank, it has been evident that structural and direct violence against cities, communities, and families is systematically implemented and nurtured with the objective of breaking down social support systems and challenging normative gender roles to create unlivable conditions for Palestinians. The performance of Palestinian masculinity offers a crucial target for gendered modes of Israel’s colonial violence. I propose that the home is closely interlinked to identity formations, such as gender, which makes it a pertinent sphere for studying a settler colonial agenda that is constructed upon the eradication of both Palestinian identity and space. My research confronts three levels of interaction with the occupation: physical violence against the home, indirect forms of violence that permeate into the home through the bodies of men, and, finally, inter-communal violence. These categories of violence collectively challenge the ability of Palestinian men to uphold normative patriarchal roles constructed within cultural and religious frameworks, such as the ‘protector’ and ‘provider.’ In the case of male family members failing to protect their friends and family, particularly within the space of the home, there is a breakdown of important forms of social power, and an environment of shame is cultivated – a ‘social death.’ Therefore, my research has revealed that men are forced to choose between two dominant languages in these instances: 1) violence and 2) self-isolation. Both responses hold the ability to break down local mechanisms of support and solidarity. This article will target one level of violence – physical violence enacted against Palestinian homes ­– and how such violence nurtures the breakdown of Palestinian masculinity, particularly Palestinian men’s role as ‘protectors.’ Such a study offers an entrance to wider considerations of gender performances within this settler colonial context.
Topic:
Violence, Settler Colonialism, Masculinity, and Identity
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and West Bank

7803. Resistance and Counter-Memories in Persian Black Metal

Author:
Pasqualina Eckerstrom
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
Sina Winter, a pioneer of Iranian black metal, was forced to leave Iran because of his music. As the leader of the band From the Vastland, Sina has produced music celebrating the pre-Islamic heritage and Zoroastrian tales. After performing at the Inferno Music Festival in Oslo in 2013 and appearing in the documentary Blackhearts (2017), he was forced to relocate. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), targeted him as a result of his media exposure. In Iran, several artists are persecuted due to their music. In the West, black metal bands tend to be influenced by ancient legends and traditions, whereas in religious authoritarian countries, such practices are often harshly punished. In Iran, black metal is generally considered to be blasphemous. In addition, the lyrical content featured in Sina’s work is controversial, as he celebrates a heritage that the Islamic Republic wishes to eradicate from the collective consciousness. This paper presents some results of my most recent studies looking at how black metal artists in Iran use their art to preserve their ancient heritage and defy social norms.
Topic:
Culture, Social Movement, Music, and Resistance
Political Geography:
Iran and Middle East

7804. Interview with Dr. Youssef Chahed

Author:
Ryan Zoellner
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
Dr. Youssef Chahed served as Prime Minister of Tunisia from August 2016 to February 2020. He is both the youngest head of government in Tunisia’s history and the longest-serving since the country’s democratic transition in 2011. During his tenure, Dr. Chahed made significant advancements in the fight against terrorism, launched an anti-corruption campaign, and navigated severe economic challenges. Prior to becoming Prime Minister, Dr. Chahed served as Secretary of State for Fisheries and Minister of Local Affairs. Currently, Dr. Chahed is a Senior Fellow with the Middle East Initiative (MEI) at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He was in residence at the Kennedy School for the 2022-2023 academic year. During his fellowship, Chahed has focused on economic, security, and other policy challenges facing the Middle East and North, particularly with respect to shifting global alliances. Dr. Chahed holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon and taught agricultural economics at the Higher Institute of Agriculture in France.
Topic:
Corruption, Democratization, Counter-terrorism, Economy, and Interview
Political Geography:
North Africa and Tunisia

7805. Interview with Lex Takkenberg

Author:
Elom Tettey-Tamaklo
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
Lex Takkenberg is currently a Senior Advisor with Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD) and a non-resident Professor at the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs, Fordham University. He worked with UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, from 1989 until late 2019, most recently as the first Chief of its Ethics Office. Prior to that, Lex held a range of other positions with UNRWA, including as General Counsel, (agency-wide) Director of Operations, and (Deputy) Field Director in Gaza and Syria. A law graduate from the University of Amsterdam, Lex obtained a Doctorate in International Law from the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, after having successfully defended my doctoral dissertation entitled The Status of Palestinian Refugees in International Law. When the Russo-Ukrainian war broke out in February 2022, the world was horrified as we watched, in real-time, Russia violate international legal instruments[i] and invade Ukrainian sovereign territory. As Russian armored vehicles rolled into Ukraine, and cities were shelled, Russia initiated a war that has left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands more displaced.[ii] In the midst of such horror, humanity showed the best of itself as allied countries, international relief organizations, NGOs, and individuals quickly responded to the crisis by providing asylum for the ballooning number of refugees the war had created. Under the 1951 Refugee Convention,[iii] refugees everywhere are guaranteed rights and protections, which include the right of non-refoulment, the right not to be punished for entering into another territory legally, and the basic rights to education, housing, and public relief, amongst others, which to a large extent has been upheld for Ukrainian refugees, including the provision of temporary protection status[iv] across the European Union. Whilst the herculean efforts at ameliorating the Ukrainian refugee crisis and providing aid to the displaced are laudable, it raises the question about the status of other refugee situations globally. The ongoing Palestinian refugee question is the most protracted refugee situation in modern history and, as such, deserving of attention. In this interview, I speak to Lex Takkenberg – the first Chief of Ethics for UNRWA and the leading expert on international law, and the question of Palestine about the current status of Palestinian refugees.
Topic:
International Law, Refugees, Crisis Management, Interview, and Russia-Ukraine War
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

7806. Interview with Ambassador Edward Djerejian

Author:
Christian Allard and Nick Vargish
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
Ambassador Edward Djerejian has served as an important thought leader for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Both as Ambassador to Syria and Israel and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs in the 1990s, Ambassador Djerejian was a vital participant in the Arab-Israeli peace process and was also deeply involved with the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. He also presented a coherent vision of how the U.S. should balance the goals of democracy in the Middle East by proclaiming in his Meridian House speech in 1992 that America would not be for “one vote, one person, one time.” This winter, as a Senior Fellow at HKS Belfer Center’s MEI, Ambassador Djerejian sat down with JMEPP editors Nick Vargish and Christian Allard to discuss pressing issues in the Arab World and the prospects for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Foreign Policy, and Interview
Political Geography:
Middle East and United States of America

7807. Tourism Exports, Digitalisation, and Employment during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Indonesia

Author:
Mini P. Thomas, Archana Srivastava, and Keerti Mallela
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
Abstract:
This study aims to examine the relationship amongst tourism exports, digitalisation, and employment in tourism and allied sectors of Indonesia; and to throw light on how low-, medium, and high-skilled employment have been impacted during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. We include both transport service exports and travel service exports within the ambit of tourism exports. Digitalisation is defined in terms of digitally deliverable services. The study classifies employment at varying skill levels on the basis of educational qualifications, and occupation-based skill classification is used as a robustness check. The COVID-19 pandemic is captured with the help of a time dummy variable and also using the Stringency Index. The study estimates the bound testing approach to the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model using quarterly time series data, and the autoregressive moving average with exogenous variable (ARMAX) model using monthly time series data, to understand the nature of the long-run relationship and short-run dynamics amongst the variables of interest. The study establishes the presence of cointegration amongst employment, tourism exports, digitalisation, and other control variables in all four cases – total employment, and low-, medium-, and high-skilled employment. We find tourism exports to have a positive and significant impact on employment, except high-skilled employment. Digitalisation of tourism exports is found to have a significant but negative impact on the total, low-skilled and medium-skilled employment. The COVID-19 pandemic is also found to have a negative and significant impact on total employment in Indonesia, with low-skilled employment being the worst affected
Topic:
Tourism, Employment, Exports, COVID-19, and Digitalization
Political Geography:
Indonesia, Asia, and Southeast Asia

7808. The Cyber Defense Assistance Imperative – Lessons from Ukraine

Author:
Aspen Digital
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was a watershed moment, and unique in that a major nation-state had engaged in coordinated, convergent digital and physical attacks in an effort to conquer a neighboring country. Leaders will draw lessons from this conflict for years, but one is already clear: the ability to deliver cyber defense assistance must be a key national security capability. Informed by the ongoing work of a variety of organizations providing operational cyber support to Ukrainian institutions through the Cyber Defense Assistance Collaborative, this paper seeks to define cyber defense assistance, outline its primary component parts, and identify key lessons learned that can help inform how such assistance can be provided in future geopolitical conflicts. It also makes the case that an effective national security toolkit requires the ability to deliver cyber defense assistance to allies.
Topic:
Defense Policy, National Security, Cybersecurity, and Russia-Ukraine War
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Ukraine

7809. Civil Society Organizations and Just Transition in the Middle East and North Africa Challenges and Opportunities

Author:
Shady Khalil, Saker El Nour, Rayan Kassem, Kanj Hamade, and Clémentine Lienard
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
The ongoing climate, political, economic, and social crises across the Middle East and North Africa have made engaging in a collective process of transition to a more just and sustainable economic and environmental model an absolute necessity. In order to build such a future, there is a need to address key topics such as water access, food security and sovereignty, and energy transition through a multifaceted perspective combining ecological, social, economic, and political lenses. Hence the notion of “just transition”, which has been taken up by some governments, civil society actors, and even some private entities, although they seldom agree on what constitutes such a transition or how it can be implemented in the Middle East and North Africa. Ongoing international events and processes have also affected perspectives on just transition, though the region and its priorities often seem marginalized in such conversations. Our conference sought to address the questions of what exactly would constitute a just transition in the Middle East and North Africa (notably when it comes to access to food and water justice) given the myriad of challenges and the restrictive spaces for mobilization, notably for marginalized communities. In addition, it will explore who decides and sets the agenda for just transition in the region and how civil society organizations (CSOs) can mobilize and work with local communities towards the achievement of a more inclusive process. The dynamics between local and international actors will be explored, notably the question of how the international community can support environmental CSOs in developing a homegrown agenda that is responsive to local needs. Finally, the issue of reframing the narrative around the needed changes for a sustainable future in the region will be explored through the lens of strengthening collaborations with journalists to push for an increase in public awareness of those matters.
Topic:
Environment, Civil Society Organizations, and Green Transition
Political Geography:
Middle East and North Africa

7810. Social Protection under Kais Saied’s Political Project: Crumbs and Clues in Search of a Vision

Author:
Cyrine Ghannouchi
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Advocates of a social contract approach to social protection consider that social protection has been core to the legitimacy and sustainability of any political project, even if the latter does not offer a space for political participation.1 Historically, the post-independence state-building phase in Arab countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, or Algeria, generously validated this stance as the state positioned itself as the provider for, and protector of, societies, which helped freshly formed governing systems to quickly gain legitimacy for imposed regimes. The social policy of the state overall sustained adherence to a basic social contract (of subordination): the state provides, the people obey.2 This does not mean that post-independence social policies in the region did not score positive achievements in their early years, but it is important today to reflect on those “success stories” by unpacking their political motivations, locally and globally. Recent scholarship from the region started deconstructing those long-standing official narratives from the exploration of the perpetuation of colonial legacies by post-independence elites to the role of welfare in sustaining security belts around authoritarian regimes. However, the post-independence context is significantly different from the post-uprisings landscape. Since 2011, grievances across the region continued to have a strong socioeconomic character, resonating with provision and protection but also demanding political participation – to various extents – and translating the common need for a rupture with old social contracts. The erosion of the social role of the state under globalized neoliberalism and the shortcomings of development models are unanimously pinpointed as the main drivers of the uprisings, but there has been more to it since then. Today, it is also anchored in the dilemma between the state's capability to re-answer the 3Ps (provision, protection, political participation) amidst international turmoil and the very nature of domestic political projects in the Arab region. The Tunisian experience became widely adopted as an illustrative case study in this regard. The current situation in Tunisia is often summarized as the abortion - or spoiling - of the premises of a new social contract and the political cooptation of social momentum. Tunisia is also often cited as evidence to back the necessity of methodological shifts in understanding post-uprising dynamics by equally acknowledging the coexistence of political continuity and rupture.3 The persistence of unrest for over a decade is but the translation of tensions between political elites resisting or curbing prospects of change to preserve (or redistribute) privileges and social groups refusing to settle for an unachieved revolutionary process. However, in the meantime, much has happened, from police violence to political instrumentalization and cooptation of civil endeavors, slowly dismantling networks of collective action and deeply affecting the ability of individuals to keep the fervor alive. In the case of Tunisia, unmet needs, exhaustion, disillusionment, and political deadlock, coupled with a chaotic management of the Covid-19 pandemic, paved the way to another milestone in 2021, namely the declaration of the state of exception by President Kais Saied and the suspension and subsequent dissolution of the Parliament. Tackling social protection and vulnerability in Tunisia and understanding the process that led to July 25 are intrinsically linked, and so is exploring the limits of Saied’s political project. This paper is not interested in revisiting the diagnosis of the socioeconomic situation in Tunisia nor does it pretend to provide answers. However, it uses a social contract lens to shed light on blind spots in debates on social protection in Tunisia in its first section, particularly the “unspoken dynamics of unseen vulnerabilities”. In its second section, the paper investigates the articulation and ramifications of the social question in Kais Saied’s new ongoing political project by reviewing his discursive body between the end of August 2022 and the end of May 2023. The choice of this period is framed by considering Articles 100 and 101 of the 2022 Constitution, respectively stipulating that the President of the Republic is the solemn policymaker and that his government is but the executive body of the President’s policies. This period witnessed a myriad of events, including legislative elections and the implementation of the new Parliament whose activity is yet in its early days and is therefore excluded from the current analysis. While both sections seem distinct in their substance and approach, they together serve, particularly in the absence of a clear correlation, the quest for echoes of a grounded discussion of social protection in Kais Saied’s agenda. The first section establishes a set of elements structural for the said discussion while the second section investigates traces of such a set in the President’s discourse. For this paper, social protection is understood in its socio-political sense and not in terms of technical systems of response confined to schemes of income-based categorization and the aid rationale. This definition recognizes social protection as the sum of social policies anchored in a rights-based approach and justice in accessing these rights. These policies range from food sovereignty to institutional and infrastructural efficiency, and from environmental hazards to education and housing. This definition rejects the association of social protection to “crisis” for crisis is but “the system working as intended”,4 a dangerous discursive element that serves the illusion of inequality and suffering as “temporary” phenomena of “exceptional” times.
Topic:
Domestic Politics, Kais Saied, and Social Protection
Political Geography:
North Africa and Tunisia