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Begin New Search Topic Civil Society Content Type Research Paper Publication Year within 10 Years Publication Year within 5 Years

1. COVID-19 in the MENA: Two Years On

Author:
Marc Lynch, Vahid Abedini, Yasmina Abouzzohour, Meliha Benli Altunisik, and Mona Ali
Publication Date:
06-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS)
Abstract:
Early in the pandemic, POMEPS convened an online workshop with a diverse group of scholars working across the MENA region to discuss the initial impacts and to think through possible trajectories. That workshop resulted in POMEPS Studies 39, which included twenty-one essays ranging across the MENA region. Several major themes ran across those essays. We collectively expected regimes to securitize the pandemic, using the excuse of lockdowns to crack down on a protest wave that had reached multiple countries in 2019 and to further entrench authoritarian rule. We expected variation in state capacity to be a critical variable in terms of the ability of states to effectively respond to the pandemic. And several essays anticipated soft power international competition, as great powers used vaccine diplomacy to sway public attitudes their way. Two years on, how did those predictions hold up? In April 2022, POMEPS convened a follow-up workshop with some of the same scholars and a number of new contributors to assess how well those early projections panned out, and to assess the actual impacts of COVID on the region after two years. We are delighted to now publish the results of that workshop and ongoing conversations among a diverse group of scholars of the region.
Topic:
Civil Society, Health, Politics, Sectarianism, Authoritarianism, Economy, Solidarity, Soft Power, Violence, Public Health, Students, COVID-19, Securitization, Gender, and Regional Politics
Political Geography:
Iran, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, North Africa, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and United Arab Emirates

2. “Re-imagining the Reality of Entrepreneurship in the Lens of Palestinian Youth”

Author:
Pal-Think for Strategic Studies
Publication Date:
11-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Pal-Think For Strategic Studies
Abstract:
As an independent think-tank that works to produce knowledge and spread it in Palestinian society, and in partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, PalThink for Strategic Studies has implemented the “Re-imagining the Reality of Entrepreneurship in the Lens of Palestinian Youth” project, which aimed at promoting entrepreneurship in the Gaza Strip. It is one of PalThink’s core beliefs that entrepreneurship is an effective way to create job opportunities and that promoting it, by refining young people’s skills to design and plan their innovative entrepreneurial ideas, is a valiant attempt to reduce unemployment. The project aimed at enhancing the skills of 20 male and female students and graduates and raising their awareness about entrepreneurial projects, the reality of start-ups, and the economic barriers facing youth in the Gaza Strip. The project also included the production of three research papers discussing the challenges and opportunities of entrepreneurial projects in the Palestinian business environment. This booklet was published after the conclusion of three discussion sessions that presented and discussed the three papers with experts and researchers from Palestinian civil society institutions.
Topic:
Civil Society, Economics, Entrepreneurship, and Youth
Political Geography:
Middle East and Palestine

3. A Civil or Uncivil Civil Society?

Author:
Liv Tørres
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:
Civil society is part and parcel of the institutional architecture that will be crucial to help us out of our current crisis of staggering inequality, pandemic trauma and required recovery. Yet, civil society is large, complex, fragmented, and polarized. It gained renewed and considerable attention during, and after, the ‘Third Wave’ of democracy in the early 1990s when trade unions, professional organizations, women’s and civic organizations, as well as religious organizations and churches in many countries mobilized for democratic change. This was, of course, not the first nor the last period of civic action and mobilization. Civil society has, however, changed dramatically over the past decades. The number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has grown. Membership in civil society organizations has kept up, but the meaning of membership has most probably changed. Civic space is under considerable pressure, while social movements, activism, and protests have increased. All in all, civil society now represents a wide variety of actors with different governance structures, with/without membership, varying in size and agenda.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democracy, NGOs, and Participation
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Challenges to the Middle East North Africa Inclusionary State

Author:
Marc Lynch, Bassel Salloukh, Toby Dodge, Jeroen Gunning, Dima Smaira, Stacey Philbrick Yadav, Morten Valbjørn, Simon Mabon, Ala'a Shehabi, and Mariam Salehi
Publication Date:
02-2020
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS)
Abstract:
The challenges to inclusionary states in the MENA region are daunting—including fiercely authoritarian states, the reality or threat of political violence, and ongoing protest movements. In September 2019, POMEPS and the Lebanese American University (LAU) brought together a diverse, interdisciplinary group of scholars to discuss the challenges to building more inclusive orders under these conditions.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, Politics, Sovereignty, Sectarianism, Transitional Justice, State, Reconciliation, Inclusion, and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF)
Political Geography:
Iraq, Middle East, Yemen, North Africa, and Lebanon

5. Israel/Palestine: Exploring A One-State Reality

Author:
Marc Lynch, Michael Barnett, and Nathan Brown
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS)
Abstract:
In October 2019, the Project on Middle East Political Science convened a workshop with more than a dozen scholars – Israelis, Palestinians, and others – to discuss the contours of this emergent one state reality. The essays in this collection represent an initial assessment of this reality, and many more will follow over the years to come. The authors each bring their own perspective and history, their own commitments and values, their own aspirations for the future, producing areas of agreement and disagreement. But all agree on the urgent need to recognize the Israeli-Palestinian reality for what it really is and to develop the theoretical language and conceptual tools to rigorously describe and compare that reality. We hope this collection makes a small contribution to the vibrant intellectual debates developing around these issues and joins those ongoing dialogues in a productive way.
Topic:
Civil Society, Human Rights, Territorial Disputes, Citizenship, Ethnicity, Mobility, Settler Colonialism, and Segregation
Political Geography:
Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Mediterranean, and West Bank

6. On “Civil-Military Relations and Today’s Policy Environment”

Author:
George Fust
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Department of Social Sciences at West Point, United States Military Academy
Abstract:
This commentary responds to Thomas N. Garner’s article “Civil-Military Relations and Today’s Policy Environment” published in the Winter 2018–19 issue of Parameters (vol. 48, no. 4).
Topic:
Civil Society, Politics, Military Affairs, and Civil-Military Relations
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America