Is there strength in numbers? (original) (raw)

Scholarship on the Middle East in Political Science and International Relations: A Reassessment

PS: Political Science & Politics

ABSTRACTA recently published dataset of Middle East and North Africa (MENA)–focused scholarship in journals selected to represent the disciplinary “core” of political science sheds empirical light on key publishing trends, from the balance between quantitative and qualitative studies to the growth in experimental and “large-N” statistical methods. Cammett and Kendall’s (2021) analysis shows that between 2001 and 2019, MENA-focused studies declined as a share of publications but that slightly less than half of that work is qualitative. However, the definition of qualitative research that the study uses significantly overstates the number of such articles in the Cammett and Kendall dataset. Our analysis rectifies this, distinguishing among research studies that use qualitative evidence, qualitative methods, theoretical traditions, and paradigms (i.e., positivist/post-positivist). This yields a more accurate and significantly starker picture of the marginality of MENA qualitative resea...

The Middle East after the Politics of Certainty

Journal of Mediterranean Studies, 2004

The politics of the Middle East (and North Africa) are a subject for research within a number of disciplines, fields and subfields, including history, comparative politics, international relations (IR), anthropology, human geography, security studies, terrorism studies, and international political economy (IPE). This can be seen as either as weakness or as strength: the lack of disciplinary coherence precludes a unified approach, but also allows for a considerable degree of inter-disciplinarity in terms of approaches, foci, and results. Yet, these varied standpoints share more than appears at first blush: all display the predominance of positivist epistemology and research methods, and while some are more theoretically-minded than others, they all remain dominated by empirical aims, be these comparative or not. Unsurprisingly, the emergence and growing challenge of a variety of postpositivist standpoints in these disciplines and areas have elicited a mixed reception. It is in this context that this special issue of the Journal of Mediterranean Studies operates. It is devoted to considering the ways in which some of these disciplines have been debating a movement away from positivist mainstream traditions, and towards perspectives more sympathetic to post-positivist concerns. Of the disciplines whose explicit remit is to analyse political dynamics at the levels of the state, regional and international politics, a useful distinction between International Relations and so-called Middle East Studies (MES) may be drawn. Despite the fact that MES scholars come from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds-e.g. history, comparative politics, political science, etc.-, this distinction is useful in that it reflects different positions on the nature of the study of the politics of the Middle East, and on what constitute appropriate methods of enquiry. These differences have meant that, until the present time, little cross-fertilisation has taken place between these two literatures. This volume contains papers which consider how recent developments within these two sets of perspectives might provide the foundations of precisely such intellectual exchanges.

Political Science Scholarship on the Middle East: A View from the Journals

PS: Political Science & Politics, 2021

Based on an original dataset of all articles on the Middle East in major political science journals during the past two decades, we assess trends in publishing on the region to explore whether it remains underrepresented in political science and how the field has evolved. We focus on the evolution of the total share of Middle East and North Africa (MENA)-focused articles, research topics, methods employed, and patterns of authorship by gender. The proportion of MENA-focused articles has increased, particularly after the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, but remains strikingly low. With respect to topics and methods, research on the Middle East is increasingly integrated in mainstream political science, with articles addressing core disciplinary debates and relying increasingly more on statistical and experimental methods. Yet, these shifts may come at the expense of predominantly qualitative research, and primary topics may reflect the priorities of Western researchers while underplaying ...

IDEAZ-Journal Vol 13-2015: Conflicts, Contexts & Realities in the Middle East

Ideaz Journal, 2015

The main objective of this issue, which is entitled Conflicts, Contexts and Realities in the Middle East, is to expose an open window to a wide analytical sphere of Middle East studies in a strictly objective and academic presentation in order to display the complexity, beauty and relevance of the Middle East in a contemporary context employing exclusively social science and scientific methodology.

Politics in Middle East-POL630 Final Paper

The methodology used throughout this research paper is inclined to explore the particular dynamics between economic, state policy, and social development in the context of regional insecurity existing in the Middle East. There is a relative message to be further incentivized for the development, examination, and adaptation of current political policies, and structural economic social and development systems to enhance the overall regional decision making processes. The emphasis on providing this alternative regional perspective concept is to create strategies that may build greater resilience for those aspiring self-governing Arab states, on the path towards social and economic development for their respective modern day Arab nations. The purpose of my research paper is to establish a link between national, regional and economic security, with the need for enhanced policy-making mechanisms and establishment of competent institutions, so as to contribute in the process of security building and advancing of domestic and regional Arab societies. Taking into account historical context and existence of external actors, are milestone elements of consideration. There is a strong demonstration of critique theories of looking at the initial development of modern Arab states, and the main problematiqué: the democratic evolution of state institutions being heavily build on political power on their economic structures, ignoring some social and political aspects of national development. A constructivist view on globalization, nation building, inclusion, democratic processes and global governance, is presented throughout the paper, in hopes to shed light on some of the speculative rhetoric that applies to literature on Middle Eastern countries, and have a broader sense of contextualizing the challenges that tend to be commonly present to these countries in the region. Throughout the research, it becomes more clear that there is a need for reform for theoretical frameworks on liberalism, social class and domestic national interactions, as constructivist approach on the inclusion of other actors, and connecting both economic and social welfare to effective (or non-effective) governance. Apart from the need for economic growth by adopting models of governance that are able to react to potential challenges, given the vulnerable situation of many social and political economies existing till this day in many Arab nations.

The Modern Middle East: A Political History since the First World War

Book Teaser, 2014

Since it was first published in 2006, this concise overview of the making of the contemporary Middle East has become essential reading for students and general readers who want to gain a better understanding of this diverse region. Writing for a wide audience, Mehran Kamrava takes us from fall of the Ottoman Empire to today, exploring along the way such central issues as the dynamics of economic development, authoritarian endurance, and the Israel-Palestinian conflict. For this new, thoroughly revised edition, he has brought the book fully up to date by incorporating events and issues of the past few years. The Modern Middle East now includes information about the June 2009 Iranian presidential elections and their aftermath, changes precipitated so far by the Obama administration, Israel’s attack on Gaza in 2008, the effects of globalization on economic development, and more.

Mapping the New Politics of the Middle East

2018

This timely book offers a broad, insightful, and reasonably comprehensive overview of the contemporary process of politicizing religious differences in the Middle East by contextualizing some of the most important contributing factors to the ongoing sociopolitical turmoil. Editors Hashemi and Postel, together with fourteen other researchers, critically examine the widely held and principally unsubstantiated claim that “ancient sectarian conflicts” are at the root of the region’s intraand inter-state conflicts (2). The book’s format suggests the political science perspective of the authors’ combined understanding of sectarianization. The overall macro-perspective is blended with a number of relevant case studies that offer a wide-ranging understanding of this process.