Search

Begin New Search Journal al Nakhlah Publication Year within 25 Years

11. "Let's Talk About Sex and Gender: The Case of Iran" A Book Review

Author:
Hafsa Kanjwal
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
al Nakhlah
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
During a widely reported and controversial lecture at Columbia University in New York, the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, boldly declared: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country.” His statement, which caused ripples internationally, especially in the United States, underscores prolonged tensions on the subject of gender and sexuality in modern Iran, a nation experiencing what many have called “a sexual revolution.” How do we come to understand the history behind these tensions? How does this history relate to the broader historiography of gender and sexuality in the Islamicate? This review will look at two recent works, both published in the past decade, that have attempted to address these questions. The first book, entitled Women with Mustaches and Men Without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxieties of Iranian Modernity, by Afsaneh Najmabadi draws upon visual and literary material from nineteenth century Iran during the Qajar period to demonstrate the centrality of gender and sexuality to the shaping of modern culture and politics in Iran.
Political Geography:
Iran

12. "Ahmad Urabi, Delegate of the People: Social Mobilization in Egypt on the Eve of Colonial Rule"

Author:
Sean Lyngaas
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
al Nakhlah
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
On June 11, 1882, the port of Alexandria lay smoldering in rubble. At the urging of the Egyptian viceroy, Tawfiq (r. 1879-1892), the British had bombarded the city in an effort to extinguish an insurrectionist government headed by Ahmad Urabi. Beneath the billows of smoke were the charred remains of a once-proud city. Alexandria had embodied much of what brought Egypt to the fore in the nineteenth century: openness to foreigners and commerce against the backdrop of a modernizing infrastructure. Now this noble concept was in flames, and with it went the vision of participatory government that had coalesced in the years prior to Alexandria's immolation. The Urabi Revolt (1881-1882) saw the Egyptian military capitalize on societal discontent, which had been brewing for decades, to usurp the Ottoman khedive. State repression of political freedoms, crippling taxes, discrimination in the Turco-Circassian bureaucracy, and a khedive, Tawfiq, who ultimately sided with Europeans over Egyptians, were all part of the brew that came to boil in the opening months of 1881.
Political Geography:
Europe and Egypt

13. From Coexistence to Cleansing: The Rise of Sectarian Violence in Baghdad, 2003-2007

Author:
Ches Thurber
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
al Nakhlah
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
Following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the nature of violent conflict in Iraq evolved from an insurgency against the interim U.S.-supported government into a sectarian civil war, pitting the country's minority Sunni population against the majority Shia. By the summer of 2006, Iraqi on Iraqi violence had reached epic proportions. On most mornings, dozens of bodies could be found floating along the Tigris River. Iraqi men were executed for no reason other than having the name “Omar,” and militias set up checkpoints to verify the identity of all those out in the streets. According to Iraq Body Count, 3,182 civilians were killed in July 2006 and over 2,000 civilian casualties were reported each month through August 2007. 1 Over this same period of time, the city of Baghdad was separated into distinct homogeneous neighborhoods based on sectarian identity.
Political Geography:
United States

14. "Development and the Battle for Swat"

Author:
Rabia Zafar
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
al Nakhlah
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
In the early summer of 2009, world attention focused on Pakistan as Taliban militants gained a foothold just 70 miles outside of the nation's capital, Islamabad, challenging the country's nascent civilian government. The government responded with a strong show of military force, pummeling the Swat Valley and surrounding areas with tanks, heavy artillery, and helicopter gunships. In the process, some 2 million people were internally displaced leaving Pakistan on the brink of a large-scale humanitarian crisis. By late June however, the military operation had started yielding results and the government claimed that the Malakand Division, including Swat, had been cleared of the Taliban. Most of the displaced civilians began returning to the area and international observers seemed satisfied that this story had come to an end. Yet, this battle, with its seemingly existential consequences and high-level human drama, was only one episode in a long chronicle of insurgency, extremism, and frustration in Swat.
Political Geography:
Taliban and Islamabad

15. The Salafi Jihadist Threat in Lebanon

Author:
Matteo Tomasini
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
al Nakhlah
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
In the last few years, particularly after the May 2007 fighting in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Barid, the threat of al-Qaeda establishing a base in Lebanon from which to wage its global jihad has become a cause for concern for most of the international community. This paper will examine to what extent this concern is justified by tracing the history of Salafi jihadism in Lebanon and analyzing its future prospects with an emphasis on the likelihood al- Qaeda will choose to open a new front in Lebanon. The paper concludes with a range of policy prescriptions intended to help Lebanon and the international community counter the growth of al-Qaeda and Salafi jihadism in general.
Political Geography:
Lebanon

16. Corruption and Social Trust in Afghanistan

Author:
Qiamuddin Amiry
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
al Nakhlah
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
Since 2001, one of the main obstacles for good governance and development in Afghanistan has been the existence of pervasive corruption in the country. Donor countries have repeatedly pressed President Hamid Karzai to address issues of corruption. In turn, Mr. Karzai has placed blame on the members of his cabinet and the deputies in parliament. Besides President Karzai and leaders of donor countries, ordinary Afghans are equally frustrated with corruption. For instance, “according to a survey conducted by Integrity Watch Afghanistan, corruption is endemic, with two - thirds of respondents considering corruption to be an established practice.” In 2005, Afghanistan dropped from 117th to 176th in 2008 on Transparency International's corruption index, and the country's place rose from 11th to 7th on the failed states index. In addition to corruption in the government, Afghan society suffers from high levels of distrust within the general population.
Topic:
Corruption and Government
Political Geography:
Afghanistan

17. Egypt's Unique Role in the Reawakening and Reorganization of the Palestinian National Movement: 1948—1967

Author:
David Aaron Wallsh
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
al Nakhlah
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
The years between 1948 and 1967 witnessed the extraordinary revival of the Palestinian national movement. Following Israel's 1948 defeat of invading Arab armies—what Palestinians term al - nakbah (the catastrophe)— Palestinian society was rendered geographically divided, socially fragmented, leaderless, and bereft of any viable national institutions. Yet, less than two decades later Palestinians could boast of increasing Arab and international recognition of their plight, an armed resistance movement, and the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The political consolidation that took place during this period is best divided into two separate stages. First, contrary to the opinions of some scholars, the decade after the nakbah (up to 1959) constituted the national movement's “formative years,” a time during which a small cadre of Palestinian activists launched a fury of political, social and military processes meant to reawaken the shattered national spirit. Second, the period from 1959 to 1967 can be seen as the time when the idea for a representative and distinct Palestinian national institution took shape and materialized.
Political Geography:
Arabia and Egypt

18. "U.S.-Iran Cultural Diplomacy: A Historical Perspective"

Author:
Ramin Asgard
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
al Nakhlah
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
In his seminal review of modern American cultural diplomacy, The First Resort of Kings, American Cultural Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century (2005), Dr. Richard Arndt explored the full breadth of this important element of American international statecraft. Arndt defined cultural diplomacy by first considering how it contrasted with “cultural relations, or “relations between national cultures, those aspects of intellect and education lodged in any society that tend to cross borders and connect with foreign institutions.” Cultural diplomacy, he stated, “can only be said to take place when formal diplomats, serving national governments, try to shape and channel this natural flow to advance national interests.”
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Iran

19. Interview with Dr. Shafiq Al-Ghabra, Former President of the American University of Kuwait

Author:
Sami Shammas
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
al Nakhlah
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
Can you tell us where the inspiration for this article originated? Yes, it is a challenge in 2008 to belong to a generation that formed its basic views of the world during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Growing up in Kuwait, Beirut, and then coming to the United States to study at the age of 18 in 1971 has, naturally, affected the way I have come to view the world. The premise of my generation was simple: old ways must be seen with new eyes; religion, tradition, and habit are not the only frameworks for examining the world. I was and still am the product of secularism, ranging from nationalism to Marxism to liberal democracy. Yet I am also a product of religious values incorporated in my society and family. Religion was never a formula to be applied but a set of moral values that guides our understanding of fairness, justice, respect and equality between human beings.
Topic:
Nationalism
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Kuwait

20. "Women and the Law in Islamic Societies: Legal Responses to Domestic Violence in Saudi Arabia and Morocco"

Author:
Cybèle Cochran
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
al Nakhlah
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
A common misconception pervades in the West that women are all mistreated in Arab societies due to the application of Islamic law (shari‛a). Scanning media articles, we see references to stoning as punishment for adultery in Iran and requiring of the burka for women under the Taliban. In Morocco, however, women are not obligated to wear the veil and stoning is not an acceptable punishment for any crime. All of these countries have Muslim governments, and all claim to base their legal systems on shari‛a principles. What then accounts for the differences in their treatment of women under the law?
Topic:
Islam
Political Geography:
Iran and Morocco