المنتقى دورية علمية محكّمة تصدر باللغة الإنكليزية عن المركز العربي للأبحاث ودراسة السياسات، وتُعنى بترجمة أبرز الأبحاث العربية في العلوم الاجتماعية وتقديم منظورات جديدة في الدراسات العربية.
Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies
The Manufacturing of Belonging: A Study of Land Ownership in the Sahrawi Community
Salem Ouakari, The Manufacturing of Belonging: A Study of Land Ownership in the Sahrawi Community (the Ait Oussa Tribes 1600- 1958) (Doha/Beirut : ACRPS, 2023), pp. 488.
Individual Motives and Voter Turnout in the Arab World: What Role Does Perceived Regime Democracy Play?
This paper examines how citizens’ assessments of the level of democracy in their political system shape their likelihood of voting. To address this question, we draw on data from the eighth Arab Opinion Index, conducted in 2022 across nine Arab countries: Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, and Mauritania. The data is analysed using binary logistic regression. The findings indicate that individuals who hold a positive view of the level of democracy in their country are more likely to vote, regardless of objective indicators suggesting that the political system is non-democratic.
The Conceptual and Technical Foundations of Artificial Intelligence and Its Evolution: From Computational Models to Machine Learning
Ghazza Abderrazzak, The Conceptual and Technical Foundations of Artificial Intelligence and Its Evolution: From Computational Models to Machine Learning (Doha/Beirut: ACRPS, 2024), pp. 448.
Public Right or Economic Commodity? The Evolution of Water Policy in Jordan and Morocco
This study argues that water management policies in Jordan and Morocco have never been neutral. Rather, since independence, they have functioned as strategic instruments, leveraged to impose territorial control and reinforce political authority. Using a comparative analytical approach, the study traces the evolution of dam policies, privatization choices, and the role of international financial institutions in governing this vital resource. It finds that neoliberal approaches to water governance have commodified water, transforming it from a public right into an economic commodity, and in doing so have generated deep social and spatial inequalities alongside heightened water vulnerability. The study further underscores the limited capacity of privatization to deliver susta inable development and spatial justice.
Sudanese Peace Agreements (1972-2020): The Legacy of State Formation and the Challenges of Sustainability
This study examines Sudanese peace agreements from 1972 to 2020, analysing the roots of conflict between the political centre and peripheral regions. The analysis draws on the concept of the legacy of state formation, which has cumulatively shaped historical grievances, primarily through political, economic, and cultural marginalization. The study argues that, since the colonial period, central state policies have concentrated development and power in the riverain provinces at the expense of other regions. This situation led to the emergence of grievance-based movements that later evolved into armed insurgency. Although several peace agreements were concluded between the warring parties, most relied on partial sharing of power and wealth while failing to address the fundamental causes of conflict. Further compounding this failure were a lack of trust among factions, foreign mediator intervention, failure to implement commitments, and the use of such agreements to serve short-term political agendas. The study finds that the failure to sustain peace was a direct consequence of persistently ignoring the legacy of state formation and the absence of structural solutions.
Mapping the Israeli Settlement Project in the West Bank: History and Institutions
This article examines the various components of the Israeli settlement project in the West Bank, as well as the Israeli agencies and institutions that plan, implement, and support it. It also addresses the status of settlement activity under international law. It proceeds from the premise that the settlement project constitutes an integrated structure engaged in a conflictual relationship with Palestinian space, governed by a zero-sum logic. The study begins with a historical overview of the development of settlements in the West Bank. It outlines the project’s structural components, followed by an analysis of the four Israeli bodies that administer the expansion of settlement and shape its legal and planning frameworks. Finally, it considers the position of international law regarding Israeli settlements.
The Cost of Israeli Settler-Colonial Occupation on the Palestinian People
This study reviews the available literature to estimate the economic cost borne by the Palestinian people as a result of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, covering the period 1948-2022. It seeks to develop a methodology through which a broad estimate of the economic cost of the occupation can be generated, drawing on existing studies and available evidence to assess the cumulative economic losses incurred by Palestinians over this period. It advances three methodologies for such an assessment: aggregation, counterfactual estimation, and occupation gains. The choice of methodology depends on the type of economic variables being assessed. By updating cost estimates employed in previous studies, the analysis indicates that Israel’s gains from its settlements and its occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the period 2000-2022 range between US$955 billion and US$1.707 trillion. Furthermore, when estimating the value of the losses resulting from the Nakba of 1948 in 2022 terms, material losses are found to have increased from US$3 billion to US$719 billion between the two years.
Critical Studies on postmodern critique, state formation, water governance, settler-colonial economy and space, and voter turnout.
Two Perspectives on the “Us” and Postmodern Thought
This study offers a critical reading of the implications of importing postmodern thought into a non-Western context. It argues that postmodern claims on the relativity of truth, the deconstruction of grand narratives, the transcendence of the authority of universal reason, and scepticism toward human agency are grounded conditions of Western modernity that remain absent in partially modernized societies. The study shows that the adoption of postmodern critique in a modern/premodern context can contribute to the erosion of scientific objectivity, the justification of moral relativism, and the reinforcement of modes of traditional authority. This study focuses on the domains of science and ethics by deconstructing postmodernist arguments regarding scientific discourse and ethical standards. In addition, the study clarifies the differences between scientific, philosophical, and religious truths, as well as those between universal moral values and moral rules, and between theories of ethics and scientific theories.
The 2019 Legislative and Presidential Elections in Tunisia: Politics, Electoral Behaviors, and Elite Mobilization
Mehdi Mabrouk (ed.), The 2019 Legislative and Presidential Elections in Tunisia: Politics, Electoral Behaviors, and Elite Mobilization (Doha/Beirut: ACRPS, 2022), pp. 624.
Chinese Strategy Toward Arab States: Goals and Implications for the Future, an Exploration
Anas Khaled Nassar, Chinese Strategy Toward Arab States: Goals and Implications for the Future, an Exploration (Doha/Beirut: ACRPS, 2020), pp. 275.
Economic Theology in Iraq: The Parallel Economy of Al-Kafeel
This study explores the rise of “economic theology” in Iraq through an examination of the Shi’i Al-Kafeel network and its expanding institutional presence. It addresses the central question of how religious authority, when disengaged from state structures, constructs a parallel economy grounded in theological legitimacy and moral purpose. The analysis, adopting a theoretical framework shaped by Max Weber, Werner Sombart, and contemporary reflections on religious economies, approaches Al-Kafeel not merely as an administrative apparatus but as a symbolic formation that converts ritual authority into organizational capacity and economic power. The study argues that Al-Kafeel exemplifies a distinctive mode of socio-economic action in post-2003 Iraq, one in which religious legitimacy, managerial rationality, and communal trust converge to produce an alternative model of institutional endurance and social influence.
The State and the Arab State in Bishara’s Democratic Project: Political-Philosophical Approaches
This study examines the question of the state in Azmi Bishara’s exploration of democracy through the lens of political-philosophical approaches to utopia, Rawlsian philosophy, citizenship, civil society, and justice, particularly in the Arab context. Where do Bishara’s theses on the state sit within his broader intellectual project? What is the relationship between the citizenship-based state, civil society, and justice? How does his approach compare with John Rawls’s political utopia? The study posits that Bishara focuses on developing a theory of the state and elaborating it conceptually, treating the state as a realistic political utopia. Bishara’s chief goal is to ascertain the conditions necessary for the establishment of democratic systems in the Arab region. For him, the question begins logically with the state – its origin and evolution – and ends with democracy and issues pertaining to it.
Digital Activism within the Coptic Community in North America: New Transnational Opportunities or Emerging Threats?
This study critically examines the dual impact of digital technologies on the political agency of the Coptic diaspora, emphasizing both the opportunities and limitations posed by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Digital platforms have enhanced diaspora visibility, resource mobilization, and transnational activism, but they also introduce major risks, including misinformation, censorship, and surveillance. These growing challenges have hindered the diaspora’s ability to navigate power structures, reducing the effectiveness of advocacy efforts. The study argues that the drawbacks of digital activism now outweigh its initial benefits, creating new constraints on Coptic political influence. In light of these pressures, it calls for a reassessment of how diaspora groups can sustain activism in an increasingly hostile digital landscape.
Toward a Pharmaceutical Anthropology in Morocco: The Biography of Aureomycin from Physical Production to Cultural Reinterpretation
Pharmaceutical anthropology calls for moving beyond the conventional divide between folk remedies and modern pharmaceuticals and applying the same analytical lens to both. The biographical approach to objects helps to understand the various transformations and interactions that govern a medicine within a specific context. This study traces the life story of Aureomycin in Morocco from its initial introduction, through physical production, marketing, and distribution, to consumption. It shows that the medicine had not been used as its producers had anticipate. It has rather been subject to the logic of “pharmaceutical heretics” who treat Aureomycin as a folk remedy and integrate it into a new, intermediary treatment process that is neither fully modern nor wholly traditional.
Critical studies on digital activism, state theory, religious economy, and pharmaceuti cal practice.
Beersheba Region, Southern Ottoman Palestine: Land, Society, and State
Ahmad Amara, Beersheba Region, Southern Ottoman Palestine: Land, Society, and State (Doha/Beirut: ACRPS, 2024), pp. 344.
Ahmed Zeineldin, Death Between Society and Culture (Doha/ Beirut: ACRPS, 2024), pp. 223.
Social Media Use, Trust, and Surveillance in the Arab Region: Insights from the Arab Opinion Index (2024-2025)
Drawing on data from the 2024-2025 Arab Opinion Index, this report explores evolving public attitudes toward social media across Arab countries. It examines how individuals use digital platforms to acquire and engage with news and participate in political and social discourse, especially in the context of ongoing regional conflicts. The findings reveal high levels of reliance on social media for information, alongside growing concerns over misinformation, censorship, and cultural harm. Despite widespread support for content regulation, many continue to use these platforms to discuss political and social issues. The report underscores the complexity of digital awareness and engagement in the Arab region and calls for more qualitative research to unpack public views on censorship, freedom of expression, and the impact of social media on political awareness and democratic values.
The Role of Urban Transformation in Saudi Arabia’s Nation-building: The Case of al-Balad, Jeddah
The built environment of Jeddah’s Historic District, known as al-Balad, has undergone significant transformations since the mid-19th century, shaped by several rounds of conservation. Drawing on fieldwork and existing scholarship, this article argues that the urban transformation of al-Balad is the outcome of state- building and nation-building processes in Saudi Arabia. In turn, al- Balad ’s transformation has deeply impacted Saudi Arabiaʼs nation-building. Although the rapid modernization and urbanization process sidelined serious efforts to conserve al-Balad , triggering profound changes in the district, the renewed emphasis on national identity and the rise of an indigenous “Saudi” culture in the early 21st century has repositioned al-Balad from a site of socio-economic changes into a source of cultural symbols.
The Whitewashing of History in a Time of Genocide
The essay reflects on the author's teaching experience at Hebron University in al-Khalil, Palestine, on the use of Ottoman archival records in the writing of Palestinian history.
For millions of Palestinians, Jerusalem is a closed city. Entry is largely forbidden and only occasionally allowed for brief, limited periods with an entry permit granted at Israel’s behest. Only holders of Israeli IDs (whether Jerusalem residents or Israeli citizens) have the right to enter the city, and even they must pass through checkpoints. This study explores how closure has barred generations of Palestinians from experiencing the cultural and historical nexus that served as the region’s hub for hundreds of years. Since checkpoints have also been installed within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem, closure also imposes grave hardships on Palestinian Jerusalemites with Israeli permanent-resident IDs who live on the “other” side of the checkpoints.
Cyberpunk Urban Fantasies in the Gulf: The Line as an Incubator of Modernization in Saudi Arabia and Beyond
The Line is a futuristic city under construction in Saudi Arabia. This study examines its development as an incubator of modernization, seeking to transform the socio-cultural and infrastructural landscape of the country. The study notes how The Line’s aspirations are genealogically rooted in a Western cyberpunk imaginary picturing hypermodern cities inhabited by artificial intelligences (AI). It reveals the influence of cyberpunk fiction in shaping the conceptualization of The Line, representing a deliberate break with Saudi Arabia’s urban and cultural past. The study critically analyses the role that modernization as a double-edged sword plays in advancing novel ideas inspired by Western culture, while undermining a longstanding part of traditional Saudi culture.
From Taxation to Dispossession: Land Governance and the Colonization of Palestine
This study examines the history of land governance in Palestine from the late Ottoman era to the Israeli occupation that began in 1948, focusing on the structural transformations that shaped land tenure and control. It explores rent, ownership, and spatial planning as interrelated spheres for understanding the conflict’s dynamics. The study addresses how Ottoman law was utilized to regulate land ownership and how the British Mandate introduced significant reinterpretations of ownership that served broader colonial objectives. It also analyses the tools employed by the Israeli occupation to dispossess Palestinians, including legal mechanisms, expropriation, and spatial planning, while highlighting the historical, social, and political dimensions of the fight for land.
Protecting the Syrian Family: Community Reconstruction and the Unseen Consequences of War
Since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011, international and local organizations have played an active role in responding to civilians’ needs. However, their activities have largely ignored the importance of safeguarding the Syrian family system. This study demonstrates how these organizations have disregarded the impact of the protracted war on new family dynamics, particularly the shifting gender roles and the evolving approaches to child-rearing during wartime. Compounding this oversight is the fact that international organizations dominate humanitarian efforts in Syria, often operating according to their own agendas. This raises critical questions about the extent to which these organizations understand the Syria’s diverse family and societal contexts, and whether they recognize the importance of supporting the Syrian family structure.
The Illusion of the Tunisian Exception: Civil Society and Democratic Transition
Tunisia’s democratic transition has attracted considerable scholarly attention, and is often portrayed as a notable exception. However, the reversal of most democratic gains in the decade following the 2011 revolution has called this narrative into question. This study deconstructs the notion of Tunisian exceptionalism through a critical examination of civil society, tracing its role from the pre-revolutionary period through the democratic transition, and up to Kais Saied’s 2021 coup. The study shows that Tunisian civil society contributed to the derailment of the democratic transition in three ways: first, by exacerbating Islamist-secular polarization, resulting in a fragmented “two-headed” civil society; second, by becoming an extension of political parties; and third, by encroaching on the role of the state, undermining its legitimacy and effectiveness in the public sphere.
Critical Studies on Land, Family, Civil Society, Urban Transformation, and Digital Futures in the Arab World.
The Litani as a Link: Toward a Better Reconstruction in Lebanon
This study addresses the vital importance of the Litani River in Lebanon and the environmental challenges resulting from its severe pollution. An estimated 40 million cubic metres of untreated sewage is dumped into the river annually, exacerbating its deterioration. The study argues that Lebanon’s water crisis is deeply rooted in political fragility, inadequate governmental response, the sectarian political system, the aftermath of the civil war, and pervasive poverty. The study emphasizes the urgent need for sustainable development and balanced reconstruction in Lebanon, advocating for integrated solutions and effective water and land governance. The study highlights the importance of effective use of natural resources and the adoption of innovative technologies to bolster resilience against climate change. Proposed measures include remote sensing, improved rainwater collection, and enhanced soil humidity.
Social Media’s Socio-Cultural Impacts: An Analysis of the 2022 Arab Opinion Index
This article examines the socio-cultural impacts of social media in Arab public opinion. The analysis is based on the results of the eighth Arab Index survey, conducted in 2022 by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in 14 Arab countries. The survey revealed that over two-thirds of respondents consider social media to have a positive societal and cultural impact, albeit to varying degrees. Positive sentiments were more prevalent in the Nile Valley and the Levant, while the Maghreb and the Arab Gulf exhibited more scepticism, placing them in the middle of the opinion spectrum. However, the responses also reflected a nuanced contradiction. While respondents acknowledged the importance of these platforms in various areas, they simultaneously recognized their negative impact.
The History and Memory of the Sea in Modern Tunisia: Between the Oral and the Written
As-Saghira Ben Hamida, The History and Memory of the Sea in Modern Tunisia: Between the Oral and the Written (Doha/Beirut: ACRPS, 2024), pp. 271.