The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies have published Issue 16 (May/June 2024) of the peer-reviewed English language journal Al-Muntaqa: New Perspectives on Arab Studies. It features five articles, an analysis of the Arab Opinion Index survey on Israel’s war on Gaza, in addition to a book review.
The opening article by Dina Khoury, titled “Between Empires and Nation: Memories of the Great War and Iraqi National Identity”, explores the relationship of World War I memory to Iraqi national identity, arguing that there was no national consensus on what the War meant for Iraqi identity from the establishment of the monarchy until 1958. Khoury traces the evolution of this memory and how it was incorporated into the anti-imperialist modern state narrative after the 1958 revolution. However, the Gulf Wars coupled with the failure of the post-colonial modern state have led to a re-evaluation of this memory.
In “An Unstable Transitional Period: Transformations of the Hybrid Coalition in Sudan”, Hassan Elhag Ali Ahmad focuses on shifts within the hybrid coalition that was formed to oversee the transitional period in Sudan after the December 2018 uprising. He argues that the coalition underwent several schisms, prompting the formation of new coalitions and the reproduction of old ones.
Firas Mekkiya’s “Iraq’s Judiciary: Problems of Unrestricted Independence” looks at the challenges of the total separation of the Iraqi judiciary from the executive and legislative branches, which has granted the judiciary “excessive” independence, ultimately leading to its politicization.
In “Struggling to Fit: The Case of Saudi-Born Millennial Returnees of Palestinian Origin to Jordan”, Abdallah S. Abolouz discusses the ramifications of the Expat Dependent Levy Taxes (EDLT), implemented by the Saudi government in 2017, on the Palestinian community in Saudi Arabia, particularly the millennials, some of whom were forced to return to Jordan. Abolouz explores their psychological acculturation phases, and transformations in their identity and sense of belonging.
Ashraf Othman Bader and Asem Khalil’s “Colonial Paternalism under Israeli Military Rule (1967-1977): ‘Social Welfare’ as a Tool of Control” unveils the system of colonial paternalism that Israel imposed during the first decade of its post-1967 military rule over the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and forms of Palestinian resistance to it.
In the Arab Opinion Index Analysis section, Yara Nassar’s “Israel’s War on Gaza: Views from Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon” analyses Arab Opinion Index survey conducted between 12 December 2023 and 5 January 2024, focusing on public opinion in Palestine’s neighbouring countries, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, toward Israel’s war on Gaza.
Lastly, the issue concludes with a book review essay. Yassine Haggan reviews Rachid Benbih’s New Women’s Migrations in Africa: Determinants and Dynamics.