The multiple wars and conflicts cutting across the Middle East and North Africa have not ended despite the global and regional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wars continue to grind on at varying levels of intensity in Libya, Syria and Yemen, while Iraq is increasingly an arena for proxy conflict between Iran and the United States and the remnants of the Islamic State regroup. Other states which escaped failure and civil war over the last decade now face escalating economic, health, environmental and political pressures which risk tipping already strained institutions into conflict or failure.
The Project on Middle East Political Science invites proposals for a virtual thematic workshop to be held September 25. We invite potential authors to think creatively and in novel ways about these conflicts, and how to conceptualize both their current realities and their longer term impacts across levels of analysis. How have these conflicts evolved in the face of 2020’s local, regional and global changes? Are there new prospects for their resolution, or should we anticipate a region punctuated by long term persistent warscapes? How has the impact of the pandemic intersected with the grim realities of war and economic devastation? Have these war zones been affected differently in comparison to other MENA states? How should the cross-regional effects — such as labor migration, changes to global travel and shipping, or spillover across borders — be factored into the analysis of MENA? Participants will write papers of approximately 2500 words to be discussed at the virtual workshop and revised for inclusion in a volume in the POMEPS STUDIES series. To apply, please fill out the form below and include a 500 word abstract describing the proposed paper by July 29, 5:00 pm ET.
To apply, please click here.