POMEPS Studies 39: The COVID-19 Pandemic in the Middle East and North Africa

This special issue of POMEPS STUDIES collects twenty contributions from a wide range of young scholars writing from diverse perspectives, which collectively offer a fascinating overview of a region whose governance failures, economic inequalities and societal resilience were all suddenly thrown into sharp relief.

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Introduction: The COVID-19 Pandemic in the Middle East and North Africa

Marc Lynch

The CoronaNet Database

Robert Kubinec

The Securitization of the Coronavirus Crisis in the Middle East

Adam Hoffmann

Islamic Responses to COVID-19

Alex Thurston

Protecting Refugees in the Middle East from Coronavirus: A Fight against Two Reinforcing Contagions

Justin Schon

The United Nations Ceasefire Appeal and MENA Conflict Hotspots

Ruth Hanau Santini

China and COVID-19 in MENA

Guy Burton

Coronavirus in the Gulf Imperils National Ambitions and Tests National Unity  

Kristin Diwan

COVID and Gulf Foreign Policy

Elham Fakhro

Authoritarian Exploitation of COVID-19 in the GCC

Matthew Hedges

Small states response to COVID-19: View from the UAE

Diana Galeeva

How Robust is the Authoritarian Social Contract? Social Dissent during Iran’s COVID-19 Outbreak

Sally Sharif

Israel: Politics and Identity in Coronavirus times

Ehud Eiran

A Resurgent Netanyahu? The Political and Constitutional Effects of COVID-19 in Israel

Brent Sasley

COVID in the Maghreb: Responses and Impacts

Yasmina Abouzzohour

Framing Nationalism in times of a pandemic: The Case of Morocco

Yasmine Zarhloule

Resilient Authoritarianism And Global Pandemics: Challenges In Egypt At The Time Of COVID-19

Lucia Ardovini

COVID-19: Lebanon’s Experience and Response

Carla Abdo-Katsipis

Drastic Measures: Coercive Enforcement and Economic Effects of Pandemic Suppression in Jordan

Allison Spencer Hartnett, Ezzeldeen al-Natour, Laith al-Ajlouni

Transparency and repression in Jordan’s response to COVID-19

Elizabeth Parker-Magyar

The Impact of Syria’s Fragmentation on COVID-19 Response

Jesse Marks

Government, De Facto Authority and Rebel Governance in Times of COVID-19: The Case of Yemen

Eleonora Ardemagni