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Sheikha Munira Al-Qubaysi: Managing a Feminist Islamic Revivalist Movement in Authoritarian Syria

03.31.23

Sheikha Munira Qubaysi is not a household name when it comes to recalling influential people in the Middle East. However, her recent passing shook the region to its core since her prominence was both seen and felt throughout modern Syria after leading generations of Muslim women in an Islamic revivalist movement.

Advocacy and Social Movements

Colonial Designs, Arab Dreams, and the Making of the Modern Middle East

02.23.22

H.D. Wright provides an analysis of the European diplomatic engagements that pulled apart existing territories and forced them between the borders of new states, sealing a nearly inevitable destiny of domestic strife.

Syrians need more than a compassionate plea to renew cross-border humanitarian aid

07.6.21

Over the past weeks and months, numerous think tanks and individuals have published reports and briefs on the looming humanitarian crisis in northwest Syria. [[1]] This déjà vu moment has not been lost on actors and agencies focused on aid in Syria. In mere weeks, the last remaining entry-point for humanitarian aid into northwest Syria […]

Syria Needs Cross-Border Aid. Washington Needs Focus.

07.2.21

The war in Syria continues to constitute one of the most complex contexts in the Middle East today, with few realistic policy solutions available to end the conflict. That said, the upcoming July 10 debate over the renewal of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2533 (UNSCR 2533) concerning cross-border humanitarian aid marks a flashpoint that […]

What We Ignore, We Empower: Five Decades of Despair Under the Assad Regime

03.12.21

JMEPP’s 21st edition, Middle East Beyond Borders: Empire, Diaspora, and Global Transitions for spring 2021 offers its first preview of the edition with an article by Harvard alum Oula A. Alrifai, of Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, herself a Syrian and scholar of regional developments regarding Syria. Here she commemorates a decade of dictatorship and terror in Syria […]

International Relations and Security

“The only thing I could give the revolution and the Syrian people is my voice … it’s all I have.”

10.9.20

Lubana Al Quntar is a rare talent that, if given the proper support, has the power to uplift her entire nation, putting Syria, and the Arab World, on the map of classical opera globally. Yet, in Assad’s Syria talents like hers are systematically eliminated.

“It’s about human life. It’s not about Americans or Syrians. I am trying to heal patients.”

06.17.20

Syrians believe in the American ideals of liberty, the right to peaceful assembly, equality and the pursuit of happiness, that are now echoing across the American cities.

Healthcare

Violations of Medical Neutrality in Syria: The Need for Accountability

04.25.20

Violations of Medical Neutrality in Syria: The Need for Accountability   During a time where the strength of healthcare systems is as crucial as ever, we must remember the state of healthcare in Syria.   Syria reported its first covid-19 cases a week ago– and has now reported its first coronavirus deaths. However, many analysts noted […]

Syria, the Gulf, and Reconstruction – What Possible Future?

04.25.20

Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar have increased their geopolitical influence in the Middle East in the last decade. In the case of Syria, the foreign policy of Gulf monarchies the past years has been on of rapprochement towards the regime of Damascus after initially opposing it firmly and funding some armed opposition groups. This article analyzes the potential economic and political implications of the return of Gulf investments in Syria. It argues that Gulf investments would have consequences on the political economy of Syria by deepening its reliance on projects in short-term profit-seeking sectors, mostly in trade, real estate and services. At the same time, significant obstacles to Gulf investments in Syria will persist.

Development and Economic Growth

The Effects of the Travel Ban on Refugee Resettlement in Jordan

11.5.19

With the decreased opportunity for resettlement, refugees often take risks—either returning to unsafe conditions in their country of origin or even rejecting resettlement to the United States because of concerns about Islamophobia.

Abandoning Syria

10.28.19

In an attempt to create a “humanitarian” zone, another humanitarian tragedy is being carried out.

“Erdoğan the Good” or “Erdoğan the Bad?” A conversation with Soner Çağaptay on US-Turkey relations following US withdrawal from Syria

10.25.19

Editor-in-Chief Reilly Barry sits down with US-Turkey relations expert Soner Çağaptay to discuss what is important to keep in mind in the bilateral context following major changing events in Syria and renewed US dialogue on the path ahead for the alliance, Turkey’s role in NATO, and the lasting persona of Erdoğan affecting the relationship.

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