Contested modernity: divided rule and the birth of sectarianism,nationalism, and absolutism in Bahrain

This study argues that political mobilization based on ethnosectarian identities in Bahrain is a modernist product of the contestations that occurred in the period of increasing British colonial involvement in the early twentieth century. Two concepts are utilized. The first is the colonial ‘ethnosectarian gaze’, marked primarily by its underlying epistemology that saw ethnosectarian cleavages as the main analytic units for approaching local political power, practice, and discourse. The second is ‘contested and divided rule’. With the advent of Curzon’s ‘forward policy’ in the Gulf, Britain actively divided sovereignty between itself and the local ruler, with actors on the island faced with two conflicting sources of jurisdiction. The British viewed issues of jurisdiction primarily through an ethnosectarian lens, and increasingly so did other actors, creating an inter-feeding dynamic between ethnosectarianism, nationalism, and divided rule. Two emergent forms of political mobilization are emphasized. The first mobilized based on ethnosectarian identity-specific demands and grievances. The other took an overtly nationalist, trans-sectarian, anti-colonial tone, having its roots in the al-Nahda renaissance that swept the Arab world in the nineteenth century. Thus, colonialism, absolutism, ethnosectarianism, and nationalism went hand in hand, products of a similar period of divided rule, their lingering effects still felt today.     

The Arab Community in the United States: A Review and an Assessment of the State of Research and Writing on Arab Americans

After a review and brief history of the Arab American community, a detailed overview of the research and writings done on Arabs in the United States is presented, which includes references to two early Arab arrivals to the United States: Estevanico and Hadj Ali (Hi Jolly). These two pioneers are mostly ignored by the Arab American community (as well as researchers on that community) but should be embraced and celebrated. An assessment of the writings on Arab Americans finds that few books and dissertations were written before the 1970s when a surge in interest in this topic became obvious. The concluding section includes sixteen observations and recommendations. Among these is the fact that there has been hardly any research done on the rich materials available in the early Arab American press, as both the Arab American community and researchers on this community have focussed on the present, almost completely ignoring the past and/or possible future planning. This has resulted in the undermining of the main goal of Arabs in the United States to feel and to be viewed as full members of American society and body politic.     

The impact of foreign direct investment on the growth of the tourism sector in Jordan (1980–2016)

The study aimed at measuring and analyzing the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the growth of the Jordanian tourism sector during the period 1980–2016. In order to test the stationarity of the variables of the study model, the augmented Dickey–Fuller and the Philips Perron tests were applied. The results showed that the variables were not stationary at their levels, but they become so when taking the first difference with the intercept. The study also found a positive long‐run relationship between the ratio of FDI to gross domestic product (GDP) and the ratio of tourism revenues to GDP according to the cointegration test used, which was the Granger causality test. The test showed a one‐way causal relationship between the ratio of FDI to GDP and the ratio of tourism revenue to GDP. According to the estimation results, the error correction model showed that there is a positive impact of FDI on the growth of the tourism sector. Based on the results reached, the study recommended the need to pay attention to the tourism sector, enhance its role in economic development, and work to provide an optimal investment environment by providing all necessary means for and assistance in establishing such investments. All obstacles that limit the flow of the FDI in the Jordanian tourism sector should be removed.     

A model for technology transfer: Group-decision support systems and electronic meetings

The commercialization of research and development inventions is necessary for the US to enhance its industrial competitive position. Problems in technology transfer are attributed to a variety of causes, primary among them the intensive communications required between technology sources and users. In this paper, group-decision support systems and electronic meetings are used in designing a method that can enhance the exchange of ideas and the communication necessary to bring about a successful transaction of technology transfer.     

‘Conducting Fieldwork in the Middle East’: Report of a Workshop held at the University of Edinburgh on 12 February 2007

The workshop explored the practice of fieldwork in the Middle East. It considered the methods and techniques used by scholars, obstacles and opportunities encountered in the field, and the way that these influenced the research product. It also asked to what extent, if any, these features of conducting fieldwork were particular to the Middle East. The workshop examined these issues from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including anthropology, political science, history and literature. It brought together selected scholars who had conducted fieldwork in a range of countries across the Middle East. The resulting discussion considered both practical issues such as negotiating access to sources, developing networks of contacts, and the effect of censorship; as well as theoretical questions such as the positionality of the researcher; the relationship between ‘the field’ and theory; and the ways in which the Middle East as a region challenged the assumptions of some academic disciplines.