Will Iran Look More Like Turkey,Or Turkey Like Iran?

istanbul —The effort to forge new forms of non‐Western modernity in the Muslim world has pushed Iran into sometimes bloody civil strife while Turkey swirls with persistent rumors of military plots against the Islamist‐rooted government. The great historical question is whether, in the years to come, Iran will look more like Turkey, or Turkey like Iran?     

Like Red Tulips at Springtime: Understanding the Absence of Female Martyrs in Afghanistan

In an era where female suicide terrorism is on the rise in conflict regions such as the Middle East, the North Caucasus, and South Asia, why has Afghanistan been largely immune to this trend? Why do some violent groups use female suicide terrorism and others avoid it? This is a critical question for policy makers and analysts attempting to understand a dangerous terrorist phenomenon and how it may evolve in Afghanistan. During the anti-Soviet jihad, narratives were woven of men and women marching through the mountains of Nuristan to “offer their blood for the Islamic revolution like red tulips at springtime.” But today, women are wholly absent from the Taliban and their jihad in Afghanistan. This article analyzes, in particular, the absence of women in Taliban martyrdom operations. There are three primary findings from this study that explain the low propensity for female suicide bombers in Afghanistan. First, a permissive social and geographic environment in Afghanistan gives insurgents freedom of mobility and a resistance capacity characterized by a reduced necessity for female suicide bombers; second, the capacity of a fiercely conservative culture restricts female participation in both Afghan society and within insurgent organizations; and third, the pronounced absence of a female culture of martyrdom limits women from participation in insurgent actions and narratives.     

‘She's Like a Daughter to Me’: Insights into Care,Work and Kinship from Rural Russia

This article draws on ethnographic research into a state-funded homecare service in rural Russia. The article discusses intersections between care, work and kinship in the relationships between homecare workers and their elderly wards and explores the ways in which references to kinship, as a means of authenticating paid care and explaining its emotional content, reinforce public and private oppositions while doing little to relieve the tensions and conflicts of care work. The discussion brings together detailed empirical insights into local ideologies and practices as a way of generating new theoretical perspectives, which will be of relevance beyond the particular context of study.     

“She Thinks She's Like a Man”: Marriage and (De)Constructing Gender Identity in Colonial Buha,Western Tanzania, 1943–1960

La nouvelle orientation de la politique économique au Sénégal vise à accroître les revenus des pauvres et à attaquer la pauvreté là où elle est principalement localisée. La stratégie de réduction de la pauvreté va être mise en oeuvre dans un contexte de libéralisation des échanges commerciaux internationaux notamment dans le secteur agricole. Dans ce contexte, nous avons développé un modèle d’équilibre général calculable micro-simulé multi-ménages permettant d’évaluer l’impact que pourront avoir ces politiques agricoles à l’échelle des ménages, et nous avons établi le lien entre ces réformes économiques, la pauvreté et la distribution de revenu. Ce modèle offre beaucoup de flexibilité en permettant notamment de modifier la distribution des groupes cibles qui ne méritent pas d’être retenus avant l’exercice de simulation afin d’effectuer l’analyse de pauvreté et d’inégalité ex post à l‘exercice de modélisation. Nous avons également comparé les effets, en terme d’analyse de pauvreté et d’inégalité, entre une distribution paramétrique et une distribution empirique, et montré que ce choix engendrait des différences significatives quant aux effets sur la pauvreté. Les impacts sur la pauvreté sont assez importants, ce qui montre que cette approche offre un outil riche permettant d’évaluer l’impact de politiques économiques ou chocs externes sur la pauvreté et la distribution de revenu. De plus, nos résultats d’analyse de pauvreté suite à une augmentation du prix des biens agricoles sont contraires à d’autres applications à différents pays sur le même thème.