Hezbollah and the Axis of Refusal: Hamas,Iran and Syria

Hezbollah has acquired a dual and contradictory reputation: as a legitimate political actor in Lebanon and as a terrorist organisation in the USA and Israel. This duality can be explained if we understand that Hezbollah is a nationalist entity that defines itself primarily within the Lebanese polity, as well as an anti-imperialist party intent on countering the regional hegemony of Israel and the USA. Forming alliances with Hamas, Iran and Syria, Hezbollah has become part of a ‘rejectionist’ axis that seeks to oppose perceived imperialism in the Middle East; this stance has become increasingly entrenched in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Characterisations that focus on Hezbollah as a military opponent confirm the organisation's perceived need for a rejectionist stance. International acceptance of Hezbollah as a legitimate political actor within the Lebanese polity, on the other hand, would help to bring the basis of the rejectionist axis into question.     

The European Trips-Plus Model and The Arab World: From Co-Operation to Association— A New Era in the Global IPRS Regime?

The advocation of stronger and higher levels of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) protection has been on the rise in recent years, particularly since the establishment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995. Although its establishment signalled the beginning of a new phase in the protection of IPRs internationally, no more than a decade later, it is seen that such a regime is still undergoing a number of significant changes. In this regard, the rise of bilateralism and the retreat of multilateralism resulted in the so-called ‹TRIPS-Plus’ recipe in which developing countries are increasingly giving way to the demands of the industrialised countries through incorporating higher levels of IPRs protection domestically. Although the USA has often been viewed as the primary advocator and enforcer of the TRIPS-Plus recipe globally, this article shows that in fact the European Union (EU) advocated the TRIPS-Plus recipe long before the USA. Thus, this article discusses the case of the European TRIPS-Plus model with the Arab World as a clear demonstration of such a trend. Developing and Arab countries are now faced with two determined superpowers acting at both the unilateral and bilateral levels to achieve their desired higher standards of IPRs protection worldwide. This will further erode the flexibilities of the TRIPS Agreement, and will entail grave repercussions for both the developing and Arab countries. LLM, PhD, Lecturer in Law, University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), UK. The author may be contacted at mel-said@uclan.ac.uk     

Substituting piracy with a pay-what-you-want option: does it make sense?

Rather than tolerating piracy or increasing sanctions, an artist can release his product directly to consumers by allowing them to download it under a ‘pay-what-you-want’ online strategy. We show analytically that this strategy can (1) be more profitable than a strategy with perfect or imperfect intellectual property rights enforcement for the artist and (2) change the organization and allocation of added value between artists and publishers along the supply chain. This higher profit result is achieved through an increased demand for live performance and positive voluntary contributions of downloaders directly pocketed by the artist. Indeed, a ‘pay-what-you-want’ strategy allows artists to reduce piracy without using sanctions while benefiting from a strategic negotiation ‘weapon’ in the relationship with record labels. Moreover, consumers draw procedural utility from the way the product is delivered. Counter-intuitively, rather than advocating for elimination of conventional releases at posted prices, pay-what-you-want strategies may need them to remain successful. A brief case study of Radiohead’s experiment and anecdotal evidence are developed to support these theoretical insights. Some implications regarding the re-organization of the supply chain and property rights regime are drawn.     

Entrepreneurship and country-level innovation: investigating the role of entrepreneurial opportunities

Since the work of Schumpeter, entrepreneurship has been regarded as a concept that is in close relation to innovation. However, recent country level investigations show that technology innovation and new business creation can be regarded as two separate phenomena. In this paper we provide an explanation for the above contradiction through the distinguishing between two types of entrepreneurship, necessity and opportunity entrepreneurship. Building on opportunity theory and rational choice theory, we investigate the influence of both types of entrepreneurship on country-level innovation, and furthermore, pay particular attention to the interaction between opportunity entrepreneurship and the amount of opportunities available. We find that necessity entrepreneurship is inversely related to country-level innovation, whereas opportunity entrepreneurship is positively linked to technological progress. The positive effect of opportunity entrepreneurship, however, diminishes with an increased amount of entrepreneurial opportunities. This interaction indicates that opportunity availability is an important element of a country’s entrepreneurship environment.     

Comparison of four DNA extraction methods to extract DNA from cigarette butts collected in Lebanon

Cigarette butts collected from crime scenes represent valuable sources of DNA. However the extraction of the genetic material may deem challenging especially when different contaminants may compromise the integrity, quality, and quantity of DNA obtained. This study aims at comparing four extraction methods (Chelex-100, soaking + Chelex-100, Chelex-100?+?PK, and DNA IQ? System) with the intention of identifying the one with maximal recovery rate and profiling success. DNA was extracted using aforementioned four methods from 70 cigarette butts collected from sites across Lebanon. DNA was quantified by qPCR using TaqMan Quantifiler Kit on an Applied Biosystems 7300 SDS instrument and genotypes were obtained using the PowerPlex® 21 kit on an Applied Biosystems 3130 Genetic Analyser. The findings of this work showed that DNA extraction with Chelex-100?+?PK is preferred to the other three methods when seeking both, a high yield and the generation of maximal numbers of full profiles. The Chelex-100?+?PK method is simple, cost effective, and therefore suitable for routine cigarette butts case studies.     

Muslim Diaspora in Western Europe: The Islamic Headscarf ( Hijab ), the Media and Muslims' Integration in France

The hijab , an Arabic word that is related to Islamic proper dressing, has become a buzzword in contemporary French popular discourse. In the Islamic tradition, both men and women are required to dress modestly. Women traditionally cover their hair, a practice called hijab. This hijab (Islamic scarf) seems to have created a controversy in France in recent years, and the French media have exploited the matter even further. Even scholars seem to have abstracted the cultural/ religious symbol from its proper context. The controversy of the hijab in France therefore has actually revealed more about the character of the French society/ mentality than about the Muslim community. I intend to use the controversy over the hijab to question and challenge the conventional reading of the integration of the Muslim Maghrebin people into secular French society. I will explore the concept of integration and the way this integration functioned as a source of privilege as well as a source of discrimination. I will use the debate over the hijab to further investigate the interplay of religion, immigration and citizenship in France.