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Conceptualizing domestic orders in the Middle East

New MENARA Horizon 2020 concept paper

In a new concept paper published under the Horizon 2020 project, Middle East and North Africa Regional Architecture (MENARA), Senior Researcher at DIIS, Rasmus Alenius Boserup, provides an overview of the recent transformation of domestic orders in the MENA region and suggest pathways for studying and the emerging domestic power balances. In the text Boserup draws on insights into the process of domestic order-making in the region generated within four distinct scholarly traditions: studies of the formation and development of post-colonial states; studies of the emergence, transformation and endurance of authoritarian regimes; studies of the emergence and transformation of contentious political movements and groups; and studies of the composition and development of political and social identities in the region. Taking stock of the major empirical trends in the region since 2011, the text then argues that attempts to grasp the current transformation of domestic order in the region should pay particular attention to four specific dynamics emerging within each of these scholarly areas of interest: the erosion of state capacities; the securitization of regime politics; the militarization of contentious politics; and the pluralization of collective identities.

The concept paper has been published as a part Lecha et. El. (eds.): “MENARA Methodology and Concept Papers: Re-Conceptualizing Orders in the MENA-Region” and forms part of the activities under the Middle East and North African Regional Architecture (MENARA) funded by EU’s Horizon 2020 program. During 2017 and 2018, DIIS Senior Researcher Rasmus Alenius Boserup coordinates the research activities focusing on domestic orders under the program

Conceptualizing Domestic Orders in the Middle East
Domestic Orders
Re-conceptualizing Orders in the MENA Region , Eduard Soler i Lecher: : Barcelona Center for International Affairs - CIDOB, 2016