48x36 poster template

1
Repression/Dissent Nexus in the Middle East
Historical Influences and Current Trends
Exploring Dissent and Repression in the Middle
East Student Summer Workshop, Mershon Center
Project Background
Students at work
University of Kansas Center for International
Political Analysis
This project examines the interaction between
dissent and repression in the Middle East to
advance understanding of the prospects for
democratization and globalization there. It
focuses on several important nations -- Egypt,
Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, and Turkey --
during the 1990s, a particularly contentious
decade. These locations make it possible to
examine the process of transformational change
and the implications of cultural variation for
conflict. Research goals of the project
include (1) the development of research models
that include dynamic and interactive processes in
sociopolitical systems affected by extensive and
often violent dissent and repression (2) the
creation of a database that integrates data from
both qualitative and quantitative sources (3)
interdisciplinary and international partnerships
involvin16 g senior and junior faculty (4)
professional training of and collaborative work
with graduate and undergraduate students (5)
demonstration of the power of interdisciplinary,
multi-method social science research.
Recent Papers
Pitfalls on the Road to Brussels Article 301 and
the Politics of EU Accession in Turkey The
political climate in Turkey has changed as Turkey
has tried to gain full membership in the
European Union. Two conflicting factions have
taken shape. Establishment "Kemalist" laicists
reflect Turkey's French-style radical secularism
which comes clothed in a militarist
authoritarianism whose influence permeates
administrative, judicial, and educational
institutions. Islamists advocate a US-style
secularism based on religious freedom, and favor
Turkish accession to the EU because necessary
adjustments in Turkish law would lift
restrictions on the practices of observant
Muslims. This paper examines one prominent
battleground in this war for Turkey's political
soul the strategic use of Article 301 of the
Turkish Penal Code, which forbids citizens to
"insult Turkishness" or any of the key
institutions of the laicist establishment. The
hypothesis of this study is that 301 cases are
intended not simply as harassment of domestic
political adversaries the power of Turkey's
traditional elites. PAPER AUTHORS Elizabeth
Johnson and Mary Ann Tétreault, Trinity University
Patterns of Dissent and Repression

• The importance of rentier status, both oil and
  foreign aid, that creates internationally
  dependent states
• The size and out-migration of Palestinian and
  Kurdish populations creating highly mobilized
  diaspora communities
• The significance of the 1990-1991 Gulf War, which
  transformed political opportunities and
  transnational networks among activists
• The central role of technological and social
  networks that accompany globalization

Religious Restriction and Contentious Politics in
the Middle East This paper aims to increase our
understanding of governmental restrictions on the
practice of religion by majority and minority
religious groups in the Middle East from
1990-2002. We utilize data from the Religion and
State project (Fox, 2004) to examine breadth and
severity of religious restrictions across newly
created sub-categories that measure the types of
restrictions placed on religious groups. We also
examine the change in governmental policies
towards religion. We begin analysis by looking
at overall patterns of restrictions in the Middle
East region, and then limit our sample to
countries that experienced a change in religious
restrictions during our twelve year period. For
further analysis, we again limit our sample to
four Middle East territories, Egypt, Israel,
Kuwait and Turkey, which represent a wide range
of political, cultural and religious contexts for
analysis. We analyze this sub-sample in order to
demonstrate patterns of correspondence between
religious restrictions and contentious politics.
Preliminary analyses show that the Middle East
region has religious restrictions across multiple
categories and that governments have tightened
the strings on religious groups from 1990-2002.
The smaller sub-sample demonstrates the possible
interaction of tightening religious restrictions
and increases in contentious politics, showing
the necessary inclusion of religion in
discussions of contentious politics. PAPER
AUTHORS Lauren Pinkus and Katherine Meyer, Ohio
State University
Co-Principal Investigators

• Lead PI (Name, Institution) J. Craig Jenkins,
  Katherine Meyer The Ohio State University
• Co-PIs Phil Schrodt University of Kansas,
  Lawrence, KS Mary Ann Tétreault Trinity
  University, San Antonio, TX Jillian Schwedler,
  Christian Davenport University of Maryland,
  College Park, MD