Vol. 11, Iss. 2, 2017

Complete issue as PDF

Behind the Screen: the Syrian Virtual Resistance

10 Nov 2017

Behind the Screen: the Syrian Virtual Resistance
Billie Jeanne Brownlee Article Six years have gone by since the political upheaval that swept through many Middle East and North African (MENA) countries begun. Syria was caught in the grip of this revolutionary moment, one that drove the country from a peaceful popular mobilisation to a deadly fratricide civil war with no apparent way out. This paper provides an alternative approach to the study of the root causes…

Article

Big Data in the MENA Region: The Next Path towards Socio-economic and Cultural Development

10 Nov 2017

Big Data in the MENA Region: The Next Path towards Socio-economic and Cultural Development
Ilhem Allagui, Mohammad Ayish Article As elsewhere, big data is perceived as central to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) nations’ socio-economic and cultural development. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, by virtue of its advanced information technology infrastructure, relevant knowledge economy policies and flexible free government and market orientations, stands at the forefront of MENA’s big data integration. This article discusses selected sectors in the GCC region that…

Article

Transnational Religious Practices on Facebook

10 Nov 2017

Transnational Religious Practices on Facebook
Seyedeh Behnaz Hosseini Comment Access to cyberspace by Yezidi populations has given this group a platform for rebuilding their religious identity, which, in turn, has enabled them to challenge existing geographic, political and cultural constraints in Iraq. The Yezidi in Iraq have to live with the threat of discrimination and even violence. On the Internet, self-identification as Yezidi is done much more freely. The rise of the Yezidi in…

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