We are delighted to present the Spring 2020 of the APSA MENA POLITICS SECTION NEWSLETTER. The MENA Politics Section continues to thrive in the second year since its creation, with a rapidly growing membership, a popular Twitter feed (@apsamena), a diverse array of panels at the APSA Annual Meeting, three Section Awards to be announced, and a robust set of programming to support Section members, such as the annual MENA Junior Scholars Research Workshop. We look forward to continuing to grow and evolve over the coming year, despite the challenges posed by the COVID- 19 pandemic.
This issue of the Newsletter features a fascinating glimpse at publication trends for Middle East research in top Political Science journals, and three special sections, each with its own guest editor. The first special section, organized and edited by Lisel Hintz, examines the intersection between domestic politics and foreign policy in Turkey. The second special section, organized and edited by Nadav Shelef, looks at the state of democracy in Israel. Finally, the third special section, organized and edited by me, presents papers from a workshop on Islamist movements at war.
We hope you enjoy the research and analysis presented in this edition of the MENA Politics Newsletter. We look forward to featuring a major symposium on Gender and Politics in the Middle East and North Africa in a coming issue, and welcome your suggestions and proposals for special sections in future issues. Over the coming year, the Section will elect new officers, rotate the Newsletter Editorial Board, and search for a new Newsletter Editor. We plan to continue to innovate with new ways to reach out to and support Section members grappling with the global pandemic and escalating challenges to academic research in the field.
Marc Lynch
Chair of the MENA Politics Section and Newsletter Editor
Prerna BalaEddy
Newsletter Assistant Editor
WELCOME MESSAGES
Message from the Section Chair and Editor, Marc Lynch
Note from APSA, Ahmed Morsy and Andrew Stinson
THE FIELD
The Middle East in Political Science Journals, Melani Cammett and Isabel Kendall
TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY
Understanding Turkey’s Increasingly Militaristic Foreign Policy, Sinem Adar
Turkey’s Phantom Coalition: The AKP-MHP Partnership and Turkish Foreign Policy, Sibel Oktay
Strategic Ambiguity: Explaining Foreign Policy Under the Erdogan Presidency, Ferhat Zabun
ISRAELI POLITICS
It’s Us or Them: Partisan Polarization in Israel and Beyond, Lotem Bassan-Nygate and Chagai M. Weiss
Religious Authority and Political Instability in Israel, Michael Freedman
The Decline of Democracy in Israel’s Sovereignty Discourse, Meirav Jones and Lihi Ben Shitrit
How Many is One Too Many? Israeli Elections 2018-2020, Tamar Hermann
ISLAMIST MOVEMENTS AT WAR
War, Displacement, and the Islamist Advantage, Steven Brooke
Islamism in Civil War, Nicholas J. Lotito
Islamist Radicalization and Civil War, Elizabeth R. Nugent