Abstract In Lebanon, sports have been heavily linked to politics and religion. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of politics on Lebanese sports in the two most prominent sports fields, football and basketball, using the Spiral of Silence and the Two-Step theories investigated through a mixed …
Read More »Regional Media Debate the Strength of American Democracy
For a region that has had to deal with the aftermath of decades of U.S. intervention, occupation and punishing sanctions under the banner of democracy and human rights, the live pictures of American pro-Trump rioters storming the U.S. Capitol were nothing short of astounding. Public ridicule and scorn came fast …
Read More »Rami Khouri on Lebanon’s Outlook and What Has Happened to the Country’s Media
On October 17, 2019, protests began in Lebanon with angry and largely disenfranchised citizens calling for a complete overhaul of the country’s unique political system. In the year that has followed, Lebanon has suffered through one disaster after another, with seemingly unending political shifting. On October 22, 2020, former Prime …
Read More »Digitalism, Capitalism, and Contemporary Transformations in Academic Work: An Evaluative Study of Risks and Opportunities (Arabic)
Scroll down for the Arabic abstract. Modern universities have always been an embedded part of capitalism in political, economic, and cultural terms. Situated in this economic and political context, this study's overall task was to analyze and evaluate the critical literature reviews that have examined the complicated relationship among higher …
Read More »Analyzing Journalist Perceptions of Democracy and State Corruption: The Case of Iraq
Abstract The aim of this paper is to explore Iraqi journalists' perceptions of state corruption and democracy in order to deepen the understanding of the journalist’s role in democratic participation. Survey interviews were conducted ona sample of Iraqi journalists, using the theory of participatory democracy to design the instrument. The …
Read More »The Development of British Public Diplomacy in the Arab World
Abstract This paper attempts to map the major changes and developments of British public diplomacy in the Arab world. I argue here that the BBC and the British Council have greatly assisted British public diplomacy efforts and can be regarded as effective because exerting influence in an indirect way can …
Read More »Precedented History: Arab Media Coverage of the Israeli – UAE – Bahrain Normalization Agreement
On September 16, 2020, U.S. president Donald Trump hosted the signing ceremony for the tripartite diplomatic normalization agreement, known as the Abraham Accords, between the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Israel at the White House. The UAE is the third Arab country to declare normalization with Israel after Egypt …
Read More »Hagia Sophia: An Analytical Overview of Religious and Media Argumentation (Arabic)
Scroll down for the Arabic abstract. Turkey’s Council of State, the highest Turkish administrative court, handed down its decision on July 10, 2020 regarding Hagia Sophia. The council reversed the monument’s status from a museum back into a mosque as from July 24, sparking heated debates between those in favor …
Read More »Islam and Saudi Foreign Policy
The following is an excerpt from Andrew Hammond's chapter "Producing Salafism: From Invented Tradition to State Agitprop" in the volume Salman's Legacy, edited by Madawi Al-Rasheed and published by Hurst (2018). Saudi foreign policy did not begin to play with Islamic themes until the 1960s. Wary of any scheme of meaningful …
Read More »Shining New Light on the Palestinian Cause: The Unintended Consequences of Trump’s Jerusalem Declaration
A few days before U.S. President Donald Trump declared that America would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a number of Arab heads of state—including the leaders of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Palestinian Authority (not yet a state but one in the making since Oslo)—were informed that Trump …
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