GLD in the MENA
Status:
Ongoing
Date:
2019-2021
Overview:
The Governance and Local Development in the Middle East and North Africa (GLD in the MENA) project aims to create a better understanding of local governance in the MENA region. It brings together scholars from Europe, the MENA region, and the United States to explore a diverse set of issues including service provision, conflict resolution, and environmental issues. It will further explore how authority and governance procedures vary across space and time within the same region. At a time when the discourse on the region focuses on national and international forces affecting refugee crises and terrorism, it reminds us that individuals ‘live locally’ and of the substantial subnational governance variations. The collaborators employ a wide range of methodological and theoretical approaches and examine a diverse set of cases.
The GLD in the MENA project will ultimately result in an edited volume, exploring subjects such as comparative decentralization, state-building and power, gender, service provision and social cohesion in the MENA. Due to Covid-19, the planned in-person workshops were not held and were instead replaced with a weekly seminar series from September-December, addressing one chapter per week.
Collaborators on the volume are; Christina Parreira (Harvard University); Steven Brooke with Monica Komer (University of Wisconsin, Madison); Aytug Sasmaz (Harvard University) with Julia Clark (World Bank) and Alexandra Blackman (NYU Abu Dhabi); Prisca Jöst (University of Gothenburg); Marika Sosnowski (University of Melbourne), Intissar Kherigi (Jasmine Foundation); Ahmed Al Mukheini (Independent Researcher – Oman); Kristen Kao (GLD, University of Gothenburg) with Salma Mousa (Stanford University) and Ala’ Arababa’h (Stanford University); Marwa Shalaby (University of Wisconsin, Madison) with Carolyn Barnett (Princeton University); Lindsay Benstead (Portland State University); Matt Buehler (University of Tennessee); Sylvia Bergh (International Institute of Social Sciences) with Francesco Colin (Erasmus University). The volume is co-edited by Professor Ellen Lust and Senior Researcher Kristen Kao.
Podcasts:
Publications:
Brooke, Steven and Monica C. Komer. (2021). How Gender and Local State Capacity Shape Citizens’ Use of the Mosque. The Program on Governance and Local Development Working Paper No. 37, University of Gothenburg, Available At: http://gld.gu.se/media/2025/gld-working-paper-37.pdf
Kherigi, Intissar. (2021). "Municipal Boundaries and the Politics of Space in Tunisia," The Program on Governance and Local Development Working Paper No. 38, University of Gothenburg, Available At: http://gld.gu.se/media/2032/gld-working-paper-38.pdf
Workshops and Seminars:
- Middle East and North Africa Workshop, Sarajevo, August 7-9, 2019
- Fall 2020 Weekly Seminar Series for the GLD in the MENA Edited Volume, September to December, 2020
Presentations:
Lindsay Benstead, “Gendered Pathways of Local Governance Engagement in Algeria,” Fall 2020 Weekly Seminar Series for the GLD in the MENA Edited Volume, 22 September.
Prisca Jöst, “The Translation of Social Norms into Civic Action Among the Poor in Tunisia,” Fall 2020 Weekly Seminar Series for the GLD in the MENA Edited Volume, 29 September.
Marika Sosnowski, “Outposts of the State: Local Governance in War And Peacetime in Syria’s South,” Fall 2020 Weekly Seminar Series for the GLD in the MENA Edited Volume, 6 October.
Intissar Kherigi, “Territory, Identity and Local Governance in Tunisia: How Do Changes to Municipal Boundaries Shape Conflicts within and between Municipalities?” Fall 2020 Weekly Seminar Series for the GLD in the MENA Edited Volume, 13 October.
Marwa Shalaby and Carolyn Burnett, “Decentralization and Women’s Political Inclusion in Morocco,” Fall 2020 Weekly Seminar Series for the GLD in the MENA Edited Volume, 20 October.
Kristen Kao, Salma Mousa, and Ala’ Arababa’h, “Building Bridges? Intergroup Contact, Power Status, and Coexistence in Jordan,” Fall 2020 Weekly Seminar Series for the GLD in the MENA Edited Volume, 27 October.
Sylvia I. Bergh and Francesco Colin, “Citizen Petitions to Moroccan Municipalities: A Case of Asymmetrical Inclusion?” Fall 2020 Weekly Seminar Series for the GLD in the MENA Edited Volume, 3 November.
Christiana Parreira, “Local Elections and Public Goods Provision Under Party Cartel Rule: Evidence from Lebanon’s Municipalities,” Fall 2020 Weekly Seminar Series for the GLD in the MENA Edited Volume, 10 November.
Steven Brooke and Monica Komer, “Local Variation in Mosque-based Governance: Evidence From Tunisia,” Fall 2020 Weekly Seminar Series for the GLD in the MENA Edited Volume, 17 November.
Aytug Sasmaz, Julia Clark, and Alexandra Blackman, “Local Political Priorities during Tunisia’s First Democratic Municipal Elections,” Fall 2020 Weekly Seminar Series for the GLD in the MENA Edited Volume, 24 November.
Ahmed Al Mukheini, “How Prerogatives of Local Governments Shift over Time, State Building and Local Authority in Oman,” Fall 2020 Weekly Seminar Series for the GLD in the MENA Edited Volume, 8 December.
Matt Buehler, “Beards, Mustaches, and Power: The Traits of Masculine Leadership in the Middle East, Fall 2020 Weekly Seminar Series for the GLD in the MENA Edited Volume, 15 December.
Funders:
