Brand

Status:

Ongoing (2019-2022) 

 

Background

Regional-level discourse has tended to focus on national and international forces affecting the refugee crises and terrorism, but individuals that 'live locally' can not be forgotten. This project aims to deepen our understanding of local governance in the MENA region. Scholars from Europe, the MENA region, and the US have employed a wide range of methodological and theoretical approaches and examined a diverse set of cases to better understand subnational governance in the MENA region.   

 

Book Project

This project will culminate in an edited volume that will explore comparative decentralization, state-building and power, gender, service provision, and social cohesion at the local level around the MENA region. 

 

 

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

Barnett, Carolyn; Shalaby, Marwa. (2021). "Success Beyond Gender Quotas: Gender, Local Politics, and Clientelism in Morocco" The Program on Governance and Local Development Working Paper No. 48, University of Gothenburg. Available At: http://gld.gu.se/media/2303/gld-working-paper48.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

 

     

Collaborators

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); Marika Sosnowski (University of Melbourne), Intissar Kherigi (Jasmine Foundation); Kristen Kao (University of Gothenburg); 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.

 

 

   

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

      

    

Acknowledgment


This project is supported by the Governance and Local Development in the Middle East and North Africa (Hicham Alaoui Foundation), PIs: Ellen Lust and Kristen Kao.