Everything you could ever possibly want to know about religious broadcasting in the Middle East from the Cambridge Arab Media Project:
Since the mid-1990s, the influence of satellite television broadcasting
in the Middle East has become central to the shaping of public attitudes
in the region and beyond. The number of channels has grown rapidly in
less than twenty years from none to almost five hundred today. While
many of the most influential mainstream satellite channels are news focused, entertainment and religious broadcasting are also significant.
The aim of this conference was to focus on religious broadcasting –
Islamic, Jewish and Christian – in the Middle East in order to gain an
understanding of the channels’ different discourses, as well as the wider
factors and structures which sustain them.
Since the mid-1990s, the influence of satellite television broadcasting
in the Middle East has become central to the shaping of public attitudes
in the region and beyond. The number of channels has grown rapidly in
less than twenty years from none to almost five hundred today. While
many of the most influential mainstream satellite channels are news focused, entertainment and religious broadcasting are also significant.
The aim of this conference was to focus on religious broadcasting –
Islamic, Jewish and Christian – in the Middle East in order to gain an
understanding of the channels’ different discourses, as well as the wider
factors and structures which sustain them.
Add Comment
Freedom or Hegemony? Neocons, take your pick 06/06/2010
Well, I'd like to have my cake and eat it too...
Remember Bush’s idea that the lack of democracy in the Middle East caused hatred of America/terrorism by suppressing discontent? Well, for this to work in reverse, democratizing Middle Eastern autocracies should be expected to change policies. And right now, most Middle Eastern autocracies have pretty favorable policies vis-à-vis America (and Israel) relative to the Arab street. Greg Scoblete made this point a few months ago:
…the idea that democratic participation would actually give aggrieved citizens some relief seems to imply that a democratic government would actually have to address and ameliorate those grievances. In such a context, it wouldn't be unreasonable to conclude that the advance of democracy in the Middle East could mean empowering governments that take a decidedly colder attitude toward America (and Israel).
Click "Read More" to Continue----------->
…the idea that democratic participation would actually give aggrieved citizens some relief seems to imply that a democratic government would actually have to address and ameliorate those grievances. In such a context, it wouldn't be unreasonable to conclude that the advance of democracy in the Middle East could mean empowering governments that take a decidedly colder attitude toward America (and Israel).
Click "Read More" to Continue----------->
Expert Isn't an Exaggeration 05/11/2010
"Middle Eastern studies suffered, in his view, from three faults. One was “mappism”. Behind handy diplomatic counters marked on maps “Iran”, “Iraq” or “Saudi Arabia” he saw poorly understood societies that were complex and shifting. He had no patience, secondly, with efforts, particularly in the United States, to illuminate the region from the armchair with mathematical models and theorising (“all this meta-stuff”). He thought, thirdly, that the cold war had led everyone, Middle Easterners included, to exaggerate the influence of outsiders. The region’s problems, he insisted, lay in the region more than in Moscow, Washington or the colonial past."
The Economist on Middle East expert Fred Halliday who died two weeks ago at age 64. Read the full eulogy here.
The Economist on Middle East expert Fred Halliday who died two weeks ago at age 64. Read the full eulogy here.
Read This: March 31, 2010 03/31/2010
Mingechevir, Azerbaijan
Nabucco: The Forgotten Pipeline (RFE/RL)
Nabucco, which aims to bring some 31 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Caspian and Middle Eastern natural gas to Southern and Central Europe, has long been seen as an opportunity for the EU to break a dangerous dependence on Russian gas and pipelines.
The project has stumbled so frequently on funding and supply issues that some have dismissed it as unfeasible. But it now appears on track to meet its target date for first deliveries in 2014.
The Road Behind and the Road Ahead for the Umma (Wilson Quarterly)
Since Sadat’s demise, the Arab world has struggled to find its ideological bearings. The old secular leftist ideologies of Arab nationalism, Arab socialism, and pan-Arabism are rarely mentioned anymore. Their last two standard-bearers, Hafez al-Assad of Syria and Saddam Hussein of Iraq, proved unequal to the task of leading the Arab world and were discredited, along with the “isms” they represented. Assad, who ruled for 29 years, was able to extend his influence no farther than neighboring Lebanon. Hussein came to power in 1979 and was an international pariah after 1990, when he invaded Kuwait, a brother Arab country.
Read more after the jump ---->
Nabucco, which aims to bring some 31 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Caspian and Middle Eastern natural gas to Southern and Central Europe, has long been seen as an opportunity for the EU to break a dangerous dependence on Russian gas and pipelines.
The project has stumbled so frequently on funding and supply issues that some have dismissed it as unfeasible. But it now appears on track to meet its target date for first deliveries in 2014.
The Road Behind and the Road Ahead for the Umma (Wilson Quarterly)
Since Sadat’s demise, the Arab world has struggled to find its ideological bearings. The old secular leftist ideologies of Arab nationalism, Arab socialism, and pan-Arabism are rarely mentioned anymore. Their last two standard-bearers, Hafez al-Assad of Syria and Saddam Hussein of Iraq, proved unequal to the task of leading the Arab world and were discredited, along with the “isms” they represented. Assad, who ruled for 29 years, was able to extend his influence no farther than neighboring Lebanon. Hussein came to power in 1979 and was an international pariah after 1990, when he invaded Kuwait, a brother Arab country.
Read more after the jump ---->
Loading
