» SEE ALL ISSUES » Vol.10, n.2 (November 2019-April 2020)

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO USE REGIONAL LENSES WHEN WE LOOK INTO CIVIL CONFLICTS IN THE MENA?

PhD in Economics, School of Economics and Management, University of Minho (Portugal). He was Visiting Researcher in the Department of Political and Economic Studies, University of Helsinki. Expert of Social Capital Rebuilding in Syria, Training and Research Institute of Romania. Senior Researcher of Poverty and Inequality in a UNDP project of Establishing the National Social Welfare Fund in Syria, United Natons Development Programme Projects, Damascus, Syria. External Consultant of set the Food Security Strategy of Syria, Natonal Agricultural Policy Center, Syria. He got a Congratulation Notification approved unanimously from the Portuguese Parliament since he was the firts Syrian students obtaining PhD from Portugal. He has voluntary work experience.

PDF HTML

Resumo

Investigating different political and social variables in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is receiving more attention between social scientists, particularly in the peace and conflict institutes. This is due to the uniqueness of the region and to the violent conflicts it has witnessed for the last decades. These conflicts become intrastate but transitional, hence transfer into internationalized civil conflicts, and have large externalities exceeding the region borders. These conflicts show the high connectedness between the MENA countries, and recently the Arab Spring affirms the ‘contagion effect’ of upheavals in the region. Following multidisciplinary approach, this research note is a try to explain how much important it is to study the MENA conflicts from a regional perspective and to present the factors proving the contagion effects there. We hope that when reading this note, the reader will sufficiently understand the regional aspects of the MENA conflicts.

Investigar as diferentes variáveis políticas e sociais no Médio Oriente e Norte da África (MENA) está a ser alvo de mais atenção por parte dos cientistas sociais, particularmente nos institutos de paz e conflito. Isto deve-se à singularidade da região e aos violentos conflitos que testemunhou nas últimas décadas. Esses conflitos tornam-se interestatais, mas transitórios, daí a sua transferência para conflitos civis internacionais com grandes externalidades que extravasam as fronteiras da região. Esses conflitos mostram a elevada ligação entre os países MENA e, recentemente, a Primavera Árabe demonstrou o 'efeito contágio' das revoltas na região. Seguindo uma abordagem multidisciplinar, esta nota de investigação é uma tentativa de explicar a importância do estudo dos conflitos MENA a partir de uma perspetiva regional e apresentar os fatores que comprovam os efeitos do contágio. Esperamos que, ao ler esta nota, o leitor entenda suficientemente os aspetos regionais dos conflitos MENA.

Palavras-chave

Civil ConflictsContagion EffectMENA

conflitos civisefeito de contágioMENA

Como citar este artigo

Hamati, Samer (2019). “Why is it important to use regional lenses when we look into civil conflicts in the MENA”. JANUS.NET e-journal of International Relations, Vol. 10, N.º 2, November 2019-April 2020. Consulted [online] on the date of the last visit, https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-7251.10.2.6

Article received on 2 June, 2019 and accepted for publication on 18 September, 2019