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The pattern of authoritarianism in Arab states has popularized the view that elections are a mere formality with no real political weight and are thus unworthy of study. Therefore, the field of electoral studies, in Arabic, has not received enough attention, despite being one of the most important thematic branches in contemporary political science. This paper defends the importance of exploring this field in Arabic, and employing approaches advanced by social sciences. It briefly presents the historical development of elections in the region since the 19 th century, which shows that elections are not a political act alien to the region, rather a well-established practice in several Arab contexts, if not always an expression of democratic rule. It introduces questions raised by contemporary Arab elections, which require answers that go beyond the standard descriptive and legal approaches that have dominated research on the matter so far. The presentation demonstrates the potential of structural approaches to provide analytical theoretical frameworks for understanding voter turnout and participation in the Arab context.

This paper seeks to explore the main features of the Israeli apartheid system in Palestine, both in law and practice, since Zionism, as a settler colonial project, began the collective displacement of Palestinians in 1948. This displacement was aimed at maintaining a dominant Jewish majority (the hegemonic nation) controlling Palestine and all key aspects of the newly established Israeli political entity. The paper aims to diagnose the apartheid system targeting Palestinians in Israel, known as the 1948 territories, in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 , and the Palestinian refugees deprived of exercising their legitimate right to return to their homes, thereby denying the Palestinian people their right to self-determination and independence. The paper relies on an analysis of the most prominent studies and reports that have addressed the Israeli apartheid system in Palestine, discussing these in detail. This includes reports from Palestinian, Israeli, and international human rights organizations, as well as key Israeli laws and legislations governing the apartheid system in Palestine, particularly within the 1948 territories.

​​This study examines the redefinition of civil–military relations in Sudan, arguing that the prevailing approach in the country reduces these relations to the issue of military reform and reduces that reform to preventing the army from carrying out a coup, removing it from politics, or restricting its economic activity. The study begins with a critique of Samuel Huntington's traditional theory and presents alternative approaches that advocate integrating the military into society and expanding its roles under civilian control. It also offers a typology of armies based on four models according to their political and economic engagement, applying this framework to the Sudanese army and its transformations since the independence (1955). The study concludes that building a more sustainable relationship requires rethinking the framework that shapes civil–military relations in Sudan. It calls for involving military personnel in formulating national policies and regulating their economic activities through governance in ways that strengthen national security and support the political process.​

This paper aims to examine the economic policies of Israeli governments towards Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 within the framework of settler colonialism. It focuses on their role in promoting and expanding settlements to control the largest possible area of the West Bank since the right-wing's dominance in Israel, with Benjamin Netanyahu's return to the premiership in 2009 until now. The study claims that Israel employs various socio-economic policies tailored to the needs of the settler colonial project, differing from its policies within the Green Line. On one hand, Israeli governments adopt a neoliberal Zionist economic policy within the Green Line, while on the other hand, they adopt a specific socio-economic Zionist policy in the settlements. These specific socio-economic policies in the settlements are an integral part of the tools used to strengthen the settler colonial system in the West Bank.

This study begins by discussing the concept of legitimacy and then examines the patterns of legitimacy in Egypt since 2013. It specifically focuses on the legitimacy of performance within the field of educational policies and its role in the regime's continuity. The study finds that the regime cannot establish its own legitimacy merely by creating an illusion of effective performance. Instead, it can manage legitimacy through several strategies: shaping public expectations by emphasizing the importance of maintaining public order and providing basic goods and services; influencing public perceptions by highlighting achievements while concealing failures and suppressing criticism; and managing citizens' perceptions of alternatives, such as Islamist groups or a descent into chaos, or both. The study also concludes that the regime's objective is not to secure genuine popular support but to ensure general compliance by persuading the majority that it is more effective in improving their lives than any alternative. This level of legitimacy may be sufficient to encourage adherence to laws and discourage efforts to replace the regime.

This study assesses the discipline of International Relations in the Arab World, first by characterizing its current state-of-affairs and considering its challenges, then exploring its transformations. The study is based on a purposive sample of IR professors at Arab universities with faculties or departments teaching political science and IR. To survey the discipline by way of this sample, a three-part questionnaire was devised. The first section explores IR teaching at Arab universities; the second sheds light on the research interests of specialists in the field and their theoretical and practical orientations with regard to the study of international relations ir phenomena; and the third considers Arab academic institutions and knowledge production in the field.

Military interventions in Sudanese politics can be attributed to a number of factors, most pertinently: excessive politicization throughout society, social institutions, trades unions and syndicates as well as educational and religious institutions. In this sense, the Sudanese was not an exception, merely one of many highly politicized institutions. This paper concludes that the three different military coups which took power in Sudan were only able to do so with the aiding and abetting of civilian political forces, such as the National Umma Party, the Islamic Front and an array of leftist forces all—to varying extents—colluded with the military to further their political aims. With the military ranks reflecting wider societal politicization, military coups were effectively an extension of the political process by other means.

This study adopts a comparative approach to investigate the impact of the reciprocal fears of internal and external parties on the stances of key actors during the 2011 transitions. Apparently, the uncertainty that accompanies any democratic elections has not been a local factor in the Arab cases because regional and international forces have an interest in hindering democracy, being a potential threat to the status quo. The study examines four interrelated problems related to external factors. It concludes that the external factors that have hindered democracy in non-Arab cases were not inevitable because addressing them seems to have been related to changes in the international system and the emergence of domestic democratic blocs that are able to exert pressure on external forces and get them to change their positions.

This study examines the emergence of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) in the Arab Gulf countries, focusing on the dynamics that accompanied this development in the 1950 s and 1960 s. Fatah emerged in a Gulf context, through which it was able to establish recruitment networks and build an active Palestinian elite base, utilizing institutional margins, forming a type of negotiated legitimacy that allowed Fatah to expand within Gulf administrative structures and provide social and educational services to Palestinian communities. The study draws on a biographical and archival research to provide an analytical reading of the formation of the Palestinian political space in the Gulf as a foundational ground for the Palestinian liberation project.

This study deals with transnational Shiism and the dynamics of relations between the Shiʿi religious establishment and the post-colonial state in Iraq. It sheds light on two aspects of transnational Shiism. First, the evolution and internal dynamics of religious authority, especially in terms of adapting its transnational domain to the Iraqi national context. The study argues that the relationship between Shiʿi religious establishment and the state was often characterized by tension, as the state sought to consolidate its power within its borders. Yet, after 2003, the nature of relations between the two has significantly changed, leading to new configurations of authority. Second, the increasing polarization between activist transnational Shiism, which is today led by the Iranian state, and Iraq-centric Shiism became a key factor in shaping power relations in post-2003 Iraq.