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Mercantilism presents itself as an explicit model of economic nationalism. Since its early application to the new protectionism, economic nationalism has theorized that economic activities must be subject to the maximization of the power of the state. This article aims to explain economic nationalism and track the evolution of its application, primarily to analyse its viability as a theory in the midst of economic globalization which threatens to bring about the de facto end of the state's interventionist economic system in a borderless world. As the article refutes the premise that globalization and nationalism are two sides of the same coin, national economies continue to be driven by disguised new forms of economic nationalism.

The study takes up the topic of the evolution of Hamas' military action from the foundation of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades between 1987 and 1992, the movement's military wing, and beyond, drawing upon memoirs and testimonies of the movement's political and military leaders in Palestine and on available data regarding military confrontations with the Israeli occupation. The study starts from the assumption that the evolution of Hamas's military action as an active "agent" in the region differs across the different stages of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the one hand, and with the development of the movement's political thought and relations with regional and international systems on the other. These stages have been formational of the movement's variable identity, one that has led it to defining its regional interest and role on the basis of military strength. It transformed into a "semi-classical" army in Gaza specifically, after having been a movement of modestly equipped and armed groupings, as it continues to be to this day in the West Bank. This study attempts to monitor this evolution across the successive confrontations with the Israeli occupation in the wars of 2008, 2012 and 2014.

This study examines the features of the political reconciliation in Sudan following the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir's rule. It analyses the interim constitutional declaration in terms of content, outcome, context, and the forces involved in writing it. The study argues that the success of a consensus-based transition depends on the ability of elites to overcome a number of challenges, the most important of which are establishing peace, strengthening the alliance between coalition forces, overcoming the economic impasse, and managing public expectations. The study traces the most prominent milestones of the negotiations from the announcement of al-Bashir's dismissal in April 2019, until the declaration was signed in August 2019. Then, it proceeds to analyse the most important bands of the document, and the institutions that have implemented these, and assesses the extent of the declaration's ability to facilitate the democratic transition.

The study presents the problems of structural politicization in political studies, and the danger of methodological debates transforming into political confrontations, a situation that has been repeated in the ongoing debate between the advocates and opponents of secularism. The study demonstrated that the necessity of the political dimension, and/or the political dependencies of every "scientific" approach to politics does not necessarily mean acceptance of unrestricted politicization. It is possible to acknowledge the political content of treatment without slipping into politicization. From this standpoint, criticism of underlying or structural politicization, as in Edward Said's criticism of Orientalism and Western Centralism, cannot be compared to the way that Israel's supporters crudely politicize US Middle East studies in their battle to hold it hostage to the interests of Israel and the extreme right. In the same vein, the study critically addresses the opinion that "area studies" in political science is marked by theoretical poverty and academic inferiority. The study itself leans towards the opinion that so called "theoretical studies" are in fact "area studies" that take western countries as the testing ground for political experiences and seek to generalize the results in the form of "theories" that enjoy universal validity.

This study examines the impact of securitization on the democratization of three countries in the in the Horn of Africa: Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan. The three countries, all members of the Arab League, represent diverse but integrated securitization models. The study assumes that securitization in the region has left democratic transformation low in the list of priorities for the major powers, at a time when counterterrorism rhetoric is overwhelming. The paper raises the following questions: Why has securitization discourse overpowered talk of democracy in the Horn of Africa? How do the mechanisms of the securitization discourse interact with political reality? What is the role of regional institutions in enhancing securitization discourse?

The conflict over demography and geography is at the heart of the Palestinian-Zionist conflict. During the last century, there have been shifts in the state of Palestinian and Israeli demography, which have brought about geopolitical changes, swings in power relations and the distribution and control of resources between them. The study deals with the concept of demographobia and projections for Jerusalem, in order to deduce the state of the Palestinian-Zionist conflict. The study presents the demographic reality in Jerusalem and analyzes it according to national, ethnic, cultural, religious and geopolitical affiliations. The paper discusses the relationship between demographics, geography, and democracy, and how they are utilized in spatial planning and resource control. The paper also seeks to forecast the future outlook and discuss its consequences by monitoring and critically analyzing quantitative data collected from Palestinian and Israeli sources.

The seventh Annual Conference on Democratic Transition focusing on External Factors and the post-2011 Democratic Transition in the Arab Region. The conference, which is being held by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies on 21-22 September 2018, examines the nature of regional and international roles and their impact on the transition to democracy in the Arab countries following the revolutions of 2011.

This research addresses the problem of government turnovers in Palestine between 1994 and 2016 and the impact on public policy sustainability. The thesis of the research is that government turnovers (changing ministers repeatedly) disturb the capability of top management professionals to formulate and implement sustainable public policy that can make positive impact on generations. The research adapted a qualitative methodology through selecting all 18 ministries that had eight turnovers or more between 1994-2016 as case studies, some had 17 turnovers. More than 35 deep interviews with three levels of management in the selected ministries where conducted. The researcher also interviewed former prime ministries and a sample of ministers who were in positions for three terms or more. Questions of this category focused on the impact of politics on government turnovers and public policy in regard. Major findings of the research include the way in which governments are selected (the consensus tradition of selecting governments) and the absence of the Palestinian Legislative Council encouraged ministers to ignore law and politicize public service sector.

This report highlights some of the major milestones of the Arab democratic transition. The countries covered include Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

This report highlights some of the major milestones of the Arab democratic transition. The countries covered include Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.