Arab Media Systems

This volume provides a comparative analysis of media systems in the Arab world, based on criteria informed by the historical, political, social, and economic factors influencing a country’s media. Reaching beyond classical western media system typologies, 'Arab Media Systems' brings together contributions from experts in the field of media in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to provide valuable insights into the heterogeneity of this region’s media systems. It focuses on trends in government stances towards media, media ownership models, technological innovation, and the role of transnational mobility in shaping media structure and practices. Each chapter in the volume traces a specific country’s media – from Lebanon to Morocco – and assesses its media system in terms of historical roots, political and legal frameworks, media economy and ownership patterns, technology and infrastructure, and social factors (including diversity and equality in gender, age, ethnicities, religions, and languages). This book is a welcome contribution to the field of media studies, constituting the only edited collection in recent years to provide a comprehensive and systematic overview of Arab media systems. As such, it will be of great use to students and scholars in media, journalism and communication studies, as well as political scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists with an interest in the MENA region

Arab Media Systems

"This volume provides a comparative analysis of media systems in the Arab world, based on criteria informed by the historical, political, social, and economic factors influencing a country’s media. Reaching beyond classical western media system typologies, Arab Media Systems brings together contributions from experts in the field of media in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to provide valuable insights into the heterogeneity of this region’s media systems. It focuses on trends in government stances towards media, media ownership models, technological innovation, and the role of transnational mobility in shaping media structure and practices. Each chapter in the volume traces a specific country’s media – from Lebanon to Morocco – and assesses its media system in terms of historical roots, political and legal frameworks, media economy and ownership patterns, technology and infrastructure, and social factors (including diversity and equality in gender, age, ethnicities, religions, and languages). This book is a welcome contribution to the field of media studies, constituting the only edited collection in recent years to provide a comprehensive and systematic overview of Arab media systems. As such, it will be of great use to students and scholars in media, journalism and communication studies, as well as political scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists with an interest in the MENA region.

Methods of Repression in Bahrain during the 20th and 21st Century: From the Civil List to Social Media

Despite being afflicted by cyclical bouts of unrest over the past century, repression in Bahrain as a concept has not been the focus of considerable academic attention. This is the first interpretive historical and contemporary study of repression in Bahrain. It addresses the limitations of regime-type analysis and quantitative studies of repression, which tend to focus on the co-variation between repression and demobilization. Using a template analysis, a virtual ethnography and framing theory, this thesis offers a new conceptualisation of repression. Several episodes of contention in Bahrain are analysed, including; tribal resistance to the British reforms of the 1920s, the rise of the Higher Executive Committee in the 1950s, the leftist agitation of the 1970s, the 1990s Intifada, and the 2001 Uprising. Using evidence from multiple sources, including recently released Foreign and Commonwealth Office files, social media, and historical records, this thesis argues that Bahrain's protecting powers have had a marked impact on the severity, nature and type of repression in Bahrain, as well as the structure of the repressive apparatus. While the British mitigated the excesses of Al Khalifa's treatment of political opposition, their declining influence following Independence saw the rise of a Saudi-Al Khalifa dual authority structure that created a new approach to repressive choices. Crucially, Bahrain's protecting powers influenced the nature and type of repression that was applied to political opposition. Yet despite this meta-narrative of outside influence, this research complicates generalisable theories of repression, showing that repressive choices are often contingent on a complex mix of the availability of resources, elite attitudes, strategic objectives of power holders, and the nature of threat. For this reason, the research sheds light on repression in Bahrain, but also highlights the value of conducting case studies and long term studies that allow researchers to compare and contrast the reasons motivating repressive choices. The new conceptualisation also emphasises the rising importance of social media and rhizomatic actors as tools of repression

Silent citizens: state, citizenship and media in the Gulf

This thesis attempts to unravel the essence of the state in the Gulf Arab countries. The study's main argument is that the Gulf Emirates have been able to manipulate the oil wealth and create what appear to be modern states. The Gulf ruling families were confronted, however, with the dilemma of introducing the kind of civil society that accompanies modernity. They have been able to survive and legitimate their dominion by exploiting religion as the state ideology. Traditional patriarchal norms and cultures have been maintained by the ruling tribes in the Gulf. The issue of citizenship and citizens' rights has rarely been debated in regard to the Gulf. However, this is one of the main problems of the contemporary situation in the Gulf states. This study concentrates on this issue by means of a review of the media. The Gulf media have been utilised to promote the modem patriarchal structure of the state. The main body of the thesis examines the media in relation to two main issues: foreign workers in the Gulf and Gulf women. The final chapter of the thesis, however, exposes the fact that Gulf journalists themselves have no rights and that at times of crisis the tenuous autonomy they enjoy withers. A major crisis occurred very recently to reinforce this argument. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990 and the deployment of foreign troops in the Gulf created a further complication for the Gulf ruling families. They were forced to allow foreign - mainly American and British journalists- to cover the war, but they compelled national reporters to use material which was filtered through the foreign press

The Quality of Political Deliberation on Twitter

This thesis explores how Twitter users discuss political issues in Saudi Arabia and how social and religious values impact on the quality of deliberation. Its three case studies are: women’s political participation; the housing shortage in Saudi Arabia; and unlawful use of public property. Based on the analyses of 12,093 tweets and 27 interviews with Twitter users in Saudi Arabia, this thesis argues that public debate is rational, respectful, focused and diverse. Both men and women participate in and exchange a range of attitudes towards government decisions. There is evidence to suggest that Twitter users criticise and challenge officials, clerics and established social values. Based on these findings, this thesis suggests that public deliberation about sensitive issues in Saudi society corresponds with key elements of public deliberation as it is envisioned in Western theories of citizen engagement in the public sphere. Some Twitter users perceive this kind of participation as an act of good citizenship. The analysis of tweets and interviews in this study demonstrate Twitter users’ sense of connectedness towards their society and fellow citizens. On the other hand, the results also confirmed that the quality of political deliberation is impacted on by government censorship, Twitter users’ self-censorship and social and religious values

Houses built on sand

The events of the Arab Uprisings posed an existential challenge to sovereign power across the Middle East. Whilst popular movements resulted in the toppling of authoritarian rule in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, other regimes were able to withstand these pressures. This book questions why some regimes fell whilst others were able to survive. Drawing on the work of political theorists such as Agamben and Arendt, Mabon explores the ways in which sovereign power is contested, resulting in the fragmentation of political projects across the region. Combining an innovative theoretical approach with interviews with people across the region and beyond, Mabon paints a picture of Middle Eastern politics dominated by elites seeking to maintain power and wealth, seemingly at whatever cost. This, for Mabon, is a consequence of the emergence and development of particular visions of political projects that harness or marginalise identities, communities, ideologies and faiths as mechanisms designed to ensure their survival. This book is essential reading for those interested in understanding why the uprisings took place, their geopolitical consequences, and why they are likely to happen again

Regulation of healthcare advertisements: comparing media regulation of the pharmaceutical industry in Kuwait and the GCC

This paper examines the laws and media regulations pertaining to the advertisement of pharmaceutical products in Kuwait and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), comparing them to those of the UK and US. The findings suggest that Kuwaiti and GCC cultural communication styles result in more ambiguous regulations than in the West. Recommendations are made for positive behavioural modifications to promote health and health literacy, with an emphasis on fatalistic attitudes found in the cultural environment of Arab Gulf states

Struggles for Political Change in the Arab World

The advent of the Arab Spring in late 2010 was a hopeful moment for partisans of progressive change throughout the Arab world. Authoritarian leaders who had long stood in the way of meaningful political reform in the countries of the region were either ousted or faced the possibility of political if not physical demise. The downfall of long-standing dictators as they faced off with strong-willed protesters was a clear sign that democratic change was within reach. Throughout the last ten years, however, the Arab world has witnessed authoritarian regimes regaining resilience, pro-democracy movements losing momentum, and struggles between the first and the latter involving regional and international powers. This volume explains how relevant political players in Arab countries among regimes, opposition movements, and external actors have adapted ten years after the onset of the Arab Spring. It includes contributions on Egypt, Morocco, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Algeria, Sudan, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, and Tunisia. It also features studies on the respective roles of the United States, China, Iran, and Turkey vis-à-vis questions of political change and stability in the Arab region, and includes a study analyzing the role of Saudi Arabia and its allies in subverting revolutionary movements in other countries

From Diwaniyyat to Youth Societies: Informal Political Spaces and Contentious Politics in Bahrain and Kuwait.

This thesis investigates the relationship between regime and everyday dynamics of sectarianism, comparing the two Arab Gulf countries of Kuwait and Bahrain. Both case studies are viewed through the central theme of an “informal civil society” and its subsequent impact on sectarian politics in both countries. In Bahrain, the state has forwarded a sectarian narrative of the post-2011 conflict while at the grassroots level, concerted efforts have been made to bridge relations between Sunni and Shia Muslims. In Kuwait, meanwhile, there are indications of a reverse trajectory coming to fruition; while the regime denies a sectarian image of the state, posing as a neutral arbitrator between various political blocs, at the communal level, people across the political and social spectrum are defining themselves through the lens of sectarian identities that have become increasingly salient across several platforms. What is discernable in both countries is the complex and dynamic nature of sectarianism at work, where it is at one and the same time amplified and negated