Té dulce y cigarrillos: el sabor de la vida de refugiado en Jordania

Las restricciones sobre la movilidad, la prohibición de trabajar y el sentimiento de marginación provocan un aburrimiento absoluto que supone sin duda un motivo de sufrimiento entre los refugiados de Jordania

Refugees’ contentious politics and the case of Syrian activists in Jordan

This paper was presented at a workshop on ‘The Long-term Challenges of Forced Migration: Local and Regional Perspectives from Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq’ organised by the LSE Middle East Centre in June 2016. It was published as part of a collected papers volume available in English and Arabic

Western Sahara and Palestine: A Comparative Study of Colonialisms, Occupations, and Nationalisms

Occupation and colonization are terms that evoke an era of empires and great powers. Yet for two peoples, occupation and settler colonialism are not remnants of a time foregone; they remain the reality of everyday life. The Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is a high profile example of modern colonization, whereas the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara draws considerably less attention. This paper seeks to show that these two cases of colonialism over two Arab peoples have much in common. Both originated from colonial fumbling and produced significant refugee populations that would carry the mantle of their liberation movements. Morocco and Israel each maintain their occupations, however, utilizing similar means of control and eluding continual resistance from their occupied populations. International politics has contributed to the protracted nature of the conflicts, in the form of military and moral support from the United States to the occupying powers and, more significantly for Israel, in the United Nations’ bestowal of legitimacy on Zionism as a suitably nationalist project. That, along with the salience of Palestine as an Islamic holy place, has caused the Palestinian-Israeli case to be more prominent than the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara

Going local without localization:Power and humanitarian response in the Syrian war

International aid organizations and donors have committed to localize aid by empowering local actors to deliver and lead in humanitarian response. While international actors do often rely on local actors for aid delivery, their progress on shifting authority falls short. Scholars suggest that while localizing aid may be desirable, the organizational imperatives of international actors and aid’s colonial past and present make it difficult at best. Can localization efforts produce locally led humanitarian response? Adopting a power framework, we argue that localization reinforces and reproduces international power; through institutional processes, localization efforts by international actors allocate capacity to, and constitute local actors as, humanitarians that are more or less capable, funded, and involved in responding to crises in the latter’s own countries. This article interprets aid efforts during the Syria War. In this crucial case, we might expect localization to be “easy” due to the dependence of international actors on local actors because of security concerns and constraints on international access. We draw on fine-grained qualitative data collected through immersive observation and 250 interviews with Syrian and international aid workers in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey, as well as descriptive analysis of quantitative data. We reveal the ways Syrians were constituted as frontline responders, recipients of funds or trainings, risk-takers, gateways to access, and tokenistic representatives of the crisis. Our research shows that while the response seemed to “go local” by relying on the labor and risk-taking of Syrians to implement relief, it did not transfer authority to Syrian actors. Findings contribute to current debates in global development and humanitarian scholarship about who holds power within the global aid architecture

The long-term challenges of forced migration: perspectives from Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq

"The Arab Uprisings of 2011 set events in motion that have vastly changed the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), not only through organised protest and violent conflict, but also through migration and demographic change. The Syrian conflict has forcibly displaced more than 11 million people – half of the country’s population. 6.5 million are internally displaced, while 5 million have crossed the border to find refuge abroad, in neighbouring countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, and elsewhere both regionally and globally. In a workshop held on 17–18 June 2016, the LSE Middle East Centre brought together a diverse group of people (policymakers from host states, representatives from international organisations, academics and NGOs practitioners) to explore the effects of the Syrian refugee emergency on Arab host states such as Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. This volume brings together a set of papers presented at the workshop. It also presents a list of key recommendations relevant for all stakeholders and agreed upon by participants.

Twelve-month observational study of children with cancer in 41 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction Childhood cancer is a leading cause of death. It is unclear whether the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted childhood cancer mortality. In this study, we aimed to establish all-cause mortality rates for childhood cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic and determine the factors associated with mortality. Methods Prospective cohort study in 109 institutions in 41 countries. Inclusion criteria: children <18 years who were newly diagnosed with or undergoing active treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, retinoblastoma, Wilms tumour, glioma, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma. Of 2327 cases, 2118 patients were included in the study. The primary outcome measure was all-cause mortality at 30 days, 90 days and 12 months. Results All-cause mortality was 3.4% (n=71/2084) at 30-day follow-up, 5.7% (n=113/1969) at 90-day follow-up and 13.0% (n=206/1581) at 12-month follow-up. The median time from diagnosis to multidisciplinary team (MDT) plan was longest in low-income countries (7 days, IQR 3-11). Multivariable analysis revealed several factors associated with 12-month mortality, including low-income (OR 6.99 (95% CI 2.49 to 19.68); p<0.001), lower middle income (OR 3.32 (95% CI 1.96 to 5.61); p<0.001) and upper middle income (OR 3.49 (95% CI 2.02 to 6.03); p<0.001) country status and chemotherapy (OR 0.55 (95% CI 0.36 to 0.86); p=0.008) and immunotherapy (OR 0.27 (95% CI 0.08 to 0.91); p=0.035) within 30 days from MDT plan. Multivariable analysis revealed laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR 5.33 (95% CI 1.19 to 23.84); p=0.029) was associated with 30-day mortality. Conclusions Children with cancer are more likely to die within 30 days if infected with SARS-CoV-2. However, timely treatment reduced odds of death. This report provides crucial information to balance the benefits of providing anticancer therapy against the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children with cancer

Sweet tea and cigarettes: a taste of refugee life in Jordan

Among refugees in Jordan, utter boredom – the result of restrictions on mobility, prohibitions on employment, and feelings of marginalisation – is an unmistakable source of anguish

Replication Data for: Hard-to-Survey Populations and Respondent-Driven Sampling: Expanding the Political Science Toolbox

Survey research can generate knowledge that is central to the study of collective action, public opinion, and political participation. Unfortunately, many populations—from undocumented migrants to right-wing activists and oligarchs—are hidden, lack sampling frames, or are otherwise hard to survey. An approach to hard-to-survey populations commonly taken by researchers in other disciplines is largely missing from the toolbox of political science methods: respondent-driven sampling (RDS). By leveraging relations of trust, RDS accesses hard-to-survey populations; it also promotes representativeness, systematizes data collection, and, notably, supports population inference. In approximating probability sampling, RDS makes strong assumptions. Yet if strengthened by integrative multi-method research, the method can shed light on otherwise concealed—and critical—political preferences and behaviors among many populations of interest. Through describing one of the first correct applications of RDS in political science, this paper provides empirically grounded guidance via a study of activist refugees from Syria. Refugees are prototypical hard-to-survey populations, and mobilized ones even more so; yet the study demonstrates that RDS can provide a systematic and representative account of a vulnerable population engaged in major political phenomena

sj-docx-1-msj-10.1177_13524585221136036 – Supplemental material for External validation of a clinical prediction model in multiple sclerosis

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-msj-10.1177_13524585221136036 for External validation of a clinical prediction model in multiple sclerosis by Nahid Moradi, Sifat Sharmin, Charles B Malpas, Vahid Shaygannejad, Murat Terzi, Cavit Boz, Bassem Yamout, Samia J Khoury, Recai Turkoglu, Rana Karabudak, Nevin Shalaby, Aysun Soysal, Ayşe Altıntaş, Jihad Inshasi, Talal Al-Harbi, Raed Alroughani and Tomas Kalincik in Multiple Sclerosis Journal</p