Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf

Debating Darfur in the World

This article compares the debates and demonstrations about Darfur that have taken place in the Sudan, the United States, and Qatar and illuminates how political violence is apprehended and cultural identities are constructed. The rallies that occurred among Sudanese inside and outside the Sudan following the 2009 indictment of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC) are particularly revealing. Examining what has been represented worldwide as the first genocide of the twenty-first century brings to light the ideologies that are expressed in impassioned political positions. Ideology, which implicitly undergirds the mixed emotions with which the ICC warrant was received, has been fundamental to the Darfur story from the start of the crisis in 2003. Describing Darfur in three distinct sociopolitical arenas, one sees various scenarios that are akin to a play with multiple actors and scenes, each of which is contextually mediated and expertly produced. The disconnections, ruptures, and shifts in the flow of this narration point to the disparities in the situational, local, regional, and transnational forces at work.

Fragile Politics: Weak States in the Greater Middle East

1. Weak States in the Middle East Mehran Kamrava, CIRS, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar 2. Yemen: Failing State or Failing Politics? Charles Schmitz, Towson University 3. Questioning Failure, Stability, and Risk in Yemen Sarah Phillips, University of Sydney 4. Interventionism and the Fear of Urban Agency in Afghanistan and Iraq Daniel Esser, American University 5. Libya After Qadhafi: Fragmentation, Hybridity, and Informality Frederic Wehrey, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 6. Strong Actor in a Weak State: The Geopolitics of Hizbullah Shoghig Mikaelian, Concordia University; and Bassel F. Salloukh, Lebanese American University 7. Margin and Center in Sudan: On the Historicity of State Weakness Rogaia Abusharaf, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar 8. Sudan: A Turbulent Political Marketplace Alex de Waal, Tufts University 9. Women, Work, and the Weak State: A Case Study of Pakistan and Sudan Zahra Babar, CIRS, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar; and Dwaa Osman, CIRS, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar 10. Whither Palestine? Weak State, Failed State, or No State at All? Glenn E. Robinson, Naval Postgraduate School 11. Diasporas and State (Re)building in the MENA Region: Potential and Constraints Laurie Brand, University of Southern California 12. State Capacity and Aid Effectiveness in Weak States in the Greater Middle East Mark McGillivray, Deakin University; Simon Feeny, RMIT University; and Ashton De Silva, RMIT University

Finding Spaces for Fairness

Excavating Gender Justice: The Predicament and the Promise disentangles discourses and practices of asymmetrical power. It engages culture and politics by expounding the ways in which religion, modernity, tradition, jurisprudence, and citizenship have come to comprise constitutive elements of gender politics. When we speak of gender justice, we confront matters that lie at the heart of the knottiest philosophical, legal, and anthropological conundrums. These issues have prompted many to grapple with definitions and typologies derived from fields of inquiry as diverse as neoliberal economics, multiculturalism, constitutionalism, democratic political theory, and development. Excavating Gender Justice provides neither a typology nor a definitive definition of its subject. Others have assumed the task before. For example, Anne Marie Goetz (2007) explained the link between gender justice and debates on citizenship, entitlements, rights, and law and development by delineating three mutually inclusive perspectives: a) gender justice as entitlements and choice, the enabling paradigm; b) gender justice as absence of discrimination; and c) gender justice as positive rights.

The Words of Ina Beasley: Glimpses from a Life in British Sudan

This essay presents a woman whose ideas not only signifies a challenge to conventional approaches to the relationship between colonialism and feminism, but also enables us to appreciate the intricacies and diversities of colonial experiences and the multiple roles played by individuals who wielded some level of authority in a colonised society. Since this essay is a tribute to Ina Beasley, it reproduces substantial excerpts from her papers on the subjects that engaged her most deeply during her Sudan service. Her writings shed new light on the social history of human rights during the Condominium, which matters both to scholars and to concerned citizens. In recognition of Ina Beasley, who devoted her life to improving the lives of women and children in a society rife with hardship and discriminatory practices, the essay addresses her work on education and its relevance to eradicating female circumcision that was universally practiced at the time. The essay begins with a brief discussion of Sudanese politics at the time of her arrival and then examines her work as educator who managed to craft several influential programs to empower women and girls. The rest of the paper focuses on her reproductive health advocacy as exemplified in a formidable body of work that articulated her activities and approaches to social rights.