Cambridge Middle East and North Africa Forum Manara Magazine¹

Issue 2020/1  Deadline for Submissions: 28 February 2020  Publication: 12 March 2020
Theme for Journalistic Articles: “The State of the MENA region in 2020—Lessons and Projections”

With the end of 2019 and the close of a decade, expert commentators have turned their attention to longterm social, political and economic developments in the Middle East and North Africa region. Identifying such developments and questioning whether they are the result of inherent characteristics of state structures and national traditions, or largely stemmed from historically contingent decisions and events of the recent past has been important for two reasons. Not only do they help us construct appropriate narratives to understand the State of the Middle East and North Africa region today but, even more importantly, they can inspire relevant projections for the coming months and years.

2019 saw the initiation of notable political changes across the region which social scientists, historians and journalists compared to those of the Arab Spring (2011) and even the two Gulf Wars to a limited extent— in the case of the latter, each day provides us with new insight as to whether another round of confrontation between a Middle Eastern state and Western powers is looming.

Popular demonstrations erupted in Algeria, Sudan, Iraq, Lebanon and Iran in response to government policies. Meanwhile, the established democracy of Israel seems to be struggling to overcome a political impasse, going into an unprecedented third round of elections (in March 2020) in a year. The humanitarian crisis of Yemen steadfastly persists while Israeli occupation in the Palestinian Territories continues in the absence of an overarching Palestinian-Israeli peace deal. The current U.S. administration’s efforts of mediation on this front will likely strengthen as President Trump released his Middle East peace plan and will likely push for results before seeking reelection in November.

Beside the United States, Turkey and Russia repositioned themselves as ever more active players in regional international relations. As the U. S. surprisingly withdrew its troops from Syria, Turkey launched an offensive against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in October so as to create a safe zone for refugees. Backing opposing sides in the Syrian civil war, Ankara and Moscow finally reached an agreement as to the resettlement of Syrian refugees currently living in Turkey.

The U.S. has repeatedly blamed Iran for attacks on Emirati oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman—allegations that Iran categorically rejected. As Britain and the EU found other inconsistencies in Iranian foreign policy, most notably vis-à-vis Syria, an Iranian oil tanker was seized by British forces in August 2019. The September 2019 drone attacks on Aramco’s oil processing facilities were likewise attributed to Iran, according to Saudi Arabia and the U.S.’s claims.

Notable deaths have swept the Middle East and North Africa. In October, the leader of the ISIL (ISIS) group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died during a U.S. military operation. Algeria’s military chief, Ahmed Gaid Salah, died in December. Most notably, however, one of Iran’s most powerful men and top general, Qasem Soleimani, was killed by a U.S. airstrike in January—offsetting a nationalist wave in Iran with mass
demonstrations and Ayatollah Khomeini promising to “retaliate” against violating Iran’s sovereignty.

With evolving national grassroots movements, alternating political leaderships, changing great power relations, as well as major sports and cultural events planned, 2020 promises to bring about remarkable changes in the Middle East and North Africa region. Understanding the source of such changes and anticipating their potential effects is the topic of the current issue of Manara Magazine.

Suggested Topics for Op-Ed Pieces:

• Protests in Iraq and/or Lebanon
• Overthrow of leaders in Algeria and/or Sudan
• Iraq voting to expel U.S. troops
• Israel elections
• Iran and western powers
• Foreign intervention in the MENA region
• Marshall Aid for the Middle East?
• Refugees after the Syrian Civil War
• The European Union and refugees from the Middle East
• Climate change and the Middle East
• Qatar world cup
• Dubai World Expo

Honorarium

Authors of published Journalistic Articles receive 50.00 GBP from MENAF. Authors of published Op-Ed Pieces receive 20.00 GBP from MENAF.

Submission Guidelines

Defining the Region

• To permit the widest possible range of submissions, the ‘Middle East’ is defined broadly as including all Arab League states, Iran, Israel and Turkey.

Editorial Team

• The editorial team consists of members from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, all at different levels of academic life. The Team is selected annually by the committee of the Cambridge Middle East and North Africa Forum (MENAF) and is responsible for choosing edition themes, reviewing submissions, choosing articles for publication and editing pieces accepted for publication.

Submissions

• Submissions will be considered exclusively on their quality, originality and contribution to ongoing academic and public debates. Whether or not an article appears in an issue is at the collective discretion of the editorial board.
• Submissions are expected to take an analytical direction, taking a question of historical or contemporary import and examining possible present and future implications. Articles should aim to make use of historical context and draw relevant parallels with trends and events throughout the region to elucidate the issue in question.
• We appreciate submissions sent as double-spaced Word documents in Arial, size eleven
• Please use footnotes rather than in-text citations.
• Articles should properly reference and only use sources of reputable and reliable origin, such as:

academic books by single or multiple authors, or academic and professional journals within the discipline or area of study; specialist magazines or newspapers of agreed high repute; government reports; reports from known, reputable organizations, e.g. the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); published theses or unpublished theses held by university, faculty or departmental libraries; recorded TV or radio programs to which reputable figures within the discipline have contributed; videos that are accessible to university students and staff; primary sources such as original letters, diaries, journals, notes; the internet, if the site has a reputable author, publisher and domain name that show the site has the relevant credentials for your writing purpose.

• Articles should be no more than 2,000 words, not including endnotes.
• Op-ed pieces should be at least 600 but no more than 800 words.
• While by no means being a condition for publication, we highly value efforts to conduct research
• in languages other than English, particularly in Middle Eastern languages.

Review

• Articles are reviewed by two to three members of the Editorial Board, returned for edits and will be published on the set date.

¹ Manara Magazine is published under the authority of the Cambridge Middle East and North Africa Forum Ltd. (MENAF) in Cambridge, United Kingdom.

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