OOIR: Observatory of International Research

Papers

(The TQCC of Middle East Journal is 0. The table below lists those papers that are above that threshold based on CrossRef citation counts [max. 250 papers]. The publications cover those that have been published in the past four years, i.e., from 2022-08-01 to 2026-08-01.)

Article	Citations
Seizing Nuclear Tehran: Obstacles to Understanding Iranian Nuclear Activities	12
Modern History and Politics: Saudi Arabia and Iraq as Friends and Enemies: Borders, Tribes and a History Shared , by Joshua Yaphe (book review)	7
Toiling for Oil: A Social History of Petroleum in Iran	4
Egypt	4
Kurds: Kurdish Politics in the Middle East: Lessons from the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG in Iraq	3
How Post–October 7 Wars Reshaped Iran-Huthi Ties	3
Israel: Searching for Peace: A Memoir of Israel , by Ehud Olmert. Translated by David Hazony (book review)	2
Jordan: Jordan: Politics in an Accidental Crucible	2
Modern History and Politics: Worldmaking in the Long Great War: How Local and Colonial Struggles Shaped the Modern Middle East , by Jonathan Wyrtzen (boo	2
Recent Publications	2
Turkey: Return to Point Zero: The Turkish-Kurdish Question and How Politics and Ideas (Re)Make Empires, Nations, and States , by Murat Somer (book review	1
Economy: Dams, Power, and the Politics of Ethiopia’s Renaissance , by Tom Lavers (book review)	1
The GCC’s Economic Diplomacy in a Multi-Polar World	1
Worse than Camp David? Revisiting the May 17, 1983, Lebanon-Israel Agreement	1
Syria’s State-Rebuilding Challenge: Reintegrating the Border Peripheries	1
Foreign Policy Agendas and Participation in Locally Led Informal Security Coalitions: Pakistan, Sudan, and the Yemen War Coalition	1
Levant Affairs: Reaching for the Heights: The Inside Story of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace , by Frederic C. Hof (book review)	1
United Arab Emirates: Reinventing the Sheikhdom: Clan, Power and Patronage in Mohammed bin Zayed's UAE , by Matthew Hedges (book review)	1
Editor's Note	1
Egypt: Media of the Masses: Cassette Culture in Modern Egypt ,by Andrew Simon (book review)	1
Electoral Management in Iran: The Ministry of Interior’s Role in Parliamentary Elections	1
Morocco: Killing Contention: Demobilizationin Morocco during the Arab Spring , by Sammy Zeyad Badran (book review)	1
Yemen: South Yemen's Independence Struggle: Generations of Resistance , by Anne-Linda Amira Augustin (book review)	1
Iran: The Unfinished History of the Iran-Iraq War: Faith, Firepower, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards, by Annie Tracy Samuel (book review)	1
Fixing America’s Failed Strategies in the Middle East	1

Recent Publications	1
The Case of Decentralization in Yalova, Türkiye	1
Why Were They Not Radicalized? Young Members of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Aftermath of Egypt's 2013 Military Coup	1
Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Abraham Accords: The Gulf States, Israel, and the Limits of Normalization , by Elham Fakhro (book review)	1
The Limits of Right-Wing Populism in Power and the Israeli Political Crisis of 2018–2021	1
Oman: Britain and the Dhofar War in Oman, 1963‐1976: A Covert War in Arabia , by Geraint Hughes (book review)	1
Modern History and Politics: West Asia: A New American Grand Strategy in the Middle East	1
Egypt: Tahrir's Youth: Leaders of a Leaderless Revolution , by Rusha Latif (book review)	1
Yemen	1
Modern History and Politics: Entrepreneurs of Identity: The Islamic State's Symbolic Repertoire , by Christoph Günther (book review)	0
Syria	0
Dueling Legacies: Which Sultan Deserves Credit for Oman's Oil-Driven Development?	0
Police, Protests, and State Power: Confronting Order and Disorder in Jordan (review article)	0
Iran: Creating Local Democracy in Iran: State Building and the Politics of Decentralization , by Kian Tajbakhsh (book review)	0
Tunisia: Rethinking Islamic Politics in Tunisia: A Gramscian Analysis	0
Book Reviews	0
Recent Publications	0
Israel: Amos Oz: The Legacy of a Writer in Israel and Beyond , edited by Ranen Omer-Sherman (book review)	0
Historical Trajectories of Qatar’s Survival Strategy	0
Tunisia: A Fledgling Democracy: Tunisia in the Aftermath of the Arab Uprisings , edited by Mohamed Zayani (book review)	0
Morocco: L’Affaire Ben Barka: La fin des secrets	0
North African Affairs: Shouting in a Cage: Political Life after Authoritarian Co-Optation in North Africa , by Sofia Fenner	0
Jordan: Time and Power in Azraq Refugee Camp: A Nine-to-Five Emergency , by Melissa Gatter	0
Editor’s Note	0
The Rashid Theater in Baghdad: The Drama of a Nation	0
Saudi Arabia: Charity in Saudi Arabia: Civil Society under Authoritarianism , by Nora Derbal (book review)	0
Israel: We Are Not One: A History of America's Fight over Israel , by Eric Alterman (book review)	0
Failed Leadership and the Endurance of the Two-State Solution	0
Palestine: The Social and Cultural History of Palestine: Essays in Honour of Salim Tamari, edited by Sarah Irving	0
Iran: Iran's Soft Power in Afghanistan and Pakistan , by Zahid Shahab Ahmed and Ali Akbar	0
Sudan	0
From the Mountains to the Élysée: The Precarious International Legitimacy of the Syrian Kurdish YPG and PYD	0
Local Governments in a Competitive Authoritarian Regime: Opposition-Run Metropolitan Municipalities in Turkey	0
Surviving the Islamic State: Contention, Cooperation, and Neutrality in Wartime Iraq	0
Egypt: The Egyptian Revolution of 1919: Legacies and Consequences of the Fight for Independence , edited by H. A. Hellyer and Robert Springborg and	0
Kurds	0
Modern History and Politics: God's Property: Islam, Charity, and the Modern State, by Nada Moumtaz (book review)	0
Egypt: A Fragile Power , by Eberhard Kienle and Egypt under El-Sisi: A Nation on the Edge , by Maged Mando	0
Jordan	0
The Grimness of the Alternatives: Carter, Israel, and the Civil War in Lebanon	0
Iraq: God’s Man in Iraq: The Life and Leadership of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani , by Sajad Jiyad (book review)	0
Can Morocco’s Party of Justice and Development Rebuild?	0
Modern History and Politics: Women's Political Representation in Iran and Turkey: Demanding a Seat at the Table , by Mona Tajali	0
Saudi Arabia	0
Iran	0
Eat the State (review article)	0
Egypt: Egypt: Revolution, Failed Transition and Counter-Revolution , by Azmi Bishara. Translated by Mandy McClure, Chris Hitchcock, and Peter Daniel (boo	0
Syria: Moscow's Game of Poker: Russian Military Intervention in Syria , 2015–2017, by Tom Cooper	0
Modern History and Politics: Seeing Is Disbelieving: Why People Believe Misinformation in War, and When They Know Better	0
Saudi Arabia: Wahhabism and the World: Understanding Saudi Arabia's Global Influence on Islam , edited by Peter Mandaville (book review)	0

Morocco: Immigration Nation: Aid, Control, and Border Politics in Morocco, by Lorena Gazzotti (book review)	0
Recent Publications	0
Modern History and Politics: Battleground: Ten Conflicts that Explain the New Middle East , by Christopher Phillips (book review)	0
The AKP's Syria Policy and the Emergence of Competitive Authoritarianism in Turkey	0
The Tale of a Feud: Domination, Resistance, and Agency in Highland Yemen , by Marieke Brandt (book review)	0
Iran: What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom , by Arash Azizi (book review)	0
The Blocked Road to Democracy: Culture Wars in the Arab World and the End of Politics (review article)	0
A Century of Changing Perceptions of "Christian Militias" in Iraq	0
US Regional Policy: Grand Delusions: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East, by Steven Simon	0
Book Reviews	0
The Yemeni Civil War: The Arab Spring, State Formation and Internal Instability , by Elham Manea (book review)	0
Editor's Note	0
Arab Media Portrayals of Anti-Uyghur Repression: Chinese Propaganda, Anti-Islamist Anxiety, and Anti-Westernism	0
Problematic Archives: Documentary Knowledge of Modern Iraq between Ex- and Repatriation	0
Israel: Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom , by Maya Wind (book review)	0
The Dhofar War: British Covert Campaigning in Arabia 1965‐1975 , by Stephen Quick (book review)	0
Symposium Introduction	0
Syria	0
Palestinians in Israel: Bare Citizenship during the Gaza War	0
The World Cup: A Mixed Blessing for Qatari Soft Power (review article)	0
Modern History and Politics	0
Iran: Wars of Ambition: The United States, Iran, and the Struggle for the Middle East , by Afshon Ostovar (book review)	0
Editor’s Note	0
Iran: The Other Side of Silence: A Memoir of Exile, Iran, and the Global Women’s Movement , by Mahnaz Afkhami (book review)	0
Worse than Camp David? Revisiting the May 17, 1983, Lebanon-Israel Agreement	0
Libya: Tribalism and Democracy in Libya: State Building and Identity after Gaddafi	0
Security and Empowerment as Justice: Yezidi Women's Demands and Perceptions of Post-Genocide Justice	0
Modern History and Politics: Understanding the New Proxy Wars: Battlegrounds and Strategies Reshaping the Greater Middle East, edited by Peter Bergen, Candace Rondeaux, Daniel R	0
Special Issue Introduction	0
The Root Causes of Suicide Terrorism in Türkiye	0
Yemen: Yemen in the Shadow of Transition: Pursuing Justice amid War , by Stacey Philbrick Yadav (book review)	0
The Mo'talefeh (Islamic Coalition Society): From Revolutionary Allies to Challengers of Ayatollah Khomeini's Policies, 1979–1989	0
Complex Equation: Relations between Russia and the Middle East (review article)	0
Syria: Revolutions Aesthetic: A Cultural History of Ba'thist Syria , by Max Weiss (book review)	0
Türkiye: The Transformation of Turkish Foreign Policy: Islamism and Nationalism	0
Recent Publications	0
Modern History and Politics: The Politics of Immigration beyond Liberal States: Morocco and Tunisia in Comparative Perspective , by Katharina Natter (boo	0
The Long Economic Shadow of the Twelve Day War	0
Red Sea: Power Competition in the Red Sea: Testing the Post-Liberal International Order	0
Zionism: Emotions, Language and Experience - New Hebrews: Making National Culture in Zion	0
Modern History and Politics: America’s Middle East: Ruination of a Region	0
Tobacco Cultivation in Palestine: Struggles over Agriculture and Land Ownership in the West Bank	0
Women: The Unforgotten Women of the Islamic State , by Gina Vale (book review)	0
Editor’s Note	0
How to Upgrade US-Saudi Defense Relations	0
Syria: Syria Betrayed: Atrocities, War, and the Failure of International Diplomacy , by Alex J. Bellamy (book review)	0
Peacebuilding, Patronage-Building, and Post-Conflict NGO Corruption: Barriers to Democratization in Anbar, Iraq	0
Mission Manifest: American Evangelicals and Iran in the Twentieth Century , by Matthew K. Shannon (book review)	0
Modern History and Politics: The Contemporary Middle East in an Age of Upheaval, edited by James L. Gelvin (book review)	0
Editor’s Note	0
Gulf Affairs: Centers of Power in the Arab Gulf States , by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen (book review)	0
Collective (Non-)Memory of the Iran-Iraq War and Sectarian Thinking among Veterans-Turned-Shi'i Militia Fighters	0
Gulf Affairs: The Gulf Monarchies after the Arab Spring: Threats and Security , by Cinzia Bianco (book review)	0
Recent Publications	0
Political Economy	0
Modern History and Politics: The Muslim Brotherhood: Ideology, History, Descendants , by Joas Wagemakers (book review)	0
Iraq: The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A. and the Origins of America’s Invasion of Iraq , by Steve Coll (book review)	0
Beyond Instrumentalism: Arab Nationalism and the Foreign Policy of Kuwait in the 1960s and 1970s	0
Iran: An American Martyr in Persia: The Epic Life and Tragic Death of Howard Baskerville , by Reza Aslan (book review)	0
Israel	0
Bouteflika’s Foreign Policy in the Service of Algeria’s Internal Power Struggle, 1999–2004	0
Activism and Community-Based Climate Adaptation in Kuwait	0
Egypt: Revolution Squared: Tahrir, Political Possibilities, and Counterrevolution in Egypt , by Atef Shahat (book review)	0
The Enduring Challenges of Middle East Security and the Evolving Role of the United States (review article)	0
Türkiye	0
The Gulf Cooperation Council and the Elusiveness of Defense Cooperation: The Revealing Effect of the 2017–2021 Crisis	0
Editor’s Note	0
Palestine and Palestinians: Becoming Palestine: Toward an Archival Imagination of the Future, by Gil Z. Hochberg, and Networked Re	0
US Regional Policy: The End of Ambition: America’s Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East , by Steven A. Cook (book review)	0
Party Practices in the Context of Lebanon’s Sectarian Political System: Explaining the Unachieved Goals of the Free Patriotic Movement	0
Iran	0
The Oil Thief of Baghdad: Understanding Saddam's Motives for Invading Iran	0
Modern History and Politics: Democracy or Authoritarianism: Islamist Governments in Turkey, Egypt, and Tunisia, by Sebnem Gumuscu	0
Modern History and Politics: Islam, Justice, and Democracy , by Sabri Ciftci (book review)	0
Philosophy, Religion, and Science	0
Iraq: Confronting Saddam Hussein: George W. Bush and the Invasion of Iraq , by Melvyn P. Leffler (book review)	0
Israel: Israel’s Black Panthers: The Radicals Who Punctured a Nation’s Founding Myth , by Asaf Elia-Shalev (book review)	0
Modern History and Politics: Tribes and the State in Libya and Iraq: From the Nationalist Era to the New Order , by Alison Pargeter (book review)	0
Afghanistan: Afghan Crucible: The Soviet Invasion and the Making of Modern Afghanistan , by Elisabeth Leake (book review)	0
Pre-Twentieth-Century History: Empire of Salons: Conquest and Community in Early Modern Ottoman Lands , by Helen Pfeifer (book review)	0

Pre-Twentieth-Century History: The Lost and Untold History of the Kurds: Rediscovering the Beginning of the Western Civilisation and the Origin of the Indo-European Languages ca	0
Turkey: Street-Level Governing: Negotiating the State in Urban Turkey , by Elise Massicard (book review)	0
Editor’s Note	0
Modern History and Politics	0
Recent Publications	0
Iraq: The Paranoid Style in American Diplomacy: Oil and Arab Nationalism in Iraq , by Brandon Wolfe-Hunnicutt (book review)	0
Egypt: Youth in Egypt: Identity, Participation, and Opportunity, by Nadine Sika (book review)	0
Editor's Note	0
Turkey: Memory, Patriarchy and Economy in Turkey: Narratives of Political Power , by Meral Uğur-Çınar (book review)	0
Gulf Affairs: The Gulf States and the Horn of Africa: Interests, Influences and Instability , edited by Robert Mason and Simon Mabon (book review)	0
Surviving Genocide and Overcoming Collective Trauma: Yezidis from Sinjar in the Aftermath of 2014	0
Urbanism, Climate Change, and the Public Utility of Greening Cairo	0
Afghanistan: Radio Free Afghanistan: A Twenty-Year Odyssey for an Independent Voice in Kabul , by Saad Mohseni with Jenna Krajeski (book review)	0
"King Bibi" and Israeli Illiberalism: Assessing Democratic Backsliding in Israel during the Second Netanyahu Era (2009–2021)	0
Egypt: Sacred Places Tell Tales: Jewish Life and Heritage in Modern Cairo , by Yoram Meital (book review)	0
Palestine and Palestinians: The Bride: An Illustrated History of Palestine, 1850–1948 , by Roger Hardy (book review)	0
E-Government, Corruption, and Administrative Reform in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries	0
Israel: Continuity and Change in Political Culture: Israel and Beyond, edited by Yael S. Aronoff, Ilan Peleg, and Saliba Sarsar (book review)	0
Arab-Israeli Conflict	0
Algeria: Algeria: Politics and Society from the Dark Decade to the Hirak , by Michael J. Willis (book review)	0
Turkey: Turkey and the Kurdish Peace Process: Actors, Issues, and Context , by Arin Y. Savran (book reviews)	0
Syria: Syria Divided: Patterns of Violence in a Complex Civil War , by Ora Szekely	0
The Use and Misuse of Palestinian Statehood Recognition	0
The Evolution of a Contemporary Iraqi Intellectual: Reflections on Ahmed Saadawi's First Four Novels	0
Tunisia: The Tunisian Revolution and Democratic Transition: The Role of al-Nahdah , by Mohammad Dawood Sofi (book review)	0
Turkey: The Nation or the Ummah: Islamism and Turkish Foreign Policy , by Birol Başkan and Ömer Taşpınar (book review)	0
Modern History and Politics: Policy of Deceit Britain and Palestine, 1914–1939 , by Peter Shambrook	0
Sports and Entertainment	0
Rethinking Islamophobia: Race, Empire, and Islam in a Global Context (review article)	0
Iran: The Long War on Iran: New Events, Old Questions	0
Iran: Triumph and Despair: In Search of Iran’s Islamic Republic , by Mehran Kamrava (book review)	0
Making Sense of the Arab State	0
Gender: History, Women and Gender in the Modern Middle East: From Orientalism to the Arab Spring , by Lisa Pollard and Mona L. Russell (book review)	0
The Trump Effect on Global Autocratization: Theory and Evidence from Israel and Türkiye	0
Egypt: The Muslim Brothers in Society: Everyday Politics, Social Action, and Islamism in Mubarak's Egypt , by Marie Vannetzel. Translated by David Tresil	0
Changing Security Dynamics in the Persian Gulf after Epic Fury: A Preliminary Assessment	0
Local Governments in a Competitive Authoritarian Regime: Opposition-Run Metropolitan Municipalities in Turkey	0
The Center of the World: A Global History of the Persian Gulf from the Stone Age to the Present	0
Modern History and Politics: The Aftermath of the Arab Uprising: Towards Reconstruction, Democracy and Peace , edited by Samir Makdisi and Raimundo Soto	0
Iraq	0
Turkey: Crafting Turkish National Identity, 1919–1927: A Rhetorical Approach , by Aysel Morin (book reviews)	0
United Arab Emirates: The UAE after the Arab Spring: Strategy for Survival , by Khalifa Al-Suwaidi, and New Order in the Gulf: The	0
Libya: Violence and Social Transformation in Libya , edited by Virginie Collombier and Wolfram Lacher	0
Turkey: Turkey under Erdoğan: How a Country Turned from Democracy and the West , by Dimitar Bechev and Erdoğan’s War: A Strongman’	0
Modern History and Politics: Soldiers of Democracy? Military Legacies and the Arab Spring , by Sharan Grewal (book review)	0
Book Reviews	0
Recent Publications	0
Iraq	0
Bordering on War: A Social and Political History of Khuzestan , by Shaherzad Ahmadi (book review)	0
Can Trump Break the Middle East’s Non-Tariff Barriers?	0
Gulf States	0
Baghdad behind Walls: Mapping Urban Heritage for Spatial Justice	0
Levant Affairs: In Search of Greater Syria: The History and Politics of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party , by Christopher Solomon and	0
Iraq: Mosul under ISIS: Eyewitness Accounts of Life in the Caliphate , by Mathilde Becker Aarseth (book review)	0
China	0
A Two-State Solution Remains a Core American Interest	0
Iran	0
The Re-Enchantment of the Orient: Mista‘arvim and Their Special Status in Jewish-Israeli Society	0
Israel: The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel: Promise Unfulfilled , by Dahlia Scheindlin	0
Policing Copts: Sadat, Shenouda, and the Transnational Diaspora Politics of Cold War Egypt	0
Pakistan: Vigilante Islamists: Religious Parties and Anti-State Violence in Pakistan	0
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the limits of Gulf Unity	0
Israel: Jewish Women and the Defense of Palestine: The Modest Revolution , 1907–1945, by Meir Chazan	0
Libya	0
Philosophy, Religion, And Science: Islam, Revival, and Reform: Redefining Tradition for the Twenty-First Century , edited by Natana J. DeLong-Bas (book r	0
Demographic Transition, Development Potentials, and Policy Requirements: A Comparative Study of the Kurdish Regions of Iran and Iraq	0
Modern History and Politics: When Parliaments Ruled the Middle East: Iraq and Syria, 1946–63 , by Matthieu Rey (book review)	0
Egypt: Cronyism and Elite Capture in Egypt: From Businessmen Cabinet to Military Inc. , by Sarah Smierciak (book review)	0
Recent Publications	0
Yemen: Yemen Model: Why U.S. Policy has Failed in the Middle East , by Alexandra Stark (book review)	0
Egyptian State Media in Opposition: Al-Ahram under Morsi, 2012–2013	0
Environment	0
A New Project of a Gulf-Based Regional Order in the Middle East	0
Syria: Statelet of Survivors: The Making of a Semi-Autonomous Region in Northeast Syria , by Amy Austin Holmes (book review)	0
Biography: Years of Glory: Nelly Benatar and the Pursuit of Justice in Wartime North Africa, by Susan Gilson Miller (book review)	0
Palestine: Refuge and Resistance: Palestinians and the International Refugee System , by Anne Irfan	0
From Securitization to National Rebranding: Saudi–Muslim Brotherhood Relations since 2010	0
The Logic of Political Independence Endures	0
Iraq: Iraq against the World: Saddam, America, and the Post–Cold War Order, by Samuel Helfont	0
Afghanistan: The Decline and Fall of Republican Afghanistan , by Ahmad Shuja Jamal and William Maley (book review)	0
Israel’s Clan Strategy in Gaza: Using Disorder to Create Order?	0
Sheikh, Beik, and Muallim: Kamal Jumblatt and the Lebanese Political Elites	0
Recent Publications	0
Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Arab World (review article)	0
Iran: Enduring Hostility: The Making of America’s Iran Policy	0
Iraq: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Saudi Struggle for Iraq , by Katherine Harvey (book review)	0
Iran: Revolution of Things: The Islamism and Post-Islamism of Objects in Tehran , by Kusha Sefat (book review)	0
Surviving Genocide and Overcoming Collective Trauma: Yezidis from Sinjar in the Aftermath of 2014	0
Libya: Libya and the Global Enduring Disorder , by Jason Pack (book review)	0
Editor's Note	0
Palestine: The Hamas Intelligence War against Israel , by Netanel Flamer (book review)	0
Water Issues: Reflections: Understanding Our Use and Abuse of Water, by Mark Zeitoun	0
Philosophy, Religion, and Science: Islam and the Arab Revolutions: The Ulama between Democracy and Autocracy , by Usaama al-Azami (book review)	0
Contesting “Moderate Islam”: Religious Legitimacy in Post–Civil War Algeria	0
A Wall of Despair: The Interplay of the Turkish Wall and Foreign Policy in Syria	0