Read the April CMES Newsletter about upcoming events, recent research activities, and new publications. The CMES Newsletter offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of Middle Eastern research. It is distributed regularly to a diverse audience of scholars, both within Lund University and beyond. Each issue features:Message From the DirectorLatest Research NewsUpcoming EventsRecent Publication

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/read-latest-cmes-newsletter-51 - 2025-08-25

Rhys Machold visited Lund for a book talk on "Fabricating Homeland Security: Police Entanglements across India and Palestine/Israel". In collaboration with CMES, the Swedish South Asia Studies Network (SASNET) hosted a book talk with Dr. Rhys Machold (University of Glasgow) at Finngatan 16.The book Fabricating Homeland Security by Rhys Machold locates homeland security as a universalizing transnat

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/book-talk-fabricating-homeland-security-police-entanglements-across-india-and-palestineisrael - 2025-08-25

CMES researchers Svante Lundgren and Pinar Dinc recently visited Yerevan, Armenia, for the launch of a new book and to engage in academic discussions. On 23 April, CMES researchers Svante Lundgren and Pinar Dinc participated in a panel discussion at Yerevan State University (YSU) for the launch of a new open access edited book by Pinar Dinc and Olga Selin Hunler (Acıbadem University), The Republic

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-researchers-join-academic-exchanges-during-yerevan-visit - 2025-08-25

Welcome to a CMES Public Talk with Göran Rosenberg on the future of Israel. On Wednesday 21 May, CMES will host a public talk with renowned Swedish writer and journalist Göran Rosenberg on the future of Israel. The talk will be in conversation with Lisa Strömbom (Department of Political Science, Lund University), and moderated by CMES Director Karin Aggestam.This event is a collaboration with Lund

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/whither-israel-upcoming-public-cmes-talk-goran-rosenberg - 2025-08-25

CMES Researcher Pinar Dinc has written an article for The Conversation about the recent developments in the negotiations between Turkey and PKK. AbstractNegotiations to end more than 40 years of conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) have taken on a concrete dimension. On May 12, two months after the PKK’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan, wrote a letter in whi

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/why-are-turkey-and-pkk-turning-peace-and-can-it-last - 2025-08-25

On 8 May, Rola El-Husseini Dean (Lund University) held a CMES Research Seminar on the rise and fall of Hezbollah. Rola El-Husseini Dean is an associate professor with the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies. She has previously held positions at Yale University, Texas A&M University, and the Graduate Centre of the City University of New York. Her first book Pax Syriana: Elite Politics in Postwar Leba

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-research-seminar-rise-and-fall-hezbollah - 2025-08-25

The CMES Yearbook 2024 is now available in both print and digital formats, offering a comprehensive overview of the Centre's work over the past year. The new official CMES Yearbook summarizes the Centre's activities during 2024, including:Research projectsResearch seminarsPublic lectures and eventsPolicy-dialogues, workshops, and conferencesCMES Regional OutlookTeaching and Arabic studies at CMESC

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-yearbook-2024 - 2025-08-25

Swedish writer and journalist Göran Rosenberg visited CMES for a public talk on the future of Israel. On Wednesday 21 May, CMES hosted a public talk in Lund titled Whither Israel?, featuring Swedish writer and journalist Göran Rosenberg. The well-attended event took place in the Eden Auditorium at the Department of Political Science.Göran Rosenberg is the author of several acclaimed works, includi

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-public-talk-goran-rosenberg-whither-israel - 2025-08-25

How do ideas about ’the nation’ take place locally? How are imaginaries of ’a people’ represented and challenged in urban memory and forgetting? With what effects on community formation, polarisation, and everyday urban life? Concluding the three-year CMES project Beyond Sacred/Secular Cities: Exploring the Politics of Memory, Space, and Religion, this symposium assembles scholars of multiple disc

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/upcoming-cmes-symposium-beyond-sacredsecular-cities-imagining-nation-urban-space - 2025-08-25

CMES researcher Altea Pericoli has published an article in The International Spectator about Gulf States’ foreign aid. Pericoli, A. (2025). Understanding Gulf States’ Foreign Aid: A Conceptual Framework. The International Spectator, 1–18. Read the article here.About Altea PericoliDr. Altea Pericoli is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in geopolitics and regional cooperation at the Center for Advanced

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/understanding-gulf-states-foreign-aid-conceptual-framework - 2025-08-25

Lund University PhD student Anne Lene Stein will defend her thesis at the Department of Political Science. On 13 June, Anne Lene Stein will defend her PhD thesis titled Agonism against the odds: Epistemic disruptions and bodies of dissent in Palestine and Israel at the Department of Political Science, Lund University.The thesis explores how protests and performances in Palestine and Israel are use

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/upcoming-phd-viva-agonism-against-odds-epistemic-disruptions-and-bodies-dissent-palestine-and-israel - 2025-08-25

CMES researcher Adam Almqvist has recently published about meaning-making and the politics of intergenerational injustice in Jordan. Almqvist, A. (2025) ”Meaning-Making and the Politics of Intergenerational Injustice in Jordan.” APSA-MENA Newsletter, 8 (1) Read the publication here.About Adam AlmqvistAdam Almqvist (Ph.D., University of Chicago 2023) is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at t

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/meaning-making-and-politics-intergenerational-injustice-jordan - 2025-08-25

On 13 June, Anne Lene Stein successfully defended her PhD thesis "Agonism against the odds: Epistemic disruptions and bodies of dissent in Palestine and Israel" at the Department of Political Science. Anne Lene Stein's thesis explores how protests and performances in Palestine and Israel are used to challenge dominant versions of history and identity - especially those that silence or exclude marg

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/agonism-against-odds-epistemic-disruptions-and-bodies-dissent-palestine-and-israel - 2025-08-25

On June 12–13, CMES hosted the symposium "Beyond Sacred/Secular Cities: Imagining the Nation in Urban Space" in the LUX building at Lund University. The event marked the conclusion of the three-year research project Beyond Sacred/Secular Cities: Exploring the Politics of Memory, Space, and Religion, led by project chair Torsten Janson.Gathering both Swedish and international scholars from a wide r

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-symposium-explores-urban-memory-beyond-sacredsecular-divides - 2025-08-25

CMES is happy to announce the new MECW project for 2025-2028 which will focus on satellite water investigation of fragile terrains in the Middle East. The Middle East faces a critical water crisis exacerbated by climate change-induced aridity, unsustainable overexploitation, weak governance, and the weaponization of water in conflicts. Rising temperatures and prolonged droughts diminish surface wa

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/new-mecw-project-satellite-water-investigation-fragile-terrains-monitoring-and-managing - 2025-08-25

Read the May-June CMES Newsletter about upcoming events, recent research activities, and new publications. The CMES Newsletter offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of Middle Eastern research. It is distributed regularly to a diverse audience of scholars, both within Lund University and beyond. Each issue features:Message From the DirectorLatest Research NewsUpcoming EventsRecent Publicat

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/read-latest-cmes-newsletter-52 - 2025-08-25

This CMES Regional Outlook (2025:2) by Lisa Strömbom focuses on the global responses to the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In February 2025, a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into force, briefly easing the intense humanitarian crisis in Gaza after months of devastating conflict. The truce was structured in three phases. The first stage was implemented and included the ex

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-regional-outlook-global-responses-escalating-humanitarian-crisis-gaza - 2025-08-25

Two CMES Yearbooks (2024 and 2021-2023 respectively), are now available to read and download. The CMES Yearbooks summarize the Centre's activities during a year or a selected period, including chapters covering:Research projectsResearch seminarsPublic lectures and eventsPolicy-dialogues, workshops, and conferencesCMES Regional OutlookTeaching and Arabic studies at CMESCMES in media and on digital

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/now-available-cmes-yearbooks-2021-2023-and-2024 - 2025-08-25

Welcome to CMES on 5th September to meet our staff and learn more about our research, activities and Arabic language courses! Enjoy some Arabic sweets, mingle with our staff, and learn more about our Arabic language courses. CMES offers several Arabic language courses during the fall of 2025, exclusively for Lund University students and staff interested in working and conducting research in Arabic

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/welcome-open-house-cmes-0 - 2025-08-25

Minorities in Yemen Yemen is home to religious and sectarian minorities who represent about 0.5% of the total population. In addition to Muslims, there is a minority of Jews, who’s presence has drastically shrunk over the years due to the multiple violations and displacement they were subjected to. Yemen also has a Bahai minority, who are currently estimated to number around 2,000 individuals. The

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/book-minorities-yemen-reality-and-challenges - 2025-08-25