Editor's introduction—April 2024

Abstract

This issue of the Digest of Middle East Studies may be one of our most wide-ranging yet, even in light of DOMES's long history of publishing diverse scholarship on nearly every possible aspect of Middle East affairs. In this issue, scholars address issues of counterinsurgency in Sinai, the role of first ladies in authoritarian systems, sovereign wealth fund policy in Saudi Arabia, sign language accessibility in Kuwait, and the history of propaganda in Iran. What they all have in common at their core, though, is an explanation of how political structures, policies, and actors work to produce the outcomes we observe; each of these articles presents careful academic research that can guide better understandings of social and political phenomena.Addressing a topic of wide and enduring interest to both academics and policymakers, Saad (2024) explains the strengths and potential weaknesses of the Egyptian approach to combatting insurgency in Sinai through a "collaborating militias" approach that draws on elites and patronage networks. This approach may work to defeat insurgents militarily but because it does not engage communities more deeply, it can leave in place some of the factors that drive rebellion.Menshawy (2024) makes the interesting and persuasive argument that first ladies in authoritarian regimes are not mere window dressing, but important elements of authoritarian durability. The regime of Hosni Mubarak benefitted politically from the work, and the variable visibility, of Suzanne Mubarak on a range of issues. But at the same time, Mrs. Mubarak was not merely a tool for the regime's use, but an actor with agency of her own, who herself benefited from the system to which she contributed. This article builds on existing literature about first ladies in other systems and suggests a path for its possible extension to authoritarian contexts.Flynn and Aldamer (2024) offer a particularly timely piece that addresses the question of what motivates investments by sovereign wealth funds. Deeply grounded in the literature, this article builds on previous work to assess the state of research on this topic and argues that sovereign wealth fund investments are, in part, responsive to the needs of economic diplomacy, not merely macroeconomic factors.Almubayei (2024) provides an important and likely ground-breaking contribution on the state of sign language, and on sign language policy, in Kuwait. In the social science literature, there is very little published work on sign language in the Arab world; this piece is based on field research in Kuwait with users of sign language and experts in regional sign language policies. It is both a descriptive contribution of information previously inaccessible to many audiences and a basis for the further development of policy in this important area.The final work in this issue, although by no means last in any other sense, is Shahvar's (2024) contribution to the literature on Iranian history and the politics of propaganda. As with Almubayei's article, this piece makes accessible to an...