Published 7 June 2023 Photo: Ahmed Akacha/Pexels CMES is happy to announce the new MECW project for 2023-2026 which will focus on conflict, environment and sustainable development in Syria. Over a decade has passed since the onset of the Syrian conflict, which continues to have dire humanitarian consequences in the region. Syria, with a population of approximately 17 million, ranks among low-incom

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/new-mecw-project-conflict-environment-and-sustainable-development-syria - 2025-07-27

Published 12 June 2023 CMES Deputy Director Ronny Berndtsson has co-authored an article on climate change and groundwater resources in Iran. The article is published in the journal Agricultural Water Management. CMES Deputy Director Ronny Berndtsson has co-authored the article "Soft computing assessment of current and future groundwater resources under CMIP6 scenarios in northwestern Iran" togethe

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/climate-change-and-groundwater-resources-iran - 2025-07-27

Published 13 June 2023 CMES Visiting Olof Palme Professor Raphael Cohen-Almagor has authored "Should Liberal Democracy Respect Group Rights that Discriminate against Women and Apostates?" published in the journal Public Governance, Administration and Finances Law Review. Abstract The paper examines the limits of state interference in proscribing cultural norms by considering gender discrimination,

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/liberal-democracy-group-rights-and-gender-discrimination - 2025-07-27

Published 14 June 2023 CMES researcher Svante Lundgren has written a review of a book about Erdoğan's Turkey, the Kurds and Sweden. The reviewed book is called Endast den som är turk är lycklig: Erdoğan, kurderna och Sverige (English translation: Only the Turks Are Happy: Erdoğan, the Kurds and Sweden) and was written by Kurdo Baksi (Kaunitz-Olsson, 2023). Svante's review was published in Ny Tid o

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/book-review-kurds-erdogans-turkey-and-sweden - 2025-07-27

Published 15 June 2023 CMES researcher Jayne Svenungsson has authored the article "Religion and secularity as supersessionist categories: contemplating diversity and otherness after 9/11" in the journal Zeitschrift für Religion, Gesellschaft und Politik. Abstract This article argues that the Christian ambivalence towards the Jews throughout history lies at the heart of the difficulties liberal soc

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/religion-secularism-and-supersessionism-post-911 - 2025-07-27

Published 15 June 2023 Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift recently published a special issue on the Middle East after twenty years of the war on terror with contributions from CMES researchers Lina Eklund, Isabell Schierenbeck, Karin Aggestam, Linda Eitrem Holmgren, and Lisa Strömbom. The special issue was edited by Anders Persson and includes the following articles written (in Swedish) by CMES researche

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/middle-east-and-20-years-war-terror - 2025-07-27

Published 16 June 2023 CMES researcher Lina Eklund has written an article (in Swedish) on climate, drought and conflict in Syria 2000-2022, published in a special issue of Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift focusing on the Middle East. English Title "Climate and conflict in Syria: a spatial perspective of drought, agriculture and vulerability in Syria during the period 2000–2022" Swedish Title "Klimat oc

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/climate-drought-and-conflict-syria - 2025-07-27

Published 14 June 2023 CMES researcher Yafa Shanneik will be participating in an event organised by Hand i Hand and Ibn Rushid on Friday 16 June in Malmö. Yafa will participate in a conversation about her use of art in her project on Syrian and Iraqi refugees followed by an art exhibition. In the art exhibition, representations of refugees in art are tackled using “body mapping” with the renowned

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/art-exhibition-narratives-displacement - 2025-07-27

Published 19 June 2023 CMES Director Karin Aggestam and researcher Linda Eitrem Holmgren have written an article (in Swedish) about women, peace and security in the Middle East and North Africa, published in a special issue of Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift focusing on the Middle East. English Title "Women, Peace and Security in the Middle East and North Africa" Swedish Title "Kvinnor, fred och säker

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/women-peace-and-security-middle-east-and-north-africa - 2025-07-27

Published 16 June 2023 CMES Director Karin Aggestam gave a public lecture on the water-development-security nexus in the Nile and Jordan River Basin. Karin also attended a conference on international negotiations as a member of the steering committee of the Processes of International Negotiation (PIN) Network on 22-24 May at Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy (AGDA) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirate

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-director-karin-aggestam-visits-anwar-gargash-diplomatic-academy-abu-dhabi - 2025-07-27

Published 19 June 2023 CMES researcher Torsten Janson presented his research on Smyrna at a conference in Greece. On May 12, CMES researcher Torsten Janson participated in the conference Smyrna as Symbol: From the 19th Century to September 1922 at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens on a panel about Smyrna. Torsten presented the paper "Overwriting Smyrna: Urban imaginaries in Turkis

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/event-recording-urban-imaginaries-turkish-nationalist-commemoration - 2025-07-27

Published 16 June 2023 CMES provides seed money for interdisciplinary research initiation and preparation of project applications for national and international research calls. Three grants will be offered during 2023-2024. Applications are open to employees at Lund University.  Application deadline: 31 August 2023  For more information and instructions please read the call: Call for CMES research

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/now-open-cmes-call-research-initiation - 2025-07-27

Published 20 June 2023 CMES Director Karin Aggestam has co-authored an article on peace mediation and digital disruption together with Elsa Hedling (Department of Political Science, LU), published in the Hague Journal of Diplomacy. Abstract This article focuses on the quest for digitalisation in peace mediation and to the extent to which digital disruption is reshaping its practices. While digital

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/peace-mediation-and-digital-disruption - 2025-07-27

Published 20 June 2023 CMES affiliated researcher Isabell Schierenbeck has written an article on political polarization in Israel, published in Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift. English Title "Political polarization – Israel 20 years after the second intifada" Swedish Title "Politisk polarisering – Israel 20 år efter den andra intifadan" English Abstract Since the “War on Terror” the world has become i

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/political-polarization-israel - 2025-07-27

Published 21 June 2023 CMES researcher Lisa Strömbom has co-authored the article "The Abraham Accords’ implications for peace in the Middle East" together with Anders Persson (Linnaeus University) published (in Swedish) in Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift. English Title "The Abraham Accords’ implications for peace in the Middle East" Swedish Title "Abrahamavtalens implikationer för fred i Mellanöstern"

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/abraham-accords-and-peace-middle-east - 2025-07-27

Published 21 June 2023 CMES researcher Torsten Janson has written the chapter "Lovers of the Rose: Islamic Affect and the Politics of Commemoration in Turkish Museal Display". Torsten's chapter is part of the edited volume Neo-Ottoman Imaginaries in Contemporary Turkey (2023, Palgrave Macmillan, editors: Catharina Raudvere and Petek Onur). The book presents gendered readings of cultural manifestat

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/islamic-affect-and-nationalist-commemoration-turkish-museums - 2025-07-27

Published 22 June 2023 CMES researcher Rola El-Husseini Dean has authored an article published by the Arab Center Washington DC. Women’s political participation is often seen as a benchmark for democracy, especially since the passing of Resolution 1990/15 of the UN Economic and Social Council. The number of women in Arab legislatures has increased dramatically since the start of the new millennium

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/womens-rights-and-state-feminism-arab-world - 2025-07-27

Published 21 June 2023 New CMES Newsletter about upcoming events and recent research activities and publications. The CMES Newsletter provides an up-to-date overview of Middle Eastern research, activities and events at Lund University and beyond. The Newsletter includes a message from the Director, latest research news, upcoming events and recent publications by CMES scholars. Read the latest issu

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/read-latest-cmes-newsletter-36 - 2025-07-27

Published 26 June 2023 CMES Deputy Director Ronny Berndtsson has co-authored an article on land use and land cover change in Tunisia. The article is published in the journal Remote Sensing. CMES Deputy Director Ronny Berndtsson has co-authored the article "Analysis of Four Decades of Land Use and Land Cover Change in Semiarid Tunisia Using Google Earth Engine" together with Nesrine Kadri (National

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/land-use-and-land-cover-change-tunisia - 2025-07-27

Published 27 June 2023 CMES researcher Lisa Strömbom has co-authored the article "The two-state impasse in Israel/Palestine—The EU caught between egalitarian norms and expansionist realpolitik" together with Anders Persson (Linnaeus University), published in the journal Frontiers in Political Science. Abstract In recent years, many academics as well as local actors have started to question the fea

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/two-state-impasse-israelpalestine-and-eu - 2025-07-27