A surprisingly hopeful assessment of the prospects for human rights in the Middle East, and a blueprint for advancing them The enormous sense of optimism unleashed by the Arab Spring in 2011 soon gave way to widespread suffering and despair. Of the many popular uprisings against autocratic regimes, Tunisia's now stands alone as a beacon of hope for sustainable human rights progress. Libya is a failed state; Egypt returned to military dictatorship; the Gulf States suppressed popular protests and tightened control; and Syria and Yemen are ravaged by civil war. Challenging the widely shared pessimism among regional experts, Micheline Ishay charts bold and realistic pathways for human rights in a region beset by political repression, economic distress, sectarian conflict, a refugee crisis, and violence against women. With due attention to how patterns of revolution and counterrevolution play out in different societies and historical contexts, Ishay reveals the progressive potential of subterranean human rights forces and offers strategies for transforming current realities in the Middle East.

A surprisingly hopeful assessment of the prospects for human rights in the Middle East, and a blueprint for advancing them The enormous sense of optimism unleashed by the Arab Spring in 2011 soon gave way to widespread suffering and despair. Of the many popular uprisings against autocratic regimes, Tunisia’s now stands alone as a beacon of hope for sustainable human rights progress. Libya is a failed state; Egypt returned to military dictatorship; the Gulf States suppressed popular protests and tightened control; and Syria and Yemen are ravaged by civil war. Challenging the widely shared pessimism among regional experts, Micheline Ishay charts bold and realistic pathways for human rights in a region beset by political repression, economic distress, sectarian conflict, a refugee crisis, and violence against women. With due attention to how patterns of revolution and counterrevolution play out in different societies and historical contexts, Ishay reveals the progressive potential of subterranean human rights forces and offers strategies for transforming current realities in the Middle East.

The first newspapers in the Ottoman lands generally focused on commercial and financial news, but as the time passed, they developed a richer content portfolio with a wider range of topics. The Levant Herald (1856-1914) was one of the long-lasting newspapers issued by British subjects under Ottoman rule. From this perspective, it witnessed the Empire’s last decades. Although The Levant Herald was published in Ottoman territory, it also circulated in Europe and Britain. Due to this, the newspaper had a somewhat international character. The main purpose of the newspaper was to give news concerning the financial, commercial and economic developments in the Near East, the Levant in particular, and to highlight the investment opportunities in the region. It was aimed at not only the British Levantine groups in the Ottoman territory and their local and commercial partners, but also the entire European community that had settled in the east. The proprietors of the newspaper changed several times during its lifecycle and due to the regular threat of closure, it had to be issued under different names. The names that the newspaper used were as follows: The Levant Herald, The Constantinople Messenger, The Eastern Express, The Levant Herald & Eastern Express.

This book is about domestic politics following the Revolution of 1908 in Turkey. Although seemingly straightforward in its telling of events from the opening of the Parliament in alte 1908 to the re-capture of constitutional government in early 1913, this book is built upon a premise that is fundamentally different from previous studies. Whereas previous studies deal with the period as if conditions were normalised immediately after the Revolution of 1908, this book takes the view that the period under scrutiny is a relentless struggle over the political future of Turkey. The Revolution of 1908 was no mere "restoration" of the Constitution of 1876. It tried to bring about a fundamental change in the political structure of Turkey. In more senses than one, the Revolution brought about the end of the Ottoman Empire. If the Ottoman Empire stood for everything that reminded one of absolutism and the practices associated with it, "Young Turkey" represented a radical break with that past. A modern, centralised state actively engaged in both promoting capitalist relations of production in the economy, and upholding a parliamentary form of government in politics replaced the absolutist state symbolised in the autocratic personality of Abdülhamid II. The political history of the period from late 1908 to early 1913 reflects the constant struggle between the proponents of the new regime working through, and depending upon, the newly created parliament, and the monarchist forces who aimed at restoring the ancien régime at all costs. One cannot but observe that this is no ordinary parliamentary struggle of two opposing political groups to capture political power through mutually agreed upon principles of liberal democratic politics. Although a superficial look at parliamentary debates and press reports might give that impression, a closer scrutiny of the content of those debates and the reason for, as well as the nature of, the arguments and disagreements show it with absolute clarity that here was a case of a continuous struggle between the old, absolutist mentality and the new, liberal worldview.

This is a detailed account and an excellent narrative history of the often neglected period 1906-1908 in Turkey, in which the prelude and aftermath of the revolution and elections of 1908 took place. The year 1908 opened a new era of representative government and the social and political developments leading to the overthrow of the ancien régime are carefully and fascinatingly given. Historians and general readers will find The Revolution of 1908 in Turkey a thought-provoking book, which will resound in the discussion of the validity of Kemalist or quasi-Kemalist historiography and therefore provide a major contribution to the field.