Doktoor Josh
Great news for old-time readers of The Arabist: my old friend and longtime Arabist contributor Josh Stacher can officially append the letters PhD to his name!
A few days ago Josh defended his thesis, which compares regime strength and adaption in Syria and Egypt over the last decade (to make it simple). For the last few years Josh had to move back and forth between the two countries, spending time away from his wife Maye and daughter Kimi, not to mention all the time he spent chasing NDP bigshots, running around with Muslim Brotherhood candidates in the Delta, and all of the other fun stuff that comes with research. Perhaps Josh can give the official title of his thesis in the comments — although I think (from having heard him hammer in his point many times) it could be called “It’s the institutions, stupid.”
Much of his findings during 2005 he shared with us, writing 108 mostly long, detailed analyses of Egyptian, Syrian and regional politics (and occasionally getting into trouble with the powers that be about them.) There was his early announcement of the failure of the Greater Middle East Initiative, his analysis of what the amendment of Article 76 meant, his coverage of many a Kifaya demo… I could go on. Click here to see them all.
Mabrouk ya doktoor!
Categories: General.
Congratulations to Joshua Stacher for earning a PhD but I wonder how he could compare the 2 regimes in Cairo and Damascus.The regime in Cairo is on its way to becoming an American-Israeli protectorate, and has enthusiastically backed neoliberal policies which have bankrupted and emiserated the ordinary Egyptian while the Baathis regime in Damascus, whatever its faults, refuses to back the Israeli-American plan for a “Greater Middle East” and where ordinary citizens still enjoy free health, education and social security, the state is harshly secular and where women are very emancipated and defy the stereotype usually depicted of Middle Eastern women on CNN and BBC.And let us not forget that Bashar Assad was the only Arab leader who publicly wished for an American defeat in Iraq (he may have his own reasons for doing so, albeit for self-preservation).I wonder why you haven’t brought this out in your posts Issandr.There is a vast difference between the regime in Cairo and the one in Damascus.The former is a client state, a dictatorship which oppresses its people and Palestinians and is a surrogate for Israel in the region while the latter - despite its undesirable aspects - is an anti-imperialist state which challenges American-Israeli domination of the region and defends the gains made by the Lebanese resistance in Lebanon (it was doing exactly that until pro-American stooges used the cover of Rafiq Hariri’s assassination to force Syrian troops out of Lebanon)
Ayyyyywa, Ustaz Duktur!!!!
Raza, Josh touches on the question of the international position and policy of the two states in his dissertation, which I’d encourage you to read. At this point, after a gruelling defence of something he’s probably thoroughly sick of, I’d understand if he really didn’t want to have to talk about or explain it any more.
Wallow in the glory, Gosh.
Hi gang and thanks for all the years of support in Damascus and Cairo. You all were the oil that kept the engine moving.
I am quite happy with SP’s explanation and she is right. I am tired of thinking about it for the moment.
It should be available at the University of St. Andrews’ library next week.
And as for the final title, it was _Adapting Authoritarianism: Institutions and Co-optation in Egypt and Syria_
“Adapting Authoritarianism: Institutions and Co-optation in Egypt and Syria”..hmm, well that says it all, doesn’t it……..I don’t mind if the author himself doesn’t want to think about it for a while, but I also don’t want people rushing up to defend him…I am sure he can defend his arguments pretty much by himself, having defended them for his dissertation….
Back to the title of the dissertation…..Again, going by the title, I was right in my hunches from my post above…..the nature of the 2 regimes is entirely different.It is that corpulent arsehole Mubarak who has betrayed Nasser and all the progressive achievements of the Egyptian Revolution…Bashar is pretty much faithful to the egalitarian ideals of the Baath Party, and some notches less repressive than his father Hafez.
I guess this is the sort of topic which would get you a lot of funding from places like the NED, USAID, IRI, NDI, etc….especially post-doc opportunities…and certainly not the topic I am looking at for my PhD proposal, which is on the communist movements in the Arab/Muslim world and how can communism be relevant for social movements in the Muslim world in the 21st century.
All the best to Dr Stacher.
woohoo! cool
congratulations!
Well done, Stacher!!! Mabruk!
[This comment was rescued from the spamcatcher.]
Well, Raza, comparison aims at stressing the similarities and the differences between two objects, and explaining them, right? So of course there are differences. And similarities. A big one is the authoritarian nature of both regimes, with a dominant coalition holding power. They are both faced with the challenge of adaptation to changing circumstances and of rethinking the ways to keep the power and handle opposition (transforming coalitions, partial liberalisation, institutional changes, cooptation techniques, etc..). The link with public policies - which is something different - is always complex. The Syrian and Egyptian foreign policies are indeed radically different, but that’s part of the picture. Having read your thesis subject, I have the feeling that you have a more normative perspective, that you’re trying to say what is desirable or not based on certain criteria. That’s legitimate, but it implies a totally different focus and also different scientific methods.
Dear Raza,
read J.S. Mill for starters about methodology.
Hey Josh,
Congratulations, man. I cannot wait to read your dissertation. When will it be published?
Let me know when you’re passing by DC next.
Ahmed
Mabrooook ya Josh… (re)celebrations await your return…
Raza, if you really are planning to be a scholar, something that will help you be a good one is learning not to pass judgment about things you have yet to examine. I am referring both to your comments about Josh’s thesis, as well as to your description of your own thesis proposal. A question like “Can communism be of relevance to social movements in the Muslim world?” - i.e. devoid of pre-conclusions - would be a better launch-point for your research, from an academic point of view at least.
In any case good luck.
Bashar is pretty much faithful to the egalitarian ideals of the Baath Party (etc, etc, etc.)
Uhm. Raza, I think you should go and visit Syria. Or … if you are in Syria, then perhaps you should visit some other country.
Hey Raza, I know some Kurdish guerillas up in the Qandil mountains near the Iranian border who sound a great deal like you… though they hate the Syrian regime for oppressing them and driving them out. Weird that.
Josh, you rock. It’s a been a long, tough road, but you made it. congrats.
(technical problem again? my comment left yesterday was not published.)
Alf mabrouk, Dr. Stacher!
Congratulations Josh! What’s next?
Thanks for all the nice comments everyone. And, also, thanks for all the support over the years. I really am lucky to be able to call you all friends.
I have no idea what’s next. I guess that I will be trying to take the diss and make it a book. But I don’t have any ideas about publishers or things like that at this stage.
Congrats ya doktor Josh. Well done!
Alf mabrook, ya Josh! And you havent been incarcerated yet!
A big zaghrouta! Mabrouk ya Doctor Josh!