GL10 Middle East Politics

The Middle East Politics track welcomes proposals for panels and papers, in any subfield of Politics of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)/West Asia and North Africa (WANA). In line with the 2025 World Congress theme, “Resisting Autocratization in Polarized Societies,” we invite submissions on domestic, regional, and international politics of the MENA/WANA region. Topics include, but are not limited to, decolonial/postcolonial studies, political thought/theory, political economy, political ecology, political sociology, and interdisciplinary studies of social movements, democratization, authoritarianism, and the intersectionality of gender, class, race, and religion in MENA/WANA politics. We particularly welcome proposals that critically analyze, using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, the resurgence of authoritarianism in the post-Arab Spring era, and the various forms of resistance and “quiet encroachments” by MENA/WANA civil societies in the pursuit of social justice and democracy. Additionally, we encourage innovative studies critiquing the discourse of "MENA Exceptionalism," which simplifies the region’s crises of gender justice, civil rights, and democratic values into an “autocratic mindset” and cultural/civilizational barriers. We seek submissions that provide contextual analyses of state-society relations, domestic-international dynamics, geopolitics, post-colonial conditions, occupation, war, and the interplay of political economy and identity politics.