Editor's Introduction

In this issue of the Digest of Middle East Studies, we are pleased to present five articles on subjects both timely and important. From the theoretical and reflective to the practical and policy-developing, this issue offers, as always, works that engage both policy and social science concerns. This issue's articles have a broad geographical reach from Morocco to Iran and an equally broad range in terms of topical focus, but within this diversity they all address in one way or another issues of security, policy formation, and identity.

Said Khanafira Mavadat's “Iran in the Sadrist Version of Iraqi Nationalism” investigates and explains Muqtada Sadr's construction of an Iraqi identity that is both specifically Arab and specifically Shiite, through the reshaping of the politically contingent narrative about Iran and Shiite identity and authority in the post-war Iraqi context. National identity issues are also the subject of Tuğçe Ersoy-Ceylan's article “Social Identities in Conflict: Israeli Palestinians and Israeli Jews.” Ersoy-Ceylan takes on a subject matter deeply familiar to observers to draw out new insights about similar identity dynamics in very differently-positioned peoples, offering an analysis grounded in recognition of the common human dynamics of security fears and their consequences.

In “Discursive Delegitimization of Rouhani's Nuclear Diplomacy and the Iran Nuclear Deal by Iranian Conservatives on Twitter,” Hossein Nourani, Mohammad Mohammadian, Reza Sarhaddi, Afsaneh Danesh, and Farzaneh Latifi present an interesting analysis of social media statements by Iranian public figures as a basis for understanding competing discourses with regard to domestic actors and nuclear policy. This research provides insight into both the discourse itself and the use of social media as a tool not only for popular protest but for what might be termed more ordinary political competition among public figures, as actors recognize the utility of Twitter for shaping public narratives of criticism of their opponents.

Micheale Gebru addresses security-related issues in “The Impact of the Middle East and Gulf States' Involvement on the Horn of Africa's Peace and Security,” making use of Regional Security Complex theory to analyze the growing Middle Eastern state presence in the Horn of Africa. This article offers a detailed account of external involvement in the region motivated by economic and foreign policy goals, the latter of which are both locally-centered and also at times connected to proxy competition with other Middle East actors. He finds that on balance, the effect of Middle East presence in the Horn of Africa has exacerbated local conflict and tended to destabilize rather than secure the region.

We are also pleased to offer an article in our occasional “scholarly commentary” category, Jack Kalpakian's “The Lack of Environmental Cooperation in the Maghreb.” As always, these are peer-reviewed articles that deal with important and engaging current issues from the perspective of the application of scholarly expertise. This piece takes as its starting point the urgent issue of the use and preservation of water resources in North Africa, a policy issue complicated by the transnational nature of the resources in question. Applying previous work on strategies for the development of practical policy options, the article traces eight steps of an approach that could promote better and more accessible policy-creation mechanisms in the Maghreb.

As always, we are grateful to the peer reviewers who have offered their time and their scholarly expertise in the review and development of the works in this issue of the journal. I also wish to thank our editorial assistants, Misha Datskovsky and Andrew Noland, whose work makes the publication of the journal possible. We hope that this issue of the Digest of Middle East Studies has much to interest you.

编者简介

在本期《中东研究文摘》中，我们很高兴地发表五篇主题及时且重要的文章。从理论和反思到实践和政策制定，本期一如既往地提供涉及政策和社会科学问题的作品。本期文章的地理范围从摩洛哥到伊朗，主题范围也同样广泛，但在这种多样性中，它们都以这样或那样的方式讨论安全、政策制定和身份问题。

赛义德·卡纳菲拉·马瓦达特 (Said Khanafira Mavadat) 的《伊拉克民族主义萨德尔版本中的伊朗》调查并解释了穆克塔达·萨德尔 (Muqtada Sadr) 通过重塑关于伊朗和什叶派身份和权威的政​​治偶然叙事，构建了一种既特有阿拉伯又特有什叶派的伊拉克身份。 -伊拉克战争背景。民族身份问题也是图切·埃尔索伊-杰兰的文章“冲突中的社会身份：以色列巴勒斯坦人和以色列犹太人”的主题。厄索伊-塞兰以观察家们非常熟悉的主题为主题，对定位截然不同的民族中类似的身份动态得出新的见解，并提供了基于对安全恐惧及其后果的人类常见动态的认识的分析。

在“伊朗保守派在 Twitter 上对鲁哈尼核外交和伊朗核协议的非合法性进行讨论”一文中，Hossein Nourani、Mohammad Mohammadian、Reza Sarhaddi、Afsaneh Danesh 和 Farzaneh Latifi 对伊朗公众人物的社交媒体言论进行了有趣的分析。了解有关国内行为者和核政策的竞争性话语。这项研究提供了对话语本身和社交媒体使用的深入了解，不仅作为大众抗议的工具，而且作为公众人物之间更普通的政治竞争的工具，因为演员认识到推特在塑造公众批评叙事方面的效用他们的对手。

米歇尔·格布鲁（Micheale Gebru）在《中东和海湾国家的参与对非洲之角和平与安全的影响》中探讨了与安全相关的问题，利用区域安全复合体理论来分析中东国家在非洲之角日益增长的存在。本文详细介绍了受经济和外交政策目标驱动的外部参与该地区的情况，后者既以当地为中心，有时也与与其他中东参与者的代理竞争有关。他发现，总的来说，中东在非洲之角的存在加剧了当地冲突，并且往往会破坏该地区的稳定，而不是确保该地区的安全。

我们还很高兴在我们偶尔的“学术评论”类别中提供一篇文章，杰克·卡尔帕基安的“马格里布缺乏环境合作”。与往常一样，这些都是经过同行评审的文章，从学术专业知识应用的角度处理重要且引人入胜的当前问题。本文以北非水资源的利用和保护这一紧迫问题为出发点，这是一个因相关资源的跨国性质而变得复杂的政策问题。本文应用之前关于制定实际政策选择的战略的工作，追踪了可以促进马格里布更好、更容易利用的政策制定机制的方法的八个步骤。

与往常一样，我们感谢同行评审员在本期期刊的作品评审和开发过程中付出的时间和学术专业知识。我还要感谢我们的编辑助理 Misha Datskovsky 和 ​​Andrew Noland，他们的工作使该期刊的出版成为可能。我们希望本期《中东研究文摘》能够引起您的兴趣。