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Legitimacy and Civicness in the Arab World

In collaboration with the Arab Association of Constitutional Law (AACL)

LSE PI: Dr Reem Turkmani
Duration: October 2023 - Present

Colourful graffiti mural with portraits and Arabic text.
Elections Mural (C) Gigi Ibrahim, Flickr (2012)

The international normative framing of civil society and its values does not always match the local perceptions in the Arab world where civic action and values have historically unfolded differently. The inside understanding of this local context and connotations and often excluded from the literature or brought in as a 'local voice' to reinforce a narrative that they, otherwise, have no part in formulating.

The current gaps between the perception and the production of knowledge regarding legitimacy, civil society and civic values lead to three main impediments. The gaps in understanding can obstruct the efforts of local civic actors pushing for equal rights and inclusive societies as they work to overcome local and international misconceptions and that undermine their agency and ownership. It can also limit scholarly understanding of key social and political processes as well as hinder the effectiveness of democratisation efforts.

This project aims to explore the gaps in understanding civicness and legitimacy between external policymakers and local citizens by working closely with partners and scholars from the region to produce nuanced knowledge, publish policy and academic papers as well as provide capacity building for early career researchers and integrate them into the knowledge production process.

The project builds on previous research conducted by the team with LSE IDEAS. Research findings from previous phases are published on the project's purpose-built website. The project is funded by the Carnegie Corporation New York through its International Peace and Security programme.
Elections Mural (C) Gigi Ibrahim, Flickr (2012)

Civicness in the Arab World - Working Group

The Working Group is a cluster of academics, experts and young scholars working together around the theme of civil society and civicness as understood, experienced, and perceived locally in the Arab world. Members work in small teams to produce research outputs addressing the issues in a particular context as well as mentorship and training.

Members include:

LSE team: Reem Turkmani, Iavor Rangelov, Kendall Livingston and Ninar Fawal.

Senior Academics and Experts: Amel Grami, Carmen Geha, Heba Raouf Ezzat, Majd Al Naber, Matthew Benson and Sulaiman Abdel Nabi.

Early/Mid-Career Researchers: Ammar Alsamar, Amir Nasher Al Neam, Fares Atasi, Fatimah Saadi, Mounira Balgouthi, Muhanad Abuothman, Munzer Khalil, Ömer Abdin, Raga Makawi, Samer Fakhoury and Sema Nassar.

Project Outputs

Principal Investigator

  • Reem Turkmani

    Reem Turkmani | Assistant Professorial Research Fellow

    Reem is Assistant Professorial Research Fellow in the Conflict and Civil Society Research Unit, directing the Syria Conflict Research Programme and publishing several papers and reports on the Syrian conflict.

Research Team

  • Ibrahim Draji

    Ibrahim Draji | Consultant

    Ibrahim holds a PhD in International Law and has an extensive background in human rights, refugee rights and IDPs, international humanitarian law, mainstreaming gender, gender equality, child rights, human trafficking and constitutional issues.

  • Tamara El Khoury

    Tamara El Khoury | Partner Lead

    Tamara is Executive Director of the Arab Association of Constitutional Law and a lecturer on constitutional law. She is also Co-Editor of the third and fourth issues of Journal of Constitutional Law – MENA.

  • Ninar Fawal

    Ninar Fawal | Research Assistant

    Ninar is an MPhil student in International Relations at the University of Oxford. Prior, she was a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, working on their Middle East Program.