Political Science Research in the Middle East and North Africa ― Methodological and Ethical Challenges

In conducting political science research today, one's methodology is of paramount concern. Yet, despite the obvious chasm between theory and practice that all scholars experience in the field, there are no specific guidebooks on meeting the methodological and ethical challenges that fieldwork presents. Political Science Research in the Middle East and North Africa helps fill this vacuum, focusing specifically on doing research in the one of the most important regions in contemporary world politics. Janine A. Clark and Francesco Cavatorta have gathered together a large and diverse group of researchers who study the region and focus on methodological "lessons learned" from their first hand experiences of employing a variety of research methods while conducting fieldwork. The contributors also look at the challenges of conducting field research in a variety of contexts, such as in areas of violence, and using research methods such as interviewing and ethnography. This volume will therefore be an invaluable companion book to more standard methods books and a useful tool, not just for Middle East scholars, but for all researchers conducting research in complex settings.

Janine A. Clark is an Associate Professor in Political Science at the University of Guelph. She has conducted extensive field research on Islamism, decentralization, and civil society activism in the Middle East and North Africa. She is the author of Local Politics in Jordan and Morocco (Columbia UP) and Islam, Charity and Activism (Indiana UP) and co-editor of Economic Liberalization, Democratization and Civil Society in the Developing World (Macmillan/St. Martin's).

Francesco Cavatorta is an Associate Professor in Political Science at Laval University. He has conducted extensive field research on Islamism, party politics in the Arab world and civil society activism in the Middle East and North Africa. He is the author of The international dimension of the failed Algerian transition: Democracy betrayed? (Manchester University Press), co-author Politics and Governance in the Middle East (Palgrave), and co-editor of Salafism after the Arab Awakening: Contending with people's power (Hurst).