Middle Eastern Lectures
Number Four 2001
Editor’s Note

This fourth number of Middle Eastern Lectures is offered to readers in a new format. It is published only on the web. The transformation of MEL into an electronic journal is meant to cut down on production time, and increase “circulation” to a wider readership. In future, lectures will be posted very soon after their initial delivery, on a continuous basis. Readers are invited to return to this website frequently, to keep abreast of new additions. And in future, the three previous issues of MEL also will be added to this site.
    Bernard Lewis opens this new issue with a sweeping overview of Iran in history, charting its past influence on world culture and its continuing impact on the Middle East. Ali Banuazizi looks more immediately at the prospects of reform in Khatami’s Iran—a contest that pits popular will against an entrenched old guard.
    Frank G. Wisner and Lisa Anderson present very different assessments of the Arab world: Wisner is optimistic about the essentially pragmatic character of Arab politics, Anderson is highly critical of the Arab order’s failure to cope with the need for political reform, economic growth, and technological innovation.
    There are two entries in the Islamism category. Bassam Tibi looks at Islamists in the Maghrib, and concludes that they still pose a danger, not just to Maghribi stability but to regional peace. Binnaz Toprak allows that Islamists in Turkey maintain their appeal, but insists that opposition to them extends well beyond the army and secular elite.
    Mark R. Cohen closes this issue with a retrospective look at the career of the late Geniza historian, Shelomo D. Goiten, with a special emphasis on his contribution to the understanding of the religious, social, and economic history of Islam.
    MEL, as a vehicle for lectures delivered at the Dayan Center, reflects the director’s choice of invited speakers. As director of the Center, I made those choices for numbers two, three, and four. In future, the choices will be made by my successor as director, Asher Susser. I wish him well, and look forward to shifts in priorities and emphases he might bring to this series.

Martin Kramer