Philosophy	Fields	Goals
Means	History & Achievements	Major achievements
	Research Methods

Philosophy

    The Middle East Studies Center is a scientific center specializing in conducting research, studies, and consultation; in holding seminars, conferences, and scientific research symposiums pertaining to the changes in the Middle East region; in studying the Middle Eastern formulas, and in predicting its future and its reflection on the Arab and Muslim region.  The center was established on March 10, 1991 in Amman, Jordan.

Fields

    The center focuses on studying the Arab - Israeli conflict and its future developments, the peace process in the region, the changes in the Arab Muslim region, and the Middle East in the world order and international relations (politically, economically, intellectually, and strategically).   Hence, it is concerned with changes of subject and sector domains, as follows:
 

• Subject interests:  Focuses on the political, social, economic, and strategic changes.
• Sector interests:  Focuses on North Africa, the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf, the Mediterranean, Turkey and Iran.

    The center carries out its researches in accordance with the objective scientific approach and works with openness to achieve its goals on all thoughts, new developments, and intellectual political attitudes in the world.  It attempts to predict the future and present the necessary analyses, information, and vision for decision-makers and society leaders in the Middle East.  With its fellow Jordanian centers, it contributes to serving the nation, the Arab and Muslim homeland, and the future of the whole nation.  As a base, it seeks to arrive at future objective visions of what region’s conditions will become , the nature of current and expected changes in different domains, and the extent of their reflection on the reality and future of the region, whether in the international, regional, or domestic dimensions of the Middle Eastern countries.  The center defines the Middle East region as the Arab countries in their entirety besides Iran and Turkey.

Goals

The center aims at achieving the following goals

1. Providing studies and offering consultations that can help develop Jordan in various fields, serve the Arab and Muslim region, and support its independence.
2. Making the educated Jordanians, Arabs, and Muslims aware of the latest developments and changes in the region and the world.  It also aims at bringing about a cultural context that serves the interest of the country and the nation and at clarifying the issues of the Middle East and the future of its international ties.
3. Providing accurate and scientific information for researchers and sponsoring scholarly individuals.
4. Contributing to the cultural, intellectual, and political development in Jordan and the region.

The center presents its analyses and visions to achieve these goals through

1. Completion of scientific studies and researches.
2. Concentration on analytical and informative reports of major changes in the region.
3. Results of scientific seminars and research symposiums held by the center.
4. The Journal, which pursues up-to-date changes in the Middle East region and what cannot be covered in seminars and research.
5. Presentation of scientific research papers at seminars in which the center takes part.

Research Methods

The center exercises a scientific method in the stages of research completion. There is a commitment to internationally recognized conditions of methods of academic research with some new developments. Research is always subject to full supervision and constant follow up by the center. The center provides necessary information from different languages for the researchers. Research is subject to scientific review and evaluation by specialists and other experts. The time plan to complete research is built on the basis of maturation and reaching objective neutral results.  This may take from three months to three years.

History & Achievements

    Since its beginning in 1991, the center has followed the line of programs of conferences and scientific seminars which dealt with the most important and serious current changes in the Middle East, thus attracting a large number of interested people.  Then it adopted the balance between those and research and studies.  In 1995, the center became prominent in the field of research and studies, while on March 17, 1996 it issued the first volume of the Middle Eastern Issues journal.  Between five and eight publications have been put out annually.  It has also held one main conference and two sub-seminars annually- all of them in the same specialty field studying the changes and forecasting the future.

    The center currently has wide academic relationships that include the Middle East region, Europe, and North America.  It carries out programs of cooperation, openness, and exchange with major Arab and foreign research centers that are carrying out similar work.  It has good relations with more than 20 Jordanian and Arab centers specializing in Middle East affairs. These relations are performed through exchange, consultation, cooperation, and hiring researchers.

    The center has executed several joint programs with Jordanian-Arab centers as well as with cultural and union bodies in Jordan.  As of Aug 2003, it has issued 80 scientific publications of research, studies, Strategic reports, seminars, and scientific research symposiums that deal with many aspects concerning the Middle East region and that were subject to academic review by specialized professors.  They included a wide variety of areas including the political, economic, social, security and other fields and covered different geographical areas of the Middle East:  the Arabian Gulf, the Arab west, the region of Arab - Israeli conflict, Turkey and Iran.  Since its establishment, more than 450 full-time and part-time researchers have worked with the center in different academic specialties.  They were of different Arab, Moslem, American  and European nationalities and of different generations.

    The center also held more than 27 conferences and scientific seminars in which over 1000 researchers , politicians , and economists took part in an atmosphere of scientific dialogue ,calm and constructive discussion.  Nearly 130 researchers from different specialties and intellectual, religious, and political attitudes participated in presenting the papers in these seminars .

    About 40 % of the center studies have dealt with the Arab - Israeli conflict and the Palestinian cause, while 60 % have been regional, Middle Eastern, and international studies.

    Through its work, the center has confirmed the importance of  studying the changes as an introduction to scientific research and predicting future circumstances.

Major achievements

It can be said that the major achievements of the center have been

• Conducting scholarly, professional studies and holding scientific seminars that deal with the Middle East peace process and the agreements and its impacts on the region as well as the conflict and the future of this process.
• Issuing two expanded studies on the Palestinian cause: the first is the comprehensive Introduction to the Palestinian Cause.  It was prepared as a textbook for universities and Arab higher institutions. The second is A Study in The Political Ideology of the Hamas Movement, which is considered as the variable and developing element in the Palestinian cause, particularly after the signing of the Oslo accord.
• Accomplishing two studies:  one is international, dealing with The Future of  International Policies toward the Middle East .  The second is regional and deals with The Security of the Arabian Gulf in the New World Order .
• Holding a closed seminar to consider the issue of Arab National Security in the Red Sea Region, where the five off-shore Arab states attended ( 5 states ) and politicians, military men, and scholars participated.  Another open seminar was held on The Problem of Water in the Middle East with the attendance of most of the river states of  Dejlah, Alforat, Yarmouk, Jordan and the Nile (6 states).
• Holding a seminar on "The Western Trends Towards the Political Islam in the Middle East". Western and Arab academics participated from eight countries including Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, UK, USA, France and Palestine.