Middle East Reader (MER) is an initiative by the National Institute of Advanced Studies as part of its research activities on area studies. The MER aims to comprehensively monitor and analyse developments across the Middle East. Given the historic, ethnic, political, economic and energy linkages, the MER looks at the region in its full complexity, including the Gulf, Levant, North Africa and the wider West Asian strategic space, along with maritime developments in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea and the western Indian Ocean.
The goal of the Middle East Reader is to examine various areas including internal politics, economy, social developments, demography, energy and external relations. The MER would also aim to bring Indian scholars working on the region together every year in an annual conclave in Bangalore. Subsequently, the MER would build linkages with institutions and individual scholars across the region and create a larger network.
The MER is initiated with a Daily Brief on the Middle East, and will progressively broaden its research. In the short term it will publish a Middle East Weekly, and eventually commentaries, reports and databases on contemporary issues with a historical context. The larger objective of the MER is to make NIAS a centre of Middle East research, prepare databases, build capacity amongst young scholars, and create a network across the region.
