Policy Analysis

The latest rebel success, while significant in battlefield terms, has empowered extremist forces and further highlighted Washington's insufficient support for Syria's mainstream opposition.

As Turkey moves toward municipal, presidential, and parliamentary elections over the next three years, all signs point to the ruling Justice and Development Party retaining power for another decade and continuing its effort to mold the country in its Islamist image. Even so, the new Turkey seems destined to retain

In the coming months, what the parties say will be more important than what they do.

Increasingly well-armed rebels are a problem for the regime and could complicate the period after Assad's fall.

The Obama administration should intervene in Riyadh's succession crisis if it wants a reliable partner on Iran.

U.S.-brokered efforts to untangle the maritime knot between the three countries could boost natural gas exploration.

In the wake of the Arab uprisings, radicalized individuals from previous periods and conflicts have returned to the stage.

On January 12, 2012, Thai police arrested suspected Hizballah operative Atris Hussein at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Elsewhere in Bangkok, authorities seized a large cache of chemical explosives, leading U.S. and Israeli authorities to issue emergency alerts warning their citizens of a possible imminent terrorist attack. On the basis of materials seized

Watch Undersecretary of State Tara D. Sonenshine's Wednesday address to a Washington Institute Policy Forum on the challenges of projecting American interests and values to Middle Easterners at a time of tumultuous political change.

Washington must rein in Turkey before a conflagration further complicates U.S. options for addressing the Syrian civil war.

Why Obama needs to focus on corruption to save America's most reliable Arab ally.

A successful peace process will require renewed faith in the U.S.-Israel alliance, America's regional leadership, and the utility of incremental Israeli-Palestinian gains.

Can Turkey’s experience in the past decade under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government -- more or less successfully blending democracy, close ties with the U.S., “Muslim” foreign policy, capitalism, and Islamism -- be replicated by the “Arab Spring”? In other words, are Arab AKPs in the making in

In January, the Atlantic published a series of policy proposals for the Obama administration's second term by Washington Institute scholars. The full series is collected here.

The lawless desert on Israel's border presents immediate risks -- and possible opportunities -- for American interests in the region.

After almost two years of bloodletting in Syria, there is little chance that negotiations of the kind UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has been urging would end the conflict; more likely, they would prolong it.

The currently cordial relationship between Egypt's Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood isn’t likely to last: their mutual pursuit of an Islamic state belies their deep ideological and behavioral differences.

The growing threat of Arab-Israeli war, the Iranian nuclear issue, and the potential for Palestinian political meltdown could make this year a precarious one for Israel.

Despite ideological affinities between the Muslim Brotherhood and Tehran, political disagreements make a rapprochement unlikely.

An in-depth look at how the United States can use pressure and inducements to convince Iran's leaders that negotiating a nuclear deal is their best option.