Policy Analysis

Iraqis are preparing to participate in the country’s most important elections since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003. As all parties prepare for the ballot, interviews with those who choose to participate and those boycotting it emphasize what’s at stake.

Even as Lebanon struggles with basic necessities, the country will need to explore radical reforms in education and other sectors if it is ever to break out of the cycle of repeated collapse.

After two decades of decline for America’s world image, the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan will alter Middle East perspectives about American promise and dominance.

Iraqi PM Kadhimi’s recent visit demonstrates a positive vision of U.S.-Iraqi relations and improved confidence among Iraqi leaders.

While plagued by difficulties and divisions, the hope created by the Hirak movement is still alive, and Algerians should work to cultivate it.

In spite of recent attempts to reinvigorate the Arab world, the failure to effectively address the region’s polarization remains a major obstacle to development.

Reforms are needed to open greater opportunities for Iraqi women's political representation.

If the Biden administration is serious about addressing human rights violations, it should push for a more democratic, free, and just government in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Without radical reform, Iraq faces potential dissolution and geographic fragmentation in the case of an increasingly likely economic crisis.

Unregulated weapons, corruption, and mismanagement are pushing Iraq's political system towards potential collapse.

Violence against women and other social issues in the KRI require multifaceted, international solutions, and the United States stands to benefit from supporting these solutions.

The history of Iraq’s political parties helps contextualize why Iraq’s current political scene is so fragmented, and what remains missing.

Iraqi Kurdistan's Komal party faces a difficult dilemma as it seeks a more reformist direction.

The talks, which resumed in April in secret sessions, have made progress toward an agreement. But many are concerned that delays and unreasonable demands have turned the talks into theater among regional parties vying for power.

Moroccan responses to normalization with Israel are split along two opposing narratives, although popular resistance to normalization is unlikely to cause any real change.

Algeria's divided Hirak movement needs greater unity in order to strengthen real, democratic institutions.

Regardless of the Biden Administration's stance on Iran and Hezbollah, sanctioning corrupt politicians in Lebanon is a good call.

New polls show that Iraqis want institutional change, but they are losing faith in elections as a real means towards reform.

There are several steps the Biden administration can take to strengthen its allies in Syria and promote a peaceful solution.

A federalist system is the only viable option for a new government in Yemen.