Policy Analysis

Dire circumstances are pushing Lebanese people to the edge, which could bring violent results.

After the UN's failures regarding Assad, Syrians need a more forceful option to restore their dignity and rights.

Algeria's divided political system has limited time to make critical reforms.

Increasing natural gas production and enhancing the oil industry are critical to reviving Iraq's economy.

A recent poll gauges Egyptians' lasting impressions of their chapter in the Arab Spring.

Sisi may need to respond to U.S. pressure over human rights issues, but he knows that Biden will not willingly damage relations with Egypt.

Libya's political process will require input from all its people, including women, youth, and minorities, to ensure a government that governs the country fairly and legitimately.

The best means of understanding Biden’s likely Middle East policy is by analyzing his own writing on the question, which suggests that expectations for a major shift in regional policies may remain unmet.

On August 27, the government of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi formed a committee to investigate major cases of corruption in Iraq, acknowledging the ongoing frustration among Iraqis with the rampant corruption that has plagued the country.

While Iraqi elites seem to see the announcement of early elections as a major development, polling reveals that Iraqi public opinion is less optimistic about the moves ability to promise major change.

One of the most common terms used among Iraqi elites to criticize the current state is the concept of the non-state, or al-ladaula. Anyone closely observing Iraq’s political affairs cannot avoid reading and hearing this word multiple times a day, given its prominent usage on TV debates, Whatsapp chats, local

In 1992, as I watched the celebrations for the inauguration of al-Tabiqayn Bridge in Baghdad (formerly, al-Qa’id Bridge) on Al-Shabab Television, I turned to my wife and said: “wouldn’t it have been better for us if the cost of this bridge had been spent on better flour for us to

With the failure to implement the Riyadh Agreement, Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council calls for independence as the best means of ensuring south Yemen’s peace and stability.

In a recently announced move, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Khartoum yesterday as part of his broader tour through the region, including visits to Israel, Bahrain, and the UAE. The Israel-UAE normalization deal sparked the series of diplomatic visits. In the wake of these developments, international observers wondered if

Half of Saudis now say that good ties with China are “important” for their country.

Months after the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir in April 2019, Sudan’s main opposition coalition and the ruling military council finalized a power sharing deal with the hopes of forging a path towards legitimate elections and civilian rule. However, the tools that Bashir used throughout his reign remain deeply embedded in

The population of the Middle East and North Africa is facing an imminent, severe water crisis, with a number of potentially disastrous consequences for the region. This water crisis—devastating in and of itself—also means food shortages and famine. Moreover, this additional pressure on the region’s most vulnerable is likely to

With a fragile democratic transition process and a continuous low-intensity yet bloody conflict against terrorist groups, Tunisia is still taking stock of the effects and repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country. The pandemic hit at a time of political struggle and economic uncertainty. As such, the government’s response

In my most recent Fikra Forum piece, In Defense of Islamic Religious Reform, I address the need for religious reform in the modern age. In Hassan Mneimneh’s response to my piece, Islamic Religious Reform Is an Institutional Need First, he raises several thoughtful questions regarding Islamic religious reform’s feasibility, and

As Iraqi Kurdistan faces several severe crises simultaneously, it must evaluate the benefits and limitations of a popular call to reform and decentralize its current model of government. The Kurdistan regional government’s (KRG) current outdated model of governance will likely prove to be ineffective in handling these major challenges, revealing