Policy Analysis

August 10, 2017 This week King Abdullah of Jordan made a rare visit to Ramallah, his first in five years, to confer with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the wake of a crisis over security at the Temple Mount/Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. This latest outbreak of small-scale violence

August 9, 2017 To wish for change is very hard in a culture that fears transformation. For almost three decades Iraqi Kurdistan has seen the same government, the same faces, and the same ideas, with only the slightest changes in leadership or policies. Who is accountable for the crisis in

July 5, 2017 Iran is creating and reinforcing power centers for its allied forces by implementing its policies across a geographic area that extends from the western borders of Iraq to the shores of the Mediterranean. It is also creating provisional Shiite cells in Sunni Arab regions by employing paramilitary

June 20, 2017 This month marks the tenth anniversary of the violent Hamas coup that took control over the 1.9 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. There is still no end in sight to their predicament – but this is most certainly not because Hamas enjoys popular support among the

For almost a century, Kurdish national aspirations were thwarted by geo-strategic considerations in which regional and international actors were complicit. Kurdish identity was mostly denied, marginalized, and disparaged, with dominant irredentist formulae — Arab, Iranian, and Turkish — stipulated as more suitable alternatives. In the newly independent North Africa of

Since I started researching and polling public opinion in Iraq in 2003, I cannot remember more interesting findings than the ones from the recent nationwide survey conducted a few weeks ago. In general - and as a rule since 2003 - hundreds of previous quantitative and qualitative studies have shown

March 23, 2017 In mid-March, the Moroccan King Mohammed VI invoked Article Forty-Seven of the 2011 Constitution to remove President Abdelilah Benkirane from his post. The king asked the career politician from relatively modest means in Rabat-Salé to step down despite appointing him for a second term, his party winning

The emergence and legitimization of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU or Hashd al-Shaabi) represent a continued phenomenon in modern Iraqi history: a weak state and divided armies. For democracy to emerge, the army has to be united and neutral so that it can provide a space for competition among various

March 6, 2017 There is no hiding the religious zeal that gripped Lebanon’s Shiites when, in 2013, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah launched the group’s campaign to defend the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad. Thousands of fighters, imbued with the illusion of rapid victories, crossed the Lebanese border into Syria believing

March 6, 2017 On January 24, during a speech for National Police Day, President Sisi – to everyone’s surprise – brought up the issue of the high divorce rate in Egypt and its dangerous impact on family security and stability, calling for an amendment of divorce laws. According to Sisi’s

At a conference in Dahuk in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq a few weeks ago, I was intrigued to see the leader of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDP-I) -- which the Tehran regime considers a subversive, terrorist group -- address the assembled notables. Sitting in the front row

An American and European-backed administrative “Marshall Plan” – contingent upon many requirements – is necessary in order to save Kurdistan.

Kurdish Islamist factions may be able to participate more fully in political life, but they must first take a clear stance on religious and social freedoms.

Kuwaiti citizens are fed-up with the highly unproductive and unrepresentative 2013-parliament of both opposition and tribal groups. Thus the turnout for the upcoming elections is expected to be high with both political groups vying to make a comeback.

The increase in the power of Hezbollah and Iran is a danger to Lebanese democracy. Even so, the selection of a new president will hopefully set the stage for parliamentary elections to finally occur after three years of delay.

After so much hope, what happened?

In Iraq, the menace of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Sadrist Movement, has reared its head again, posing serious challenges to Prime Minister Abadi and his plans for government reform. For several months, Abadi’s efforts to fight corruption and replace incompetent ministers with technocrats have faced resistance

Five months ago Nawshirwan Mustafa, general organizer of the Change Movement (Gorran) party in Kurdistan, left Iraq for London under the pretext of receiving medical treatment for chronic back pain. His extended stay has puzzled not only his rivals, but also his supporters. Silence over Mustafa’s condition, as well as

March 3, 2016 Could one of Iraq’s most notorious political parties make a comeback after thirteen years in exile? This may increasingly become a central question for Middle East analysts, as Ba’athists are claiming their sociopolitical platform of supporting pan-Arab causes defused sectarianism and united Iraqis around nationalistic themes. They

No, this is not the revelation of some hidden conspiracy through which Islamism has penetrated political life in the United States. It is instead a reflection on the unintended consequences of political positions that ought to be better thought out. A recurrent theme in the assessment expressed by a number