All Policy Analysis by David Pollock

Tomorrow, Kuwait's nearly 400,000 voters -- more than half of them women -- will go to the polls to elect a new parliament. The incoming body will replace the 2006 parliament that was dissolved by the ruling emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Sabah, for failing to work together with the cabinet. Kuwait's

President Bush returns to the Middle East this week for the second time in 2008. Initially planned to mark Israel's sixtieth anniversary, his itinerary has expanded to include meetings with top officials from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, and Saudi Arabia. Except for a trip to Riyadh

On April 17, 2008, David Pollock and Dalia Mogahed addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Dr. Pollock is a visiting fellow at The Washington Institute and author of its recently released Policy Focus Slippery Polls: Uses and Abuses of Opinion Surveys from Arab States. Ms. Mogahed is executive

For better or worse, yesterday's "Arab street" has merged with today's information superhighway. With public opinion polls from the Middle East becoming front-page -- and usually alarmist -- news, the results raise as many questions as they claim to answer: How reliable are numbers from undemocratic states? Do the region's

For better or worse, yesterday's "Arab street" has merged with today's information superhighway. One can hardly pick up a newspaper, turn on the television, or go online without coming across the latest poll numbers purporting to show what Middle Easterners are "really" thinking. Even senior U.S. officials often give such

On March 19, Kuwaiti emir Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah dissolved the country's parliament and called for new elections to be held on May 17. This drastic step reflects two distinct sets of tensions, both of which Kuwait has overcome in the past: tensions between the executive branch and parliament, and tensions

On January 16, the UN Security Council's "Al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee" designated three Kuwaiti nationals for providing support to al-Qaeda. Although the UN measure is a welcome step forward, it is unlikely to have much impact without aggressive implementation by Kuwait. Given the Kuwaiti government's mixed record in cracking

The Arab-Israeli diplomatic event in Annapolis began and ended in just nine hours last Tuesday, and the media have moved quickly on to other things. But this was a significant event, not a one-day wonder. Here are five good reasons why: First, Annapolis achieved its primary goal: setting up an

In spring 2007, a Gulf diplomat visiting Washington was asked how states such as Kuwait seem to remain insulated from regional crises in Iraq, Iran, and elsewhere. His response was unexpectedly poetic: "Think of a swan gliding across a pond. It all seems so serene -- but right below the

On October 20, 2007, Nader Said, David Makovsky, and David Pollock addressed The Washington Institute's Weinberg Founders Conference. Dr. Said is director of the Development Studies Program at Birzeit University and team leader for the UN Palestine Human Development Report. Mr. Makovsky is a senior fellow at The Washington Institute