Tunisia’s seven-year-long transition to democracy has been excruciatingly difficult, marked by several terrorist attacks, ongoing economic crisis, political stalemate, and tenuous compromises between Islamists and secularists. At several points since the overthrow of… Read more »
If Egypt’s liberal activists had tolerated Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi’s illiberal but weak rule until he could be voted out, democracy might have had a chance, David D. Kirkpatrick suggests… Read more »
Over the weekend, a court in Egypt sentenced 75 people to death, The Washington Post reports: [Abdel Fatah al-] Sissi’s regime has cracked down not just on Islamists but also on a… Read more »
Fresh protests broke out in Iran today as shop keepers, stall vendors, farmers and truck drivers demonstrated in the Amir-Kabir industrial complex of Isfahan, central Iran, protesting against high prices… Read more »
Egypt’s government is verging on totalitarian rule —and the United States needs to pay attention, says Carnegie Middle East Program Director Michele Dunne [a National Endowment for Democracy board member], who… Read more »
Social media firms should establish “specialized Russian-focused teams” staffed with experts in Russian language, culture, and internet practices, according to a new report. “Combating Russian Disinformation: The Case for… Read more »
Amid Tunisia’s struggle to democratize following its 2011 Arab Spring revolution, the country’s first-ever elected local governments may offer hope, USIP staff suggest: Tunisia’s 350-plus localities are inaugurating elected councils this summer,… Read more »
In this year’s key parliamentary elections in Iraq and Lebanon, formerly controversial populist figures performed far better than expected and are playing central roles in the scramble to form governments,… Read more »
Arab democracy would simply be inconceivable without Islamist participation, writes Brookings analyst Shadi Hamid. That, by itself, should give us pause, particularly at a time when Western democracies appear uninterested or even… Read more »
The Arab world is in the middle of a process of deep social and political change, according to analyst José Antonio Sabadell. The experience of successive attempted revolutions across the… Read more »