ISIS conflict highlights Iraq’s ‘Year of Rage’
“Iraqis are fed up,” Mieczysław P. Boduszyński writes. “Even as they wage war on ISIS they are also battling their own country’s corrupt and ineffective political elite.” Since 2015, Iraqis… Read more »
Category: Middle East/North Africa
A new social contract in aftermath of North Africa’s Arab Spring?
In the search for a new social contract that establishes wider consensus-based political legitimacy, North African elites must be willing to simultaneously undertake openings and reforms in the political arena… Read more »
Mosul highlights ‘post-conflict bipolar disorder’
What the Mosul operation should be making obvious is that whoever gets to the gaps in governance and civil society first and best will win the epic struggles of identity… Read more »
Spotlight on Egypt’s repression
In theory, Egypt’s Public Prosecution should be an independent, impartial institution, defending the rights of all Egyptians before the law, notes a new report from the Project on Middle East… Read more »
‘Countering violent extremism’ – challenges and responses
Violent extremism is caused primarily by religious ideology more than racism, poverty, military interventions by foreign governments and human rights abuses, according to a new global poll published this week… Read more »
A post-ISIS recovery plan for Syria?
With the Iranians and the Russians fully backing Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, it’s clear that the chances of regime change anytime soon are zero. Assuming that Raqqa will be liberated… Read more »
Does culture affect foreign policy – and democratization?
Western ideas—which many in the West believe are universal—collide with the ideals of Middle Eastern societies in ways that aren’t always obvious, argues Steven Cook, a Fellow for Middle… Read more »
Jordan: redefining civil society
A younger generation of educated activists in Jordan is attempting to navigate the middle ground between maintaining the status quo and pushing for regime change – neither of which is… Read more »
Politicizing Islam: Exploring Means and Objectives
The role of Islam in government continues to be a pressing issue in many Muslim societies, The Stimson Center reports. Since the Arab Spring that began in 2010, the world… Read more »
Iran pursuing China Model?
At 77, and with at least one hospitalization in recent years for prostate cancer, Ayatollah Khamenei appears determined, while he still has full power, to make the changes essential for… Read more »