Category: Middle East/North Africa

After the Arab Spring: democratization, authoritarianism, and radicalization

     

The struggle over the future of Islam is not taking place within the West or between the West and Islam, argues Carl Gershman, the President of the National Endowment for… Read more »

Egypt faces backlash on freedom of expression

     

  The US State Department and the European Union have urged Egypt’s government  to uphold basic rights to freedom of expression after security forces stormed the Press Syndicate. Egypt’s police… Read more »

Iranian activists use social media to demand justice, accountability

     

The public outcry over the rape and murder of six-year-old Afghan refugee Setayesh Ghoreishi (left) demonstrates how social media has allowed Iran’s civil society to hold accountable hardliners in the… Read more »

Strategies to Expand U.S. Engagement in a Competitive World Order

     

Today’s global security environment looks dramatically different than just a few years ago, notes The Center for a New American Security. From the return of geopolitics in the form of a… Read more »

Turkey ‘at the heart of the storm’

     

Reporters Without Borders placed Turkey – where more than 30 journalists are currently under arrest – 151st on a list of 180 countries in its new World Press Freedom Index,… Read more »

Prospects for compromise in Iraq

     

The decision by Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to have his supporters seize and then vacate parliament in Baghdad appeared to be the act of a man who—at least for now—wants to control rather than… Read more »

Funding Mideast democracy in the face of authoritarian pushback

     

The U.S. Congress has taken note of the dexterity and flexibility of non-governmental democracy assistance groups in responding to the more challenging environment in the Middle East, says a report… Read more »

Non-state actors aggravate government crackdowns on civil society

     

Armed non-state actors, criminal elements and violent extremists—not just governments—are responsible for the increasing crackdown on civil society, notes Shannon N. Green, director and senior fellow of the Human Rights… Read more »

Egypt: the paradox of repression

     

  Egypt’s military has deployed forces to public landmarks ahead of a protest planned for Monday. At issue: President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi’s agreement to relinquish two islands to Saudi Arabia, CNN reports:… Read more »