Essays

A Revolution and A War: How Iran Transformed Today’s Middle East

How the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the eight-year Iran–Iraq War greatly and irreversibly influenced the geopolitics and regional dynamics of the Middle East

A Decade of Enlightenment

By Nabil Fahmy

Winter 2022

Editorial

Celebrating Ten Years of the Cairo Review

By Ahmad Dallal

Winter 2022

Editorial

The Changing Middle East Regional Order

By Paul Salem

Winter 2022

A history of the Arab state system starting from the second half of the twentieth century to the present

Managing Crises, the Least-Bad Option

By Joost Hiltermann

Winter 2022

Conflict management in the MENA region has little chance of succeeding as conflicts increasingly intersect and tensions driven by larger, regional triggers become even more unpredictable

Arab Nationalism, Regionalism, and Regional Integration

By Ibrahim Awad

Winter 2022

In the third decade of the 21st century, regionalism and regional integration in the Arab region stood in contrast with experiences in other regions of the world. Rather than facilitate integration, Arab nationalism seems to have in fact obstructed it

From Political Islam to the Politics of Islam

By Nathan Brown

Winter 2022

With electoral paths blocked or unpromising, the Islamist project is now being transformed from what it was at the beginning of the last decade

Shifting Patterns of Arab Politics

By Lisa Anderson

Winter 2022

Over the last seventy-five years, the endlessly shifting coalitions on the chessboard of Arab regional politics seem to have played by the same rules of the game. Yet, as private interests have become a major source of political power, there have been major changes in the powers and purposes of the players

AlMostaqbal: Envisioning a Better Arab Future

Winter 2022

An excerpt from the American University in Cairo’s blue-ribbon report, “AlMostaqbal: Envisioning a Better Arab Future”.

The End of the Road

By Khaled Elgindy

Winter 2022

Why has the two-state solution fallen apart and are there alternative approaches for lasting peace between Israel and Palestine?

Is It Time to Bury the Two-State Solution?

By Hesham Youssef

Winter 2022

While many may be dismissive of the two-state solution, there are no viable alternatives for peace between Israel and Palestine

Framing the Partition Plan for Palestine

By Lorenzo Kamel

Winter 2022

Many different opinions abound concerning Resolution 181, but one fact cannot be denied or overlooked: it was not a solution born out of the “free and sovereign” world states of the time

Prepping for COP27

By Thomas L. Crisman, David Dumke, and Zachary S. Winters

Winter 2022

Egypt is a microcosm for the impacts of climate change being felt across the MENA region, with water loss at the very top. It should likewise be high on the agenda when Cairo hosts this year’s UN climate summit

Competing Economic Visions in the Gulf

By Robert Mogielnicki

Winter 2022

Economic visions offer regional governments roadmaps for development, but they can also serve as a tool for measurement and—ultimately—accountability

Young People Are Leading Climate Activism in the Middle East

By Neeshad Shafi

Fall 2021

Across the Arab World and the Middle East, young people are mobilizing to raise climate change awareness.

Climate Change and the Global South: The Case of Africa

By Agnes Babugura

Fall 2021

Should climate change continue unaddressed, it is estimated that of the additional 30–170 million people who are likely to suffer from malnutrition or under-nutrition globally in the coming years, three-quarters will be in Africa.

The U.N. Climate Summit and Its Aftermath

By Nabil Fahmy

Fall 2021

Developing countries see the call for equal actions with their richer counterparts as serving the interests of the latter.

Saving a Water-Stressed Middle East

By Neda Zawahri

Fall 2021

Inefficient water management exacerbates water insecurity in the MENA region, already the area most vulnerable to the catastrophic impact of the climate crisis. Building adaptive capacity is critical to ensure national and individual water security.

Who Feels Climate Anxiety?

By Sarah Jaquette Ray

Fall 2021

In the simplest terms, the answer is: it depends on who perceives it as a threat, and what “anxiety” means to them.

Locked-in Emissions: The Climate Change Arms Trade

By Wendela de Vries

Fall 2021

With militaries’ locked-in fossil fuel systems and looming climate chaos, the arms industry continues to take advantage of nefarious profit opportunities.