The Saudi Gambit in Washington

By Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy /

Saudi Arabia is in a position to become a major international player but to sustain such a role it needs to consolidate its leadership in the Middle East.
The Arab Summit, which concluded in Jeddah last weekend, may well have just confirmed the Kingdom’s leadership of the Arab World. But now Riyadh needs to transform that into a regional leadership role.
Such a regional undertaking requires—in addition to taking the lead on the political settlement of the various crises that have plagued the region—the sagacious management of its relationships with both the United States and Israel. » Read more about: The Saudi Gambit in Washington »

Inclusion and Implementation at COP27: Just the Beginning

By Ana Davis / Spring 2023

Achieving a COP of inclusion and implementation….

The Future of Water in MENA is at Stake

By Malak Altaeb / May 17, 2023

The MENA region, one of the driest in the world, is facing unprecedented water management challenges due to the effects of climate change

Could the Future of Work be Green? Two Plot Twists

By Ghada Barsoum / May 17, 2023

Given the pressures of climate change could “green” define the future of work? Why are green jobs limited and who is pushing for them to grow?

When Consensus Is Reached

By Miguel Ruiz Cabañas / Spring 2023

The outcome of the UN climate conference in Sharm El-Sheikh gives hope for climate justice, but leaves behind many challenges for the upcoming COP28 in Dubai

COP27 and the Sustainable City: Global Climate Solution or Mirage?

By Patrick J. Bohlen / Spring 2023

The COP27 meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh highlighted the gap between climate policy goals and climate reality. In the MENA region and globally, cities are key to advancing climate goals

Lessons from COP27: Between Progress and Challenges

By Martha Delgado / Spring 2023

While COP27 made progress in the areas of mitigation, adaptation, financing, and incorporating a gender, youth, and human rights perspective, Mexico is putting forward various initiatives to tackle remaining challenges

Iran-Saudi Arabia: A Regional Transformation?

By Ana Davis and Omar Auf /

The expected resumption of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran has the potential to reshape the dynamics of the Middle East by bringing an end to proxy wars and creating opportunity for regional stability.

Social Media as a Propaganda Tool in the Russia-Ukraine Conflict

By Najat Al-Saied /

Sixty-one percent of Arab youth use social media as a news source. But what happens when some of these platforms are used to spread misinformation and propaganda, especially in times of war?

Another Step Toward Peace: The Lebanon-Israel Maritime Agreement

By Constantinos Yiallourides /

A new deal for Israel and Lebanon promotes security and prosperity and sets a precedent for diplomacy in the Eastern Mediterranean

Navigating R2P Between Norm and Practice

By Omar Auf / Fall 2022/Winter 2023

The idea that states are responsible for the protection of their own people is a powerful normative and transformative one, but is far from complete or conclusive

Democratizing International Relations

By Antonio Patriota / Fall 2022/Winter 2023

Former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali deserves to be remembered for his defense of the application of democratic principles to the international order. Today, the multipolarity of the contemporary world can help further Botrous-Ghali’s vision

Fortune and Hazard for Algeria

By Zine Labidine Ghebouli / Fall 2022/Winter 2023

War in Ukraine has brought new cash flow to Algiers, but the state must walk an ever-narrowing path to maintain its non-alignment

The West’s Stigma, and Why it Loses Global Support By its Own Actions

By Ayman Zaineldine / Fall 2022/Winter 2023

The Ukraine war has exposed, yet again, the deep skepticism of Western intentions across the Global South, undermining efforts to strengthen the rules-based liberal global order. But this is not inevitable as it is a result of policies the West has been pursuing for a long time, which it now must change if it wants to fix its credibility

OPEC+ versus the United States and World Democracies

By Giacomo Luciani / Fall 2022/Winter 2023

The OPEC+ decision to cut oil production opens the door to further politicization of the global oil industry, particularly between the United States and Saudi Arabia

The Saudi-U.S. Nexus: BFFs No More?

By Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy /

Years of tension between Riyadh and Washington over key geopolitical issues have soured a once ironclad relationship.

The Sisterhood of Journalists

By Leslie Cohen / Summer 2022

Zahra Hankir talks about what it means to be a journalist covering the Middle East, and what she has learned from her fellow colleagues.

The Women of War

By Noor-E-Nawaal Bhuiyan / Summer 2022

Hankir’s collection of portraits sheds light on the unique contribution of female Arab correspondents to their craft, including the integral role of their identity in giving voice to otherwise untellable stories from the Arab World

Why Climate Journalism Must be Mainstreamed in the Arab World

By Sarah El-Shaarawi / Summer 2022

While the issue of climate change journalism is particularly relevant to the Arab World today, as the upcoming COP27 and COP28 will be hosted in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates respectively, climate reporting in the region still lacks a critical lens that reflects the issue’s urgency

Social Change Will Be Tweeted—By a Select Few

By Nadine El Sayed / Summer 2022

While social media has had a drastic impact on social and political movements in the region, the dynamics of its algorithms and the financing models of the media still pose limitations on who is heard online

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

By Seyed Hossein Mousavian /

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

An Icon Has Been Murdered

By Nour Odeh / May 25, 2022

What it has been like for Shireen Abu Akleh and other Palestinian journalists to report from Palestine

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

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?

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

A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

By Muhamed H. Almaliky / Winter 2022

Did Saudi Arabia miss a huge opportunity at an early engagement with Iraq?

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.

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.

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.

The Slow Violence of Climate Change

By Garret Barnwell and Savo Heleta / Fall 2021

A warming planet places the heaviest burden on the countries and people least responsible for climate destruction. Survival necessitates justice, redress, and structural change.

Remembering Jehan Sadat

By Ariana Bennett /

Driven by the hope of peace and equality, Jehan Sadat was a role model for women, not only in Egypt, but across the world.

Syria: The Illusive Settlement

By Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy /

The best way to describe the current Syrian quandary is to borrow from Winston Churchill’s assessment of what he considered the complex nature of the former Soviet Union: popular grievances wrapped in regional rivalries inside big power competition.

Erdogan’s Endgame with Egypt

By Salim Çevik / August 6, 2021

Rapprochement with Egypt is a necessary first step for Turkey to break out of its self-induced isolation, but it will require concessions that Erdogan may not be willing to make.

This Watershed Moment for the Land(s) between the River and the Sea

By Richard Silverstein / June 21, 2021

The recent war between Israel and Hamas has transformed the moral calculus of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Tunisia: Birth of The Citizen

By Youssef Cherif / June 7, 2021

Gains made in the wake of the Tunisian uprising and in the decade since cannot be fully qualified but, on the ground, it is clear that Tunisia has transformed itself.

Shifting the Conversation on Palestine

By Nour Odeh / May 28, 2021

Arab states and the world community must counter Israel’s impunity as well as put an end to the profitable occupation enterprise… otherwise it’s another futile ceasefire.

Enough with Words

By Nabil Fahmy / May 17, 2021

It is time that Arab states lead the world community in standing up against Israeli practices which jeopardize the national and human rights of the Palestinian people.

The Rise of the United Arab Emirates

By Abdulkhaleq Abdulla / Spring 2021

By harnessing national confidence, proactively dealing with regional security concerns and exercising geopolitical cooperation, the UAE is positioning itself as a regional powerhouse.

Maintaining the U.S.-Saudi Relationship

By Hussein Ibish / Spring 2021

The once booming strategic alliance between Riyadh and Washington has weathered a number of regional storms but is beginning to show wear and tear.

The UAE Art Scene: Challenges and Opportunities

By Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi / Spring 2021

Sustainability and longevity of a thriving cultural sector in the Gulf must be treated as a priority, which is why long-term planning is essential in order to ensure the ability of the art field to meet with both current and future challenges.

Women and Children First

By Elena Habersky / Spring 2021

Women and children migrant voices, especially after the pandemic, must be amplified in discussions around the Global Compact, which aims to bring world governments in line with good and safe migration governance.

Egypt, United States Must Navigate a New Alliance

By Mahmoud El Shabba /

Strategic priorities in Cairo and Washington have shifted somewhat in recent years leaving what was once a critical relationship out of unison.

Leading Israel into an Empty Future

By Richard Silverstein / Winter 2021

This week’s Israeli Election—the fourth such vote in two years—will likely result in a stalemate or Netanyahu’s eking out another victory. But then what comes next?

The Arab World Between Regime Change and Political Reform

By Mustapha Kamel Al-Sayyid / Winter 2021

The American tendency to overthrow existing governments in sovereign states has been fuel and fodder for conspiracy theories of the last decade.