What Losing the Iran Deal Could Mean for the Region

By Seyed Hossein Mousavian / Fall 2022/Winter 2023

If President Joe Biden is seeking to restore sustainable peace and security in the region, he has to start with reviving the JCPOA

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

Red Lines in Global Media

By Khaled Ezzelarab / Summer 2022

Whether in liberal democracies or across the Arab World, journalists today are struggling to navigate a difficult route amid government restrictions, ambiguous red lines, and non-state actors affecting how the media is run

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.

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.

Why the Phrase “Arab Spring” Should be Retired

By Sean David Hobbs / Winter 2021

It’s time to stop using a Western-based concept ten years on from the events that began the Arab Uprisings.

Learning from a Diplomatic Trailblazer to Tackle Global Inequalities

By Sean David Hobbs /

Guest speaker at the 16th Nadia Younes Memorial Lecture, Dutch Minister Sigrid Kaag, presented ideas for geopolitical challenges in the Middle East and North Africa during and after the coronavirus pandemic.

Enhancing Mediterranean Integration

By Blanca Moreno-Dodson / Summer 2020

Trade liberalization, human capital development, and sectoral reforms can bring Mediterranean countries closer together.

Political Narratives in the Middle East and North Africa: Conceptions of Order and Perceptions of Instability

By Helen Rizzo / Fall 2020

The volume edited by Wolfgang Mühlberger and Toni Alaranta highlights the importance of political narratives in making sense of the complexities of the MENA countries.

Strategizing Toward Irrelevance in Libya

By Alessia Melcangi / Summer 2020

The Libyan conflict is marred by competing interests, and is where the Mediterranean’s major players all hope to come out on top.

The EU and the Med: Is Geography Still Destiny?

By James Moran / Summer 2020

Europe needs to find ways of reinvigorating its relations with MENA countries to bring stability in its southern neighborhood and Mediterranean region.

The Prospects for Conflict or Cooperation

By Ellen Laipson and Henri J. Barkey / Summer 2020

Will the Eastern Mediterranean natural gas discoveries lead to regional transformation?

Players on the Libyan Chessboard

By Sydney Wise / Summer 2020

Lisa Anderson explains how external response to the Libyan conflict largely synchronizes with existing alliances and strategic interests.

Reluctant Power Europe

By Kevin Koehler / Summer 2020

Will Europe’s approach of principled pragmatism toward the Mediterranean succeed in creating stability where previous approaches have failed?

Urban-Rural Disconnect: COVID-19 and Sustainability

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

The Urban-Rural Disconnect and how COVID-19 is influencing the Nexus of water, energy and food.

Deconstructing Fukuyama

By Ibrahim Awad / Spring 2020

Taking apart the arguments of division that underscore the populist movements emerging in today’s liberal democracies

How Will the Coronavirus Crisis Affect Africa’s Developmental Focus?

By Magda Shahin /

Mitigating the effects of the coronavirus in Africa and implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area go hand-in-hand.

Mobilizing Against Trump’s “Vision”

By Sean David Hobbs /

Former Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Alkidwa explains the ways Palestinians are contesting the Trump plan for peace and how the Trump deal caters only to extremists on the Israeli and American right

Brexit Reveals a Damaged Democracy

By Russell Merryman / February 10, 2020

The drunken celebrations in Parliament Square as the UK broke from the European Union provide an apt metaphor for the whole affair.

A Disaster of the Political Class

By David Wearing / September 8, 2019

While Brexit is above all a calamity of the Conservative Party’s making, it is born of entrenched xenophobia and racism in British society.

When the Shooting Stops

By Suma Chakrabarti / Summer 2019

The president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development highlights the bank’s commitment to supporting post-conflict nations in the Middle East and beyond

Reinventing Peace in Syria

By Achim Wennmann / Summer 2019

For Syria, and the rest of the world, the era of liberal peacebuilding has passed. But there are other ways to make peace, which call for a return to basics and a new kind of “software”

Russia’s Eye on Syrian Reconstruction

By Samuel Ramani / March 7, 2019

Russia is primed to benefit economically from an influx of foreign investment in Syria, but an emerging rivalry with China and Iran for contracts could erode its long-term leverage.

Keeping the Hope of Peace Alive

By Federica Mogherini / Winter 2019

The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini asserts that the Oslo and Camp David Accords must be complemented by the realization of a two-state solution for the Palestinian–Israeli conflict in order to secure a lasting peace for the Middle East.

European Union