Managing Crises, the Least-Bad Option

Winter 2022 / Essays

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

Shifting Patterns of Arab Politics

Winter 2022 / Essays

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

Tunisia: Birth of The Citizen

June 7, 2021 / Global Forum

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.

The Arab World Between Regime Change and Political Reform

Winter 2021 / Essays

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

Why the Phrase “Arab Spring” Should be Retired

February 4, 2021 / Essays

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

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

Fall 2020 / Essays

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.

Re-Engineering Regional Security

June 21, 2020 / Midan

In the last half-century, Egypt has had to negotiate its way through the Arab–Israeli peace process, regional nuclear proliferation, and domestic political transition. What has it taught us?

A Surplus of Deficits

Spring 2020 / Essays

From a political economy perspective, there are four key forces working against the peace and prosperity of Middle Eastern and North African states. To defeat them, robust institutions are essential.

An Alternative Approach to Regional Security in the Middle East

/ Essays

The Arab Spring is a decisive event that continues to reshape the geopolitics of the region, so why has no progress been made to create a security collective?

How Sudan Transitions

Winter 2020 / Essays

Sudan’s path to democracy has been a rocky one, and there are several key players who need to ensure it never returns to an autocratic state

Hosni Mubarak: Passing of an Era, or Lingering Legacy?

February 25, 2020 / Tahrir Forum

What Mubarak’s legacy reveals about changes in different generations’ relationship to state and society.

The Empire He Did Not Want

November 19, 2019 / Midan

Erdoğan wanted to build a “neo-Ottoman” empire but missed out on what is strategically most important—real influence in the Middle East

Arab Spring Revisited

Spring 2019 / Midan

From Algeria to Sudan, the time for good governance is now

The Return of Geopolitics

Spring 2019 / Essays

In the post-Arab Spring Middle East, the forces of geopolitics and geo-economics are shaping the region and potentially point to a more cooperative future

Turkey’s Pan-Islamist Foreign Policy

Spring 2019 / Essays

Understanding Turkey’s diplomatic moves post-2011 by looking back to the Ottoman conception of ittihad-i Islam

A Long View of the Middle East

Summer 2018 / Q & A

Middle East historian James Gelvin speaks to Cairo Review editors Sean David Hobbs and Leslie Cohen about Middle Eastern current affairs, including where Syria is headed, and whether America’s moment in the Middle East has passed.

Tunisia: An Arab Anomaly?

Summer 2018 / Midan

Can Tunisia serve as a model for Arab Spring countries?

The Long Struggle for Women’s Rights

Spring 2018 / Essays

Following the Arab Spring, the fight for women’s sexual and social rights will be won in the Middle East and North Africa through progressive evolution, not revolution.

Freedom without Permission

Spring 2018 / Book Reviews

How can we upturn narratives about the Arab Spring uprisings?

Woes of Arab Youth

Spring 2017 / Midan

Study reveals unemployment as number one problem

Winds of Change

Spring 2017 / Essays

The Middle East is reeling from domestic battles between progressive and repressive visions, the impact of globalization, and an exploding youth bulge. Now the reemergence of Russia, the rise of China, and the election of a nonconformist American president also require the Arab World’s urgent attention.

Inside Tunisia’s Power Struggle

Spring 2017 / Essays

Given the domestic upheavals that accompanied the Arab uprisings of 2011, how did Tunisia become the Arab Spring’s success story? Part of the answer is the pragmatism of the Islamist Ennahda movement, which formed a troika coalition with two secular parties after the ouster of the country’s dictator.

The Challenge for Liberalism

Winter 2017 / Midan

The year 2016 has demonstrated that the West, the liberal order the Arab World sought to become a part of, was going through an identity crisis of its own.

Persistent Roots of Arab Weakness and Relinquished Sovereignty

April 10, 2016 / Tahrir Forum

The exercise of power and public authority in the Arab World has always been defined by small groups of men—usually anchored in military establishments—who seized and sat in the seats of power.

Tunisia’s Disappointed Hopes

February 25, 2016 / Tahrir Forum

Within and beyond the Arab World, many see the Maghreb’s smallest country as a beacon of hope. Tunisians themselves aren’t so sure.

My Search for Tahrir Square

January 24, 2016 / Tahrir Forum

Disillusionment with the January 25 revolution and what followed might be the first step towards a better, and more democratic, Egypt.

Egypt’s Revolution, Five Years On

January 23, 2016 / Tahrir Forum

More than ever before, it’s important to understand what we mean when we talk about the January 25 revolution.

2011-2016: Arab Dashed Hopes, Opened Eyes

January 13, 2016 / Tahrir Forum

Today as then, we have no idea how disgruntled citizens will transform their fears into political acts. But we probably do know that they will do this, so for stubborn Arab regimes, this is a much more dangerous citizenry than the one of 2011.

Making War vs. Hearing Citizens in the Arab World

December 24, 2015 / Tahrir Forum

People who seek real insights into Arabs’ views and values, rather than the fantasy and racism that dominate much of the public discussion, would do well to read the extensive poll findings of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies.

Five Years Ago, 100 Years Ago

December 22, 2015 / Tahrir Forum

We should honor the millions who have participated in the latest noble quest for dignity and democracy, and enhance their ability to succeed by better understanding why success has been so rare in the past century of stubborn Arab paternalism.

Three Points That Capture the Arab World’s Problems

December 9, 2015 / Tahrir Forum

“The Arab region has for the most part not created stable, productive, and equitable civil states defined by modernity’s benefits because for decades it has functioned under three simultaneous dominant contexts: neo-patrimonial states, neo-patriarchal societies, and neo-liberal peripheral economies.”

Tag: Arab Spring