Analysis: Can BRICS+ Provide a Counterweight to the West?

By Helmo Preuss /

With the admission of six new countries, BRICS increases its economic power and global clout, possibly establishing its place as a challenger to the G7.

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

A Pandemic of Vaccine and Technology Hoarding: Unmasking Global Inequality and Hypocrisy

By Lauren Paremoer / Summer 2021

Intellectual property waivers are key to dismantling global vaccine apartheid and providing equitable vaccination to Africa and other continents.

Africa is Climbing the Prosperity Ladder but Some Rungs are Broken

By Musaazi Namiti / Summer 2021

Africa is a continent with six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies, but can it overcome its major challenges?

A New Water Paradigm for Sub-Saharan Africa

By Djiby Thiam / Fall 2021 Summer 2021

To make clean water and sanitation truly accessible to local communities across the continent, African institutions must take the lead in understanding the specific challenges and opportunities they face.

Global vaccine equity is a moral and economic imperative—here is how to get it right

By Junaid Nabi /

With increasingly dangerous variants of the COVID-19 virus spreading across the Global South, vaccine equity is not only a moral imperative, but also key to keeping the global economy afloat.

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 Long Road to Economic Transformation in the Gulf

By Nader Kabbani / Spring 2021

To successfully reinvent their economies, Gulf states must move past the deadweight of legacy policies and their adverse consequences.

Shaping Africa’s New Normal

By Amina Abdel-Halim / April 28, 2021

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, African nations are working through the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development to set the continent back on track with its developmental Agenda 2063.

Biden Bolstering Diplomacy

By Sydney Wise / Winter 2021

PART II: Director of the Boston Consortium for Arab Region Studies, Denis Sullivan, discusses U.S. President Joe Biden’s foreign policy plans in the Middle East.

Biden Negotiating the Balance of Power

By Sydney Wise / Winter 2021

Director of the Boston Consortium for Arab Region Studies, Denis Sullivan, discusses U.S. President Joe Biden’s foreign policy plans in the Middle East.

Africa and the United States: Reengaging with Africa’s Prosperity in Mind

By Carl Manlan / Winter 2021

With China as a dominant foreign power in Africa, the only option left for United States to engage with the continent is to follow its priorities: namely, prioritizing African youth.

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.

A Timeline of Arab Rapprochement

By Ibrahim Elzayat /

A blockade of Qatar is lifted after Arabs mend fences and resume diplomatic ties.

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.

Receding Multilateralism and the Role of the Dollar in a COVID-19 World

/ Fall 2020

The shock of COVID-19 has plunged the world into an economic crisis, demonstrated the fragility of economic relations and supply chains, and led to a reevaluation of several concepts taken for granted.

Will the U.S. Evolve its Foreign Policy from Past Mistakes?

By Sean David Hobbs / Fall 2020

Former U.S. Ambassador and American University in Cairo President Francis Ricciardone evaluates how the United States has dealt with global crises in the 21st century.

Embracing Change: U.S. Foreign Policy Shifts

By Sean David Hobbs / Fall 2020

Former U.S. diplomat and American University in Cairo President Francis Ricciardone discusses whether a Biden win will see a return to a rules based international order.

Explaining How Washington and the Election Works

By Sean David Hobbs / Fall 2020

In 2016, all predictions about the U.S. elections were wrong. Will Washington insiders get it right this time?

Gas Finds for the People?

By Jason Beckett / Summer 2020

Public international law—tied as it is to existent western-centric neo-colonial structures—will likely block the natural gas finds in the Eastern Mediterranean from benefiting regional states.

Society 5.0 and the Future Economies

By Hesham Dinana / Spring 2020

We’re better-connected today than ever before—but has modern innovation created a new society altogether?

COVID-19: America, China and the Conspiracy War

By Amanda Tapp /

The two rival powers have been at loggerheads about the spread of the novel coronavirus, but maybe it’s time they cooperate for the greater good.

Re-Engineering Regional Security

By Sydney Wise / Summer 2020

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?

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.

Building a More Multilateral World Order

By Amina Abdel-Halim /

As COVID-19 amplifies isolationist trends in the West, Asian voices call for increased international cooperation.

Will China’s E-commerce Reshape a Reopening World?

By Cheng Li and Ryan McElveen / June 10, 2020

China’s advances in digital-buying make the nation a harbinger of how a post-lockdown global economy could look.

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.

Reinventing Governance for a Fragile and Complex New World

By Ashraf Swelam /

The COVID-19 crisis has laid bare the weaknesses of the international system; to fix the present and prepare for the future, we must pivot to a resilience paradigm.

Long-term Implications of COVID-19

By Amina Abdel-Halim /

Most policy-makers are taking on COVID-19 as a one-time challenge, but a multi-round scenario could have disastrous implications for the global economy.

Sustainable Solutions for an Economic Crisis

By Amina Abdel-Halim /

As the world grapples to mitigate a looming economic crisis, a roadmap already exists: the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

South Africa latest to apply for COVID-19 aid from New Development Bank

By Helmo Preuss / April 30, 2020

This will mostly be used to fund medical equipment such as surgical masks, respirators, and testing supplies.

Reviving Enterprises in the Time of COVID-19

By Sydney Wise /

To keep enterprises afloat and save those that have incurred financial losses due to the lockdown, decisive and inclusive government action is necessary.

The Geo-economic Fallout of COVID-19 for the Middle East

By Neil Bhatiya /

The COVID-19 coronavirus will cause long-term consequences for the Middle East; a combination of chaos in oil markets and contraction of gross domestic product will present challenges for years to come.

America’s Shift to Online

By Sydney Wise / April 11, 2020

COVID-19 has introduced the concept of working from home to many who have never experienced it. But, different industry needs, varying family and gender roles, and a need for interaction may explain why it wasn’t already the norm.

A Future Filled With Pathogens

By Dahr Jamail /

The combination of a worsening climate crisis and ongoing human encroachment on the wilds will bring more pandemics.

A Message From The Editors

By The Editors /

Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Learning from Mistakes in Pandemic Response

By Sydney Wise / March 20, 2020

As long as humans have interacted with one another, we have assumed the risk of communicating disease; the question is, have we learned from past experiences enough to minimize future risk?

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.

Beyond Sanctions

By Farnaz Alimehri / Fall 2019

Understanding how North Korea circumvents sanctions offers key insights into the world of WMD finance—and ways to stop other would-be proliferators

A Nuclear Curse and a Nuclear Blessing

By Selim Sazak / Fall 2019

The decline of the United States is mirrored in the rise of Russian and Chinese nuclear energy reactors being built across the Middle East and beyond

Reconstruction as a political-economy issue: The case of Syria

By Samir Aita / September 18, 2019

There can be no meaningful separation between state-building, peace-building, and revival at the end of a conflict, especially as post-conflict state institutions are the only apparatus which can be somewhat directly or indirectly accountable toward their populations for the management of the country.