Iran at a Strategic Breaking Point

By Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy /

The war in June and recent nationwide protests could shape not only Iran’s future but also broader debates on sovereignty, intervention, nuclear proliferation, and the prospects for fundamental political change

Using Sex to Sell Racism: How AfD Policies Defy Logic

By Dagmar Herzog /

The sexual politics of the new far-right parties like the Alternative für Deutschland are full of deliberate contradictions and obvious echoes of Nazism

Critical Education in the Age of Trump’s Fascist Politics

By Henry A. Giroux /

To protect democracy, the classroom must remain a space of freedom, not fear

2025 Year in Review: Prolonged Conflict, Erratic Policy, and Burgeoning Artificial Frontiers

The past year has presented important lessons for the world to learn

What’s New Is Old: The Enduring Challenge of Non-State Armed Actors in the Post-October 7 Landscape

By Grace Wermenbol /

While these groups may not have the resources or structure of traditional states, they play a major role in the continuation, or cessation, of conflict in the region

Rebuilding from Rubble: The Future of Gaza

By Abigail Flynn / Spring/Summer 2025

Amid the dust and rubble, the new ceasefire offers relief to a war-ravaged Gaza; hope remains for a bright future in the Strip as questions surface of the role civil servants formerly employed by Hamas will play in governance

Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property On the Global Agenda

By Abigail Flynn / Spring/Summer 2025

Multilateral organizations are still working on how to design institutional frameworks to harness the rapid development of AI across the globe

Confederative Futures and the Burden of Leadership in Israel/Palestine

By Klara Vlahčević Lisinski / Fall 2025

The pathway to recognition of Palestinian Statehood does not require the world’s approval through the raising of 192 flags; rather, it requires convincing “one state only—the state of Israel”

What Palestinian Statehood Must Mean to Mean Anything

By Omar Auf / Fall 2025

As more governments prepare to recognize Palestine this September, the gesture risks being performative unless matched with concrete policies such as sanctions and legal obligations, and a decolonial vision of statehood that challenges occupation at its roots

From Symbolic Victories to a People’s Victory: How Gaza Forged Global Recognition of Palestine

By Ramzy Baroud / Fall 2025

A story of two tracks: the symbolic quest for a state and the daily reality of a people fighting for their existence

Governing AI Under Fire in Ukraine

By Anna Mysyshyn / Spring/Summer 2025

Ukraine offers an opportunity to examine how democracies may balance innovation, accountability, and human rights in the age of autonomous warfare

Great Power Competition Makes Its Exit as Middle Eastern AI Ambitions Grow

By Vincent J. Carchidi / Spring/Summer 2025

As the Trump Administration downgrades the policy importance of science and technology, Middle Eastern states are pursuing tech autonomy

The Future of Democracy in the Age of Deepfakes

By Hany Farid / Spring/Summer 2025

AI-generated content has already begun to work against us, rather than for us. To ensure this technology brings benefits rather than harms, we must institute immediate changes

A Costly Illusion of Control: No Winners, Many Losers in U.S.-China AI Race

By Paul Triolo / Spring/Summer 2025

The aggressive U.S. approach to China risks triggering conflict between the two nations while upending any progress to a global framework for AI safety and security

Iran’s Civil Society May Be its Best Hope

By Kourosh Ziabari /

Iran is engaging in talks with the United States as it feels the weight of economic, diplomatic, and domestic crises. The outcome is not clear and democracy isn’t within reach, but its civil society, representing the nation’s best hope for positive change, hasn’t yet lost its resilience

Who are Palestine’s Overlooked Refugees? Investigating Stateless Palestinians in Jordan

By Francesca Maria Lorenzini /

Stateless Palestinian refugees originally from Gaza who now live in Jordan face a precarious legal and economic situation as they lack adequate support systems. Scant attention is paid to their struggles

Can the ‘F’ Word Help Save Ukraine?

By Klara Vlahčević Lisinski /

Is federalism the solution for a peaceful Ukraine after Russia withdraws? A discussion with federalism expert Soeren Keil

Longer Sticks and Shorter Carrots: How the U.S. is Changing its Engagement in MENA

By Amr Adly / Winter 2025

The United States’ approach to achieving international hegemony is shifting away from trade and investments back toward bombs and missiles

On Senegali Nationhood and African Unity: In Conversation with Mark Deets

By Omar Auf / Fall 2024

How is Senegal’s recently-elected young president faring in his efforts to navigate a complex local and regional ethno-political landscape? And what echoes from the past inform such efforts? Historian of West Africa answers these questions

American Netizens Worry For the Future of TikTok

By Sydney Wise / Winter 2025

The temporary banning of TikTok in the United States in January prompted concern over the politicization of tech platforms. The two likeliest paths forward for TikTok represent alternate visions of the relationship between Big Tech and government

Trump 2.0: Where Rhetoric Meets Reality

By Diana Bartelli Carlin / Winter 2025

The new president has made big promises, but can he keep them?

Donald Trump and the Art of Bending Reality

By Gabriele Cosentino / Winter 2025

The gravity-defying political comeback of Donald Trump is the pinnacle of the chaotic career of an extreme risk taker with little concern for established norms. But his willingness to upend rules and bend reality to suit his vision might push U.S. and global politics to the breaking point

President Trump’s Policies in the Middle East

By Raphael Cohen-Almagor / Winter 2025

The U.S. president’s pragmatic approach and his out-of-the-box bold ideas may bring a positive change to both Israel and the Palestinians provided they will be translated into action plans carefully and through sensitive communication with all concerned stakeholders

The Elusive Saudi-Israeli Normalization Deal: Why an Agreement is Likely to Fall Short of Expectations

By Robert Mogielnicki / Winter 2025

A deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel will likely happen eventually but is unlikely to transform the Middle East

Duel with Israel is Turbocharging Iranian Nationalism

By Kourosh Ziabari /

There’s only one ingredient in the Iranian people’s worldview that has not been outperformed by a disastrous mélange of crackdowns on civil liberties, economic maladies, corruption, and the specter of an all-out confrontation with Israel: nationalism

Enabling Evolution: The Role of Knowledge Production in the Development of African Unity

By Angela Leahy and Samuel M. Makinda / Fall 2024

Knowledge is power; by harnessing knowledge production, the Organization of African Unity and its successor, the African Union, have set the continent on a new path

Pursuing Unity: Pan-Africanism in Practice

By Stephen Okhonmina / Fall 2024

History has proven that a completely politically unified Africa may be impossible to achieve; instead, integration should be pursued with a more limited goal of facilitating faster economic, social, and political progress

Syria is the Middle East’s Hinge, but Which Way Will It Turn?

By Hussein Ibish /

The demise of the Syrian dictator has put the country on the precipice of the chaos and instability other countries experienced since the Arab uprisings. But there is a glimmer of hope that Syria can buck the trend and instead embrace tolerance, plurality, and security

A Reading on the Future of Hamas

By Omar Shaban / Summer 2024

The aftermath of October 7, and assassination of senior commanders, has forced an existential rethink within Hamas

Bridging the Knowledge Gap Between Scientific Research and the Masses

By Nadine El Sayed /

Amid ongoing climate change and the aftermath of a pandemic that revealed a significant lack of public awareness, scientists and journalists alike have recognized an urgent need to fill in the information gaps between the lab and the people. This challenge is particularly acute in the Arab world, where language barriers continue to hinder effective communication of scientific research, and the spread of misinformation remains rampant.

Looking Backward into The Future: Why the United Nations Has Failed to Prevent Genocide

By Gregory H. Stanton / Summer 2024

At its root, genocide is committed through a lack of empathy, and it has failed to be prevented by a lack of political will. It is time to reverse those failings by rethinking our systems and challenging our assumptions.

Why Hamas Cannot Be Destroyed

By Grace Wermenbol / Summer 2024

Israel’s strategy to eradicate Hamas by killing off its leadership has proven ineffective for decades; the current war demonstrates the myopic nature of this approach

Politics of Apathy and All-Out War in the Post-Gaza New World

By Abdalhadi Alijla / Summer 2024

The genocidal campaign against the Gaza Strip threatens widening of the conflict into a regional war, creating new realities that may endure for decades

Less Than a State

By Sean Lee / Summer 2024

Without a new framework that ensures true sovereignty and security for a future Palestinian state, the two-state solution will remain a farce

The War in Sudan—with Amira Ahmed and Manuel Schwab: CR Amplified ep. 2

By Abigail Flynn /

The war in Sudan is entering its second year. In 2019, Sudan witnessed a massive popular revolution that ousted its former president, Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled for over two decades. Sudanese civilians were key in bringing down al-Bashir and establishing a civilian government in his place. Two armed organizations also played an important role in the revolution: the government’s military, called Sudanese Armed Forces, known as the SAF, and the paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, » Read more about: The War in Sudan—with Amira Ahmed and Manuel Schwab: CR Amplified ep. 2 »

The Strategic Calculus behind the Saudi-Iranian Agreement

By Abdolrasool Divsallar and Hesham Alghannam /

Reconciliation between Iran and Saudi Arabia creates opportunities for cooperation and poses security challenges stemming from opposing objectives, and foreign and domestic spoilers.

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