• Policy Analysis
    Saudi ArabiaRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    The Jeddah Arab League Summit: MBS’s Final Crowning

    May 31, 2023Imad K. Harb

    The 32nd Arab League Summit was little more than the final crowning of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince as the leader of the current Arab political order.

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantClimate and Environment

    Water Politics in the Tigris-Euphrates Basin

    May 30, 2023Achref Chibani

    While energy security and the control of oil have long been determining factors for geopolitical conflict in the Middle East, the region’s geopolitics have als…

  • Policy Analysis
    TurkeyDemocracy and Governance

    Turkish Elections in a Post-Truth Political Landscape

    May 24, 2023Mustafa Gurbuz

    The scene was all too familiar in the headquarters of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) on the day of the recent Turkish election. Giant portraits o…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy

    Democrats and Republicans’ Positions on Israel Ahead of the 2024 Election

    Although relations with Israel are usually foreign policy talking points for American politicians ahead of national elections, it seems that the issue has come…

  • Viewpoint
    US Foreign Policy

    Millions Dead from Post-9/11 US Wars: An Unconscionable Cost

    May 23, 2023David Kanbergs

    Last week, researchers working with Brown University’s Costs of War project released a substantial report detailing the number of indirect deaths caused by the…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelMigrants, Refugees, and IDPs

    The Nakba’s Coming Stages: Patterns, Process, and Predictability

    May 15, 2023Yousef Munayyer

    The Nakba, a term that describes events in Palestine surrounding the establishment of the State of Israel from 1947 to 1949, which included the ethnic cleansin…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights

    Young Palestinians’ Aspirations for the Future

    May 15, 2023Yara M. Asi

    One night in December 2022, 15-year-old Jana Zakarneh was at home with her family in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. The night probably began like any ot…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights

    Seventy-Five Years after the Nakba: What Does the Future Hold?

    May 15, 2023Mohammed Abu-Nimer Nadia Hijab Dalal Iriqat Khalil E. Jahshan

    As Israel celebrates the 75th anniversary of its founding in 1948, the Palestinians commemorate the same number of years since the Nakba, the catastrophe, that…

  • Policy Analysis
    TunisiaDemocracy and Governance

    Tunisia’s Broken Democracy: A Preliminary Assessment

    May 12, 2023Daniel Brumberg

    With Tunisia’s slide into autocracy accelerating every day, this hardly seems the best moment to undertake a frank assessment of its democratic experiment. To …

  • Policy Analysis
    SudanConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    The Sudan Crisis: How Regional Actors’ Competing Interests Fuel the Conflict

    May 11, 2023Khalil Al-Anani

    The outbreak of military clashes between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have resulted in the deaths of hundreds and t…

  • Policy Analysis
    TurkeyDemocracy and Governance

    Turkey’s Upcoming Elections: A Country at a Crossroads

    May 10, 2023Salim Çevik

    On May 14, Turkey will be heading to the polls for what many have deemed the most important election of 2023. For the first time in two decades, President Rece…

  • Policy Analysis
    Saudi ArabiaEnergy and Economics

    Saudi Oil Production Cuts: A Self-Interested Move

    May 10, 2023Patricia Karam

    Saudi Arabia’s announcement last month of surprise oil production cuts reverberated around the world. The cuts consisted of a voluntary reduction of 500,000 ba…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranThe War in Ukraine

    Iran’s Involvement in the Ukraine War: Compromising Declared Principles

    May 9, 2023Kourosh Ziabari

    Politicians and commentators are warning about the consequences of an emerging “Ukraine fatigue” in the second year of the Russian invasion of the country. The…

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    The Thorny Relationship between Yemen’s Government and the Southern Transitional Council

    May 3, 2023Afrah Nasser

    In Yemen, the Southern Movement calling for separation between the North and South of Yemen is controversial. For those who oppose it, it is a simple secession…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqUS Foreign Policy

    Twenty Years after “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq: A Critical Assessment

    May 2, 2023Charles W. Dunne

    The crisis had been building for months when, on March 20, 2003, this author stood with a group of military officers deep inside the Pentagon, watching a telev…

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonWomen & Gender Issues

    The Harrowing State of Women’s Rights in Lebanon

    May 1, 2023Rola El-Husseini Dean

    The problems facing women in Lebanon today have been further complicated by the financial, economic, and social crises that have been affecting the country sin…

  • Policy Analysis
    TunisiaDemocracy and Governance

    Kais Saied’s Fantasies Are Drowning Tunisia

    Apr 27, 2023Daniel Brumberg

    The April 18 arrest of Rached Ghannouchi represents a dramatic escalation of Tunisian President Kais Saied’s assault on the political opposition. The leader of…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arab WorldGlobal Health and Health Policy

    Challenges Facing the Arab World’s Health Care Professionals

    Apr 26, 2023Yara M. Asi

    In 2022, the Egyptian Medical Syndicate released a shocking report, finding that over 10,000 Egyptian doctors resigned from positions in government hospitals d…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Israel’s Normalization with Arab States Slows as Repression of Palestinians Rises

    Israel’s extreme right-wing government and its draconian policies toward the Palestinians have slowed down efforts to expand the so-called Abraham Accords, a p…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaJustice, Equality, and Human Rights

    What Does Normalization with Assad Mean for Accountability and a Political Resolution?

    Apr 18, 2023Patricia Karam

    Against the backdrop of Syria’s impending return to the Arab fold, French judges this month ordered three high-ranking Syrian intelligence officers to stand tr…

  • Viewpoint
    SudanDemocracy and Governance

    Sudan’s Transitional Process Is Dead and Buried

    Apr 17, 2023Imad K. Harb

    It would be very difficult to consider the ongoing intra-military conflict in Sudan as a struggle to advance the cause of democratic development in the country…

  • Viewpoint
    EgyptThe War in Ukraine

    The Fallout of Sisi’s Gambit with Russia

    Apr 14, 2023Khalil Al-Anani

    A leaked US intelligence document has revealed that Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi allegedly instructed officials to secretly produce and ship rockets,…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelReligion and Politics

    On the Struggle Between the Founding Colonialists and the New Colonialists of Israel

    Apr 14, 2023Honaida Ghanim

    Israel today is witnessing an unprecedented internal struggle that has split Israeli society into two contentious groups separated by what is, at least at the …

  • Policy Analysis
    Climate and Environment

    Climate Change in the Middle East Is a Humanitarian Crisis

    Apr 13, 2023David Kanbergs

    It has become undeniably clear that climate change is already wreaking havoc across the globe, destroying lives and livelihoods and drastically altering entire…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy

    The United States’ Weak Response to the Netanyahu Government

    In December of last year, Benjamin Netanyahu once again returned to the position of prime minister in Israel, leading a new far-right governing coalition that …

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arabian Peninsula and The GulfClimate and Environment

    The Costs and Benefits of Water Desalination in the Gulf

    Apr 12, 2023Achref Chibani

    Desalination has been identified as one technology that could help solve Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries’ water scarcity problem. Desalination is a co…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelReligion and Politics

    Evangelical Diversity and Support for Israel

    Apr 11, 2023Mimi Kirk

    Earlier this year, two ultra-Orthodox lawmakers in the Israeli Knesset, United Torah Judaism’s Moshe Gafni and Yaakov Asher, submitted a bill that would make r…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights

    Israel’s Policy of Fragmentation Harms Palestinian Hopes for a Sovereign State

    Apr 6, 2023Jonathan Kuttab

    Recent reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, and others have labeled Israel an apartheid state. Thi…

  • Policy Analysis
    LibyaConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Can Libya’s Stalemate Be Overcome?

    Apr 4, 2023Patricia Karam

    After riveting the world in 2011 with a revolution that led to the fall of Muammar Qaddafi, one of the world’s most brutal dictators, Libya has largely receded…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranEnergy and Economics

    Iran: A Resource-Rich Country Reeling from Rampant Poverty

    Apr 3, 2023Kourosh Ziabari

    Even for a state as heavily militarized and intractable as the Islamic Republic of Iran, the breadth and depth of the economic maladies it is facing are crushi…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights

    Discrimination Fuels Intra-Palestinian Violence and Crime in Israel

    Mar 30, 2023Yara M. Asi

    In recent weeks, it has been impossible to miss the protests taking place in Israel against proposed judicial reforms laid out by the country’s new extreme rig…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranSecurity and Defense

    Iran’s Nuclear Program Poses Challenges for China and the United States

    Mar 29, 2023Daniel Brumberg

    Now that China has brokered a renewal of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, it must translate that achievement into real tangible benefits. After all, fo…

  • Policy Analysis
    EgyptRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Geopolitics of Small Islands: The Stalemate of Tiran and Sanafir’s Transfer Impacts Egypt-Saudi Relations

    Mar 29, 2023Khalil Al-Anani

    In June 2017, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi consented to ceding sovereignty over the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia. However, nearly si…

  • Policy Analysis
    TurkeyConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Obstacles to a Turkey-Syria Reconciliation

    Mar 29, 2023Salim Çevik

    Syrian President Bashar al-Assad paid an important visit to Moscow in mid-March 2023. One of the main agenda items was the Turkish-Syrian reconciliation that R…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Arab States Are Normalizing with Syria’s Assad Regime

    Taking advantage of the devastating earthquake that ravaged parts of northwestern Syria in February, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has tried to use the trag…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arabian Peninsula and The GulfRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    The GCC Is On Board with the Saudi-Iran Agreement

    The signing of a joint trilateral statement by senior national security officials from Saudi Arabia and Iran in the presence of Chinese officials in Beijing on…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqUS Foreign Policy

    Iraq 20 Years since the 2003 US Invasion

    On March 20, 2003, the United States led an invasion of Iraq supposedly meant to halt its development of weapons of mass destruction. Lacking the support of th…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arab WorldUS Foreign Policy

    US Middle East Policy: The Trump-Biden Doctrine in Action

    Mar 22, 2023Charles W. Dunne

    All US presidents, it seems, need their own foreign policy “doctrine.” President James Monroe famously started the trend in 1823, and many others—Truman, Eisen…

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Yemen and the Saudi-Iran Rapprochement

    Mar 22, 2023Nabeel A. Khoury

    In the closing scene of the 1942 film Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart, walking off into the fog with his occasional nemesis as they plan their next move together, …

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqDemocracy and Governance

    Unfinished Business: Nation-Building in Iraq Since 2003

    Mar 21, 2023Rend Al-Rahim

    Nothing so perfectly expresses the failure of nation-building in Iraq as the cry of protesters in 2019, when they chanted, nureed watan, “we want a country.” T…

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Lebanon and Syria and the Saudi-Iran Detente

    Mar 21, 2023Imad K. Harb

    The recent China-brokered agreement between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran is expected to have a de-escalating effect on many issues in the Midd…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arabian Peninsula and The GulfRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    China as Middle East Matchmaker

    Mar 16, 2023Daniel Brumberg

    While the central role that China recently played in renewing diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia underscores the United States’ declining influ…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaMigrants, Refugees, and IDPs

    Politics, Displacement, and the Human Toll of the Recent Earthquake in Syria

    Mar 15, 2023Heba Gowayed

    On February 6, 2023, the earth shifted at the fault line that runs along the Turkey-Syria border, resulting in a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which was followed j…

  • Intern Corner
    EgyptEnergy and Economics

    Egypt Has Broken Its Social Contract with Its Citizens

    Mar 14, 2023Salmah Arfouly

    In response to rising oil and food prices, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi recently insinuated that Egyptians should “eat tree leaves” in order to surv…

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Oman’s Interests and Role in the Conflict in Yemen

    Mar 14, 2023Afrah Nasser

    In the course of the conflict in Yemen, Oman’s role has evolved substantially and in various ways. Currently, expectations are high that the sultanate will be …

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonDemocracy and Governance

    A New Model for Presidential Elections in Lebanon

    Mar 9, 2023Patricia Karam

    It has been four months since former Lebanese President Michel Aoun left office in October 2022, after a presidential term marred by a series of catastrophic e…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelViolent Extremism

    The Rapid and Predictable Rise of Israeli Settler Violence Against Palestinians

    Mar 8, 2023Yara M. Asi

    Huwwara is a small town outside of Nablus that, largely due to its location on a prominent route in the occupied West Bank, has been subject to a significant I…

  • Policy Analysis
    OmanRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Walking a Tightrope: Oman and Normalization with Israel

    Mar 7, 2023Imad K. Harb

    As the mechanisms of normalization between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan continue to take shape, other Arab states are ponde…

  • Intern Corner
    TurkeyMigrants, Refugees, and IDPs

    Disaster Politics and Earthquake Diplomacy in Syria and Turkey

    Mar 6, 2023Fadi Hilani

    The earthquake must not be an opportunity for Assad’s regime to rehabilitate itself in the eyes of the international community; nor should it be an opening for…

  • Policy Analysis
    TunisiaDemocracy and Governance

    The Success of Tunisian President Kais Saied’s Neofascist Populism

    Mar 2, 2023Daniel Brumberg

    If there was any doubt that Tunisian President Kais Saied is building a new autocracy on the rubble of Tunisia’s imperfect and short-lived democracy, that doub…

  • Policy Analysis
    LibyaRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Impacting Elusive Transitions: Egypt’s Policy Toward Sudan and Libya

    Mar 1, 2023Khalil Al-Anani

    The recent political developments in Sudan and Libya have generated some optimism for a potential resolution to the protracted political crises that have plagu…

  • Policy Analysis
    North AfricaClimate and Environment

    Green Power Politics in North African Countries: Continuity or Change?

    Mar 1, 2023Achref Chibani

    In 2023, environmental and climate issues will again be at the top of the policy agenda in the Middle East and North Africa. The upcoming COP28 climate confere…

  • Viewpoint
    Palestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy

    The Aqaba Joint Communique Dies in Huwwara

    Feb 28, 2023Khalil E. Jahshan

    On Sunday, February 26, 2023, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan hosted Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, and US officials in Aqaba, Jordan to try to stem the worri…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaSecurity and Defense

    Syrian Kurds Are Hoping for, but Not Banking On, Continued US Partnership

    The massive earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northwestern Syria has given the Syrian Kurds a reprieve from a possible Turkish military invasion of ar…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranProtests and Activism

    Iranian Protests and the Crisis of Free Speech

    Feb 23, 2023Kourosh Ziabari

    There is consensus among scholars and observers that the protests that erupted in Iran in September 2022 represent a defining moment in the contemporary histor…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelDemocracy and Governance

    The Settler Colonial Origins of Israel’s Constitutional Crisis

    Feb 22, 2023Yousef Munayyer

    Tens of thousands of Israelis have filled the streets of major cities in recent weeks to protest significant judicial reforms that the new far-right Israeli go…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantDemocracy and Governance

    Turkey’s Presidential Election in the Shadow of Devastating Earthquakes

    Feb 22, 2023Mustafa Gurbuz

    The devastating February 6 earthquakes in Turkey, which caused nearly 45,000 deaths in Turkey and Syria and rendered hundreds of thousands of people homeless, …

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arab WorldUS Foreign Policy

    Washington Doubles Down on Middle East Ties

    Feb 15, 2023Charles W. Dunne

    Reducing US commitments in the Middle East and pivoting to Asia has been a hot topic among foreign policy analysts and Middle East experts since the idea was p…

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonDemocracy and Governance

    Lebanon’s New Opposition MPs Must Work Together for Political Change

    Feb 14, 2023Patricia Karam

    Although the October 2019 protests in Lebanon rallied every sector, class, and gender in a moment of enthusiasm with the expectation of revolutionary change, t…

  • Viewpoint
    SyriaJustice, Equality, and Human Rights

    Aid to Syrian and Turkish Earthquake Victims Must Arrive Unobstructed

    Feb 10, 2023Imad K. Harb David Kanbergs

    Many cities and neighborhoods in Turkey and Syria have either been destroyed or damaged to the point of making them uninhabitable. Rescue efforts in both count…

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonIdentity Politics and Sectarianization

    Beirut Port Explosion: A “Judicial Coup” to Bury the Investigation?

    Feb 9, 2023Halim Shebaya

    There is broad consensus in Lebanon regarding the need to reform the country’s judiciary and to work toward enhancing its independence, as stipulated by both t…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Annual Palestine Forum: Opening Keynote by Azmi Bishara

    Feb 7, 2023Azmi Bishara

    The Annual Palestine Forum: Considerations and PurposesThis forum, the need for which was given considerable thought, embodies three main considerations.The fi…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranDemocracy and Governance

    Succeeding Khamenei: Can Iran’s Leaders Reinvent Their Islamic Republic?

    Feb 3, 2023Daniel Brumberg

    Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is 83 years old. And while he has lived long enough to see the 44th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, the s…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights

    Israel Sees Palestinian Family Reunification as a Demographic “Threat”

    Feb 2, 2023Yara M. Asi

    In 2015, the Hebrew-language novel Gader Haya (published in English as Borderlife) was banned in Israeli high schools by the Ministry of Education. The book, a…

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenInternational Law

    Child Soldiers in Yemen: Cannon Fodder for an Unnecessary War

    Feb 2, 2023Afrah Nasser

    Recruitment of children as actual or auxiliary soldiers in Yemen’s ongoing war is one of the most dire developments in the conflict since its initial eruption …

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaMigrants, Refugees, and IDPs

    Erdoğan’s Rapprochement with Assad Spells Trouble for Syrian Refugees

    Feb 1, 2023Nabeel A. Khoury

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s interest in a rapprochement with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is the latest chapter in his delicate domestic and r…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqDemocracy and Governance

    Iraqi Prime Minister al-Sudani Upstages His Benefactors in the Coordination Framework

    Jan 31, 2023Rend Al-Rahim

    Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, who was sworn in on October 27, 2022, has nearly completed the first 100 days of his tenure. In this short perio…

  • Policy Analysis
    EgyptRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Egypt’s Strategic Partnership with China: Opportunities and Implications

    Jan 27, 2023Khalil Al-Anani

    On December 8, 2022, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of the inaugural China-Ar…

  • Policy Analysis
    AlgeriaUS Foreign Policy

    US-Algeria Relations Remain Troubled, but Neither Side Wants a Break

    Relations between Washington and Algiers have remained at a low point ever since the Trump administration, in its last month in office, recognized Moroccan sov…

  • Policy Analysis
    TurkeyRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Turkey Faces a Dilemma in its Foreign Policy Toward Libya

    Jan 24, 2023Mustafa Gurbuz

    On January 9, 2023, a Libyan court suspended an energy exploration deal between Turkey and Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) that was or…

  • Policy Analysis
    SudanDemocracy and Governance

    Sudan’s Political Process and Hopes for a Civilian Government

    Jan 23, 2023Kholood Khair

    After months of negotiations, in December 2022, a limited selection of Sudan’s military and civilian political actors signed a Framework Agreement (FA) in orde…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arab WorldThe War in Ukraine

    Arab and Israeli Positions on Ukraine War Continue to Frustrate the US

    Jan 18, 2023Charles W. Dunne

    The positions taken by many governments in the Middle East have proven a notable exception to the global groundswell of support for Kyiv.

  • Policy Analysis
    IranProtests and Activism

    Iran’s Protracted Protests Represent a Broad Rejection of the Status Quo

    Jan 17, 2023Kourosh Ziabari

    Over the past four months, the international community has been heaping praise on the Iranian people for their audacious uprising, which has been challenging t…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights

    Israel’s Governance of the Bedouin in the Naqab

    Jan 12, 2023Morad Elsana

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just formed the most radical right-wing government in the country’s history, even while personally facing charges…

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonDemocracy and Governance

    Lebanon’s Politicians Are Incapable of Productive Dialogue

    Jan 12, 2023Halim Shebaya

    Lebanon has now entered the fourth year of its devastating economic crisis and collapse, with no end in sight and no hint regarding the possible launch of a re…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Depoliticizing Iraq-Gulf Relations Through Soccer

    Jan 11, 2023Zeidon Alkinani

    Iraq is defying its reputation and fighting against all odds in its attempt to depoliticize its regional image through the use of soccer. Between January 6 and…

  • Policy Analysis
    SomaliaConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Somalia Continues to Face Crises on Several Fronts in 2023

    Jan 10, 2023Imad K. Harb

    Following the conclusion in spring 2022 of its parliamentary and presidential constitutional requirements, Somalia began the process of attempting to re-establ…

  • Policy Analysis
    QatarRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Qatar’s Successful World Cup Signals a New Era in the Gulf and Beyond

    The 22nd FIFA Men’s World Cup came to an end in Doha, Qatar on December 18 with one of the most thrilling finals in the nearly century-long history of the comp…

  • Policy Analysis
    Energy and Economics

    The IMF and the Arab World: Beyond the Washington Consensus

    Jan 4, 2023Bessma Momani

    Throughout the Arab world, there have been numerous protests, uprisings, and challenges to the painful policies that come with an International Monetary Fund (…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arab WorldUS Foreign Policy

    The Biden Administration and the Middle East in 2023

    The first two years of the Biden administration, although short, have offered insight into the ways in which the reality of governing can clash with declared h…