Publications

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  • Intern Corner
    Palestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy

    Occupation Funded, Development Denied: How American Aid Cuts Affect the West Bank 

    May 16, 2025Adriana Hashem

    On his first day back in the White House, President Donald Trump made his opening moves to dismantle the fiscal and ideological foundations of American foreign…

  • Viewpoint
    Education and Development

    Where Are Our College Leaders? The Danger of Anticipatory Obedience in Higher Education

    Apr 9, 2025Tariq Habash

    Since October 7, 2023, American colleges and universities have repeatedly found themselves at the center of escalating political pressure amid student activism…

  • Policy Analysis
    US Foreign Policy

    What Trump’s Aid Cuts Mean for the Middle East and North Africa

    Mar 21, 2025Amy Hawthorne

    Although the Trump administration exempted Israel’s $3.3 billion and Egypt’s $1.3 billion in annual foreign military financing (FMF)—the majority of US assista…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelEducation and Development

    The US Academy and the Destruction of Gaza’s Education System

    Jul 3, 2024Hanna Alshaikh

    After Columbia University students set up a pro-Palestinian encampment on April 17, similar ones formed on campuses not only in the United States but worldwide…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelEducation and Development

    Israel’s War on the Education Sector in the Gaza Strip 

    Mar 20, 2024Nour Naim

    Palestinians’ experience with displacement, asylum, and dispossession since the Nakba in 1948 sparked what can be described as an educational revolution, leadi…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelEducation and Development

    Political Persecution of Palestinians Using the Education System and Israeli Universities

    Sep 21, 2023Mada al-Carmel

    Since the formation of Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s sixth government December 29, 2022, it has become clear—as outlined in previous papers from …

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantEducation and Development

    The Politics of Palestinian Universities

    Sep 8, 2023Yara M. Asi

    Many have argued that in the absence of a unified Palestinian liberation movement, and even of the ability to participate in the current mechanisms of governan…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqUS Foreign Policy

    Shock and Awe: Life in Iraq Twenty Years after the US-led Invasion

    Jun 16, 2023Yara M. Asi

    This year marks a significant milestone in the American-led “Global War on Terror,” especially in relation to Iraq. It has been 20 years since former Secretary…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantDemocracy and Governance

    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
    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
    OmanWomen & Gender Issues

    The Role of Women in Oman’s Social and Economic Progress

    Nov 22, 2022Alainna Liloia

    Oman is making gradual progress in the area of women’s rights. Women in Oman are voting, running for office, and serving in ministerial positions. Opportunitie…

  • Policy Analysis
    Democracy and Governance

    The Colonial Legacy in the Arab World: Health, Education, and Politics

    Nov 9, 2022Yara M. Asi

    In recent years, movements toward “decolonization” have taken hold throughout multiple disciplines, including cultural studies, health, economics, and educatio…

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonEnergy and Economics

    Lebanon Struggles to Pick up the Pieces After the Beirut Port Explosion

    Sep 9, 2022Yara M. Asi

    Lebanon’s independence in 1943 formally ended a 23-year French mandate backed by the League of Nations, a period that saw the consolidation of the country’s cu…

  • Policy Analysis
    QatarEducation and Development

    Women’s Education at Western Universities in Qatar and the UAE

    Sep 9, 2022Alainna Liloia

    As more and more western universities set up branch campuses in Gulf Arab states, many women are finding themselves with greater opportunities than ever before…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelEducation and Development

    International Aid to the Palestinians: Between Politicization and Development

    Aug 4, 2022Omar Shaban

    Following the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993, an international conference was held in Washington …

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonEducation and Development

    The Need for an International Development Fund for Lebanon

    Jan 6, 2022Nabeel A. Khoury

    The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB), European Union (EU), France, and the United States are all trying to help Lebanon out of the economic a…

  • Policy Analysis
    Democracy and Governance

    What Future Exists for the Arab Youth of Today?

    Dec 22, 2021Yara M. Asi

    In December 2021, an unprecedented event happened in Saudi Arabia: a rave just north of Riyadh. Men and women danced in mixed company, alcohol and marijuana we…

  • Policy Analysis
    Saudi ArabiaEducation and Development

    Arab Space Programs Level Up

    Apr 30, 2021Charles W. Dunne

    People in the Arab world have gazed at the stars with curiosity and genius for centuries. The first observatory was built in the 8th century by Abbasid Caliph …

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantDemocracy and Governance

    Building a Nation without a State: Civil Society in Palestine

    Dec 23, 2020Yara M. Asi

    Never before has the Palestinian Authority (PA) seemed so isolated. American policy under President Donald Trump has unprecedentedly and openly been favorable …

  • Policy Analysis
    JordanEducation and Development

    Teachers’ Anger Reflects Jordan’s Economic and Political Strains

    Sep 9, 2020Gregory Aftandilian

    The crackdown on the Jordanian Teachers Syndicate this summer is in many ways emblematic of mounting political and economic problems facing the Hashemite Kingd…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantEducation and Development

    Loss of a Generation: The Education of Syria’s Refugee Children

    Aug 25, 2020Yara M. Asi

    Yara M. Asi reports that almost ten years of homelessness, poverty, and trauma have deprived millions of Syria’s children and youth—displaced inside the countr…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantEducation and Development

    The State of Education in the Arab World

    Aug 6, 2018Ilham Nasser

    When closely examining reports on the status of education in the Arab region, the main conclusions have pointed to the Arab states’ deficits in educational att…

  • Policy Analysis
    EgyptDemocracy and Governance

    Is Egypt’s Population Growth a Blessing or a Curse?

    Nov 20, 2017Sahar Khamis

    At 98 million, Egypt’s rapid population growth is a threat to the national economy and an obstacle to the country’s prospects for development and prosperity.

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arabian Peninsula and The GulfEducation and Development

    Youth Unemployment Remains the Main Challenge in the Gulf States

    Jul 11, 2017Gregory Aftandilian

    Persistently high youth unemployment remains the chief domestic challenge facing the Gulf states. Efforts to encourage the private sector to absorb new entrant…