Policy Analysis

Submit site search
  • Policy Analysis
    EgyptEnergy and Economics

    Sisi’s Foreign Policy Fails to Obscure Egypt’s Festering Economic Problems

    Jul 23, 2025Gregory Aftandilian

    Although Egypt’s economy has seen several improvements over the past year, namely a fall in the inflation rate and an infusion of external financing, it is sti…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelIsraeli War Tactics and Genocide

    Starved, Ruined, and Displaced: What’s Next for Gaza?

    Jul 18, 2025Mohammed Samhouri

    In recent weeks, two significant developments have dominated the news from Gaza. One is the daily deadly violence surrounding the operations of the new Gaza Hu…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaUS Foreign Policy

    Lifting US Sanctions on Syria: A New Chapter for Damascus and Beirut?

    Jul 18, 2025Patricia Karam

    In a May 13, 2025, speech in Riyadh, President Donald Trump surprised the world by pledging to lift all US sanctions on Syria. Trump’s unexpected announcement …

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Palestine and the Middle East After the Iran-Israel war

    Jul 15, 2025Rami G. Khouri

    The Middle East in recent months has witnessed multiple military and ideological confrontations. Historic changes in regional power balances signal new strateg…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy

    A Trump-Netanyahu New Middle East?

    Jul 9, 2025Nabeel A. Khoury

    The Trump administration and the right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been following a roadmap toward their own version of a…

  • Policy Analysis
    TunisiaDemocracy and Governance

    Repression and Judicial Struggles in Kais Saied’s Tunisia

    Jul 3, 2025The Unit for Political Studies

    Almost four years into President Kais Saied’s imposition of one-man-rule in Tunisia, his effort pivots around a process of “executive aggrandizement” that is d…

  • Policy Analysis
    Saudi ArabiaConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Israel-Iran Confrontation Tests Saudi Arabia’s Quest for Neutrality

    Jul 2, 2025The Unit for Political Studies

    Overnight on June 21-22, American military aircraft launched strikes on three nuclear facilities inside Iran, most notably the fortified Fordow plant. To reach…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    The GCC States and the US-Iran Dance Near the Abyss

    Jul 2, 2025Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

    Years of shadowboxing and increasingly direct skirmishing between Israel and Iran erupted into 12 days of conflict that began in the early hours of June 13 and…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Pragmatism Shapes Iraq’s Position Toward Post-Assad Syria

    Jul 1, 2025Giorgio Cafiero

    Sharing a 375-mile border with Syria, Iraq has high stakes in its neighbor’s successful transition following the December 2024 fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaIdentity Politics and Sectarianization

    Syrian Kurds Attempt to Maneuver Amid New Realities

    Jun 27, 2025Gregory Aftandilian

    Syrian Kurds face new realities that have put their experiment in autonomy in serious doubt. Although in March 2025 they signed an agreement with the new Syria…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranUS Foreign Policy

    Perspectives on the US Attack on Iran and Its Repercussions 

    Jun 23, 2025Charles W. Dunne Imad K. Harb Khalil E. Jahshan Tamara Kharroub Assal Rad Annelle Sheline Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

    After waiting for a week following Israel’s June 13 attack on Iran, US President Donald Trump decided to involve the United States directly in the Israeli-Iran…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelIsraeli War Tactics and Genocide

    Hunger in Gaza and the Ongoing Weaponization of Aid

    Jun 20, 2025Yara M. Asi

    “Hunger slowly crushes you. It feels like dying alone in a desert that no foot has ever touched. I cannot sleep properly or sit still long enough to read. I fe…