Policy Analysis

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  • Policy Analysis
    The Arabian Peninsula and The GulfEnergy and Economics

    US-Gulf Relations After OPEC+ Production Cuts

    Nov 2, 2022Jim Krane

    American presidents have long relied on Saudi Arabia and its leadership of OPEC to ease price pressure on oil markets, particularly in the lead-up to US electi…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranProtests and Activism

    Tensions Among Iran’s Nervous Ruling Elites

    Oct 24, 2022Daniel Brumberg

    One of the keys to understanding the Islamic Republic of Iran is that despite the regime’s still formidable grip on power, its ruling elite believe that the re…

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    The Flaws and Failures of International Humanitarian Aid to Yemen

    Oct 20, 2022Afrah Nasser

    In a July 2022 report on the UN’s humanitarian response to the crisis in Yemen, the UN Inter-Agency Humanitarian Evaluation Steering Group concluded that “the …

  • Policy Analysis
    KuwaitDemocracy and Governance

    Parliamentary Elections Are Unlikely to Alter Kuwait’s Political Landscape

    Oct 18, 2022Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

    Voters in Kuwait went to the polls on September 29 to elect a new National Assembly in what was the country’s ninth general election in 16 years and the sixth …

  • Policy Analysis
    IranSecurity and Defense

    Iran-Israel Drone Competition and the Changing Nature of Warfare in the Middle East

    Oct 13, 2022Bishara A. Bahbah

    Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, have been widely used in recent armed conflicts, particularly in the Middle East. Their low cost and…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranProtests and Activism

    Iran’s Ongoing Protests: Potential Scenarios During a Dangerous Time

    Sep 30, 2022Daniel Brumberg

    To adapt the famous opening line of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, it may be said that while all states are paradoxical, every state is paradoxical in its own wa…

  • Policy Analysis
    TurkeySecurity and Defense

    Turkey’s Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in Iraq

    Sep 28, 2022Mustafa Gurbuz

    Head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization Hakan Fidan’s recent visit to Baghdad was an attempt to heal wounds that were opened during a diplomatic ro…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqIdentity Politics and Sectarianization

    Iran’s Cautious Stance on Iraq’s Current Political Crisis

    Sep 27, 2022Zeidon Alkinani

    Iraqi politicians have repeatedly failed to form a government in the eleven months that have passed since the country’s October 2021 elections, in large part d…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaGlobal Health and Health Policy

    The Captagon Problem in Saudi Arabia and Other Gulf States

    Sep 22, 2022Gregory Aftandilian

    Over the past decade, the amphetamine fenethylline, widely known by the brand name Captagon, has increasingly become the drug of choice among the youth in Gulf…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranUS Foreign Policy

    No Plan B for the US as Geostrategic Shifts Threaten to Scuttle Iran Nuclear Deal

    Sep 20, 2022Daniel Brumberg

    What a difference a few days can make in the Middle East. On August 28 National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby addressed the diplomatic maneuvering t…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arabian Peninsula and The GulfEducation 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
    IranReligion and Politics

    Assault on Salman Rushdie Generates Diplomatic and Political Tremors

    Sep 2, 2022Daniel Brumberg

    It will probably never be known whether the 24-year-old Lebanese American man who repeatedly stabbed world-renowned author Salman Rushdie on August 12 acted wi…