Policy Analysis

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  • Policy Analysis
    LevantJustice, Equality, and Human Rights

    The Coming Change in US-Israel Relations

    May 10, 2016Yousef Munayyer

    The discussion on Israel at the most recent Democratic presidential debate is but the latest benchmark in progress down a road on which the American people hav…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantIdentity Politics and Sectarianization

    Freedom of religion as a foundation of Arab democracy: An Arab view of the 2016 report of US Commission on International Religious Freedom

    May 3, 2016Tamara Kharroub

    The onset of the so-called “Arab Spring” in 2011 gave hope to millions of people across the Arab world that change is possible and that freedoms, democratic tr…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantDemocracy and Governance

    The Obama Doctrine from a Middle East Perspective: Orientalism, Inaction, Contradiction, and Lack of Accountability

    Mar 18, 2016Tamara Kharroub

    In a lengthy narrative collection of conversations and interviews with President Obama and others, journalist Jeffry Goldberg’s tedious tale of “The Obama Doct…

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonIdentity Politics and Sectarianization

    Saudi Arabia Goes on the Offensive against Hezbollah

    Mar 8, 2016Joe Macaron

    Saudi Arabia’s explicit identification of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah as a strategic threat is a tipping point in the underlying tensions between both sides. …

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantUS Foreign Policy

    US in Libya: The Challenges of a Third Front against ISIL

    Feb 25, 2016Joe Macaron

    President Barack Obama’s Administration is considering the opening of a critical third front against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Libya. …

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqUS Foreign Policy

    The “Dos and Don’ts” of Defeating ISIS: Obama’s wasted 13-minutes

    Dec 6, 2015Tamara Kharroub Roxanne Perugino

    Giving his first Oval Office speech during his second term, President Obama addressed the nation on December 6, 2015 following the San Bernardino attack to rea…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Imagining a Conflict Resolution in Syria: Implications for US Policy

    Dec 1, 2015Joe Macaron

    The Vienna talks on October 30 launched the third international attempt to resolve the four-year-old conflict in Syria, proposing an end to violence “as soon a…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaSecurity and Defense

    Russia’s Middle East Moves and US Options

    Oct 15, 2015Yousef Munayyer

    BackgroundIn recent weeks, Russia has taken quite significant and surprising steps to deepen and strengthen its support for the Assad regime in Syria. Russia h…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy

    The Dynamics of Israeli Settler Terrorism and US Options

    Sep 15, 2015Yousef Munayyer

    IntroductionOn July 31, 2015, Palestinian homes in the village of Duma in the occupied West Bank were set on fire at night by masked assailants who left behind…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    The Iran Nuclear Deal and its Implications for the Region

    Jul 31, 2015Yousef Munayyer

    The agreement reached by the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK, and the US), the EU and the Islamic Republic of Iran over the latter’s nuclear progr…