Policy Analysis

Policy Analysis
EgyptRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Egypt: Partnering with Saudi Arabia on Security in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden
Jan 27, 2026Gregory Aftandilian
Despite its extensive economic relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt appears to be hitching its wagon to Saudi Arabia in the kingdom’s dispute w…
Collective Analysis
The Arab World
The Legacies of the Middle East in 2025 Are Likely to Repeat in 2026
Jan 6, 2026Yara M. Asi Daniel Brumberg Elobaid Elobaid Samia Errazzouki Imad K. Harb Marwan Kabalan Nabeel A. Khoury Laurie King Assal Rad Rend Al-Rahim Mtanes Shihadeh
In 2025, the Middle East and North Africa saw Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians and destabilizing military attacks across the wider region, Sudan’s unsalu…
Intern Corner
MauritaniaUS Foreign Policy
The Trump Administration May Worsen Racial and Political Tensions in Mauritania
Jan 2, 2026Marwa Elessawy
On July 9, 2025, the Trump administration hosted the leaders of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal at a White House summit. The summit aime…
Policy Analysis
MoroccoProtests and Activism
Morocco at Breaking Point? Drought, Misrule, and the Rise of Gen Z 212
Nov 20, 2025Samia Errazzouki
From late September to mid-October 2025, Moroccans across the country descended into the streets to once again demand change from their government. Under the b…
Policy Analysis
The Horn of AfricaEnergy and Economics
Bitcoin Mining on the Nile? Implications of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam for Egypt and Sudan
Nov 12, 2025Lama Elhatow
Ethiopia’s highly contested and controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) was officially inaugurated on September 9, 2025, marking the completion of…
Policy Analysis
EgyptUS Foreign Policy
The US-Egypt Relationship Might Face a Reckoning
Sep 11, 2025Charles W. Dunne
The relationship between the United States and Egypt has seen many highs and lows over the decades. Under Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and now Trump …
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
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
LibyaConflicts and Conflict Resolution
Libya’s Deep Divisions Show No Sign of Abating
Mar 27, 2025Gregory Aftandilian
Libya has fallen off the international radar screen as other crises in the region—the Israel-Hamas and Israel-Hezbollah wars, the Sudanese civil war, and the c…
Policy Analysis
The Arab WorldConflicts and Conflict Resolution
An Arab Plan for Gaza: Obstacles and Possibilities
Mar 7, 2025Yara M. Asi Heba Gowayed Imad K. Harb Khalil E. Jahshan Yousef Munayyer Annelle Sheline
In response to President Donald Trump’s February 4 proposal to take over the Gaza Strip, displacing its indigenous Palestinians and transforming it into “the R…
Policy Analysis
EgyptUS Foreign Policy
Trump’s Favorite Dictator Feels the Heat
Feb 28, 2025Imad K. Harb
US President Donald Trump appears to have developed different ideas about Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi upon whom he bestowed the moniker “favorite d…
Policy Analysis
SyriaRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Egypt Remains Cool to the New Syrian Government
Jan 23, 2025Gregory Aftandilian
The Egyptian regime of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi looks upon the recent developments in Syria with a good deal of trepidation. That the Islamist rebel armed group, H…