Policy Analysis

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  • Policy Analysis
    Saudi ArabiaRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    The Jeddah Arab League Summit: MBS’s Final Crowning

    May 31, 2023Imad K. Harb

    The 32nd Arab League Summit was little more than the final crowning of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince as the leader of the current Arab political order.

  • Policy Analysis
    SudanConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    The Sudan Crisis: How Regional Actors’ Competing Interests Fuel the Conflict

    May 11, 2023Khalil Al-Anani

    The outbreak of military clashes between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have resulted in the deaths of hundreds and t…

  • Policy Analysis
    Saudi ArabiaEnergy and Economics

    Saudi Oil Production Cuts: A Self-Interested Move

    May 10, 2023Patricia Karam

    Saudi Arabia’s announcement last month of surprise oil production cuts reverberated around the world. The cuts consisted of a voluntary reduction of 500,000 ba…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arab WorldGlobal Health and Health Policy

    Challenges Facing the Arab World’s Health Care Professionals

    Apr 26, 2023Yara M. Asi

    In 2022, the Egyptian Medical Syndicate released a shocking report, finding that over 10,000 Egyptian doctors resigned from positions in government hospitals d…

  • Policy Analysis
    EgyptRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Geopolitics of Small Islands: The Stalemate of Tiran and Sanafir’s Transfer Impacts Egypt-Saudi Relations

    Mar 29, 2023Khalil Al-Anani

    In June 2017, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi consented to ceding sovereignty over the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia. However, nearly si…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arabian Peninsula and The GulfRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    The GCC Is On Board with the Saudi-Iran Agreement

    Mar 27, 2023Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

    The signing of a joint trilateral statement by senior national security officials from Saudi Arabia and Iran in the presence of Chinese officials in Beijing on…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arab WorldUS Foreign Policy

    US Middle East Policy: The Trump-Biden Doctrine in Action

    Mar 22, 2023Charles W. Dunne

    All US presidents, it seems, need their own foreign policy “doctrine.” President James Monroe famously started the trend in 1823, and many others—Truman, Eisen…

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Yemen and the Saudi-Iran Rapprochement

    Mar 22, 2023Nabeel A. Khoury

    In the closing scene of the 1942 film Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart, walking off into the fog with his occasional nemesis as they plan their next move together, …

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Lebanon and Syria and the Saudi-Iran Detente

    Mar 21, 2023Imad K. Harb

    The recent China-brokered agreement between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran is expected to have a de-escalating effect on many issues in the Midd…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arabian Peninsula and The GulfRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    China as Middle East Matchmaker

    Mar 16, 2023Daniel Brumberg

    While the central role that China recently played in renewing diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia underscores the United States’ declining influ…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arab WorldThe War in Ukraine

    Arab and Israeli Positions on Ukraine War Continue to Frustrate the US

    Jan 18, 2023Charles W. Dunne

    The positions taken by many governments in the Middle East have proven a notable exception to the global groundswell of support for Kyiv.

  • Policy Analysis
    Saudi ArabiaUS Foreign Policy

    What Lies Ahead for Saudi Arabia in the 118th US Congress

    Dec 7, 2022Charles W. Dunne

    New challenges abound for President Joe Biden in 2023. The loss of a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives for the 118th Congress promises to lea…