Policy Analysis

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  • Policy Analysis
    YemenDemocracy and Governance

    Fueling Instability: Hydrocarbons, Protests, and the Limits of Yemen’s Internationally Recognized Government

    Sep 12, 2025Nicholas Brumfield

    In late July 2025, large-scale protests against electricity outages, economic deterioration, and general mismanagement by Yemen’s Internationally Recognized Go…

  • Policy Analysis
    QatarThe War on Gaza

    Striking a US Ally: Israel’s Attack on Qatar and the Erosion of Regional Stability

    Sep 9, 2025Hanna Alshaikh Charles W. Dunne Khalil E. Jahshan Tamara Kharroub Yousef Munayyer Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

    On the morning of September 9, 2025, 15 Israeli jets carried out an airstrike on residential buildings in Doha, Qatar. Israel claimed that the strike was a pre…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranDemocracy and Governance

    Political Divisions in Iran and the Uncertain Path to a New Nuclear Deal

    Sep 4, 2025Daniel Brumberg

    Some analysts have argued that the unprecedented Israeli and American June 2025 assault on Iran has created a “new regional order” in the Middle East. But what…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arabian Peninsula and The GulfEnergy and Economics

    OPEC Is Pushing Down Oil Prices Despite a Cash Crunch in Saudi Arabia. Here Is Why

    Aug 21, 2025Jim Krane

    Something odd is happening in oil markets. Demand is weaker than it has been in many years, yet OPEC+ is unwinding cuts and increasing production at a brisk pa…

  • From our Affiliates
    Saudi ArabiaThe War on Gaza

    Saudi Arabia’s Response to Israel’s New Security Doctrine in the Levant

    Aug 14, 2025The Unit for Political Studies

    In July 2025, Saudi Arabia and France jointly convened a high-profile diplomatic conference in New York dedicated to reviving momentum for a negotiated two-sta…

  • Policy Analysis
    Saudi ArabiaRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Saudi Arabia and the New Syria: Constructive Pragmatism?

    Aug 7, 2025Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

    A large Saudi business delegation traveled to Syria on July 23-25, 2025, and participated in an inaugural Syrian-Saudi Investment Forum at the presidential pal…

  • 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
    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
    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
    YemenConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Yemen’s Houthi Movement Reconsidered

    Jun 12, 2025Nabeel A. Khoury

    In January 2019, this author posed the question, “can one make peace with the Houthis of Yemen?” In the six years since, the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah…