Policy Analysis

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  • Policy Analysis
    LevantClimate and Environment

    Water Politics in the Tigris-Euphrates Basin

    May 30, 2023Achref Chibani

    While energy security and the control of oil have long been determining factors for geopolitical conflict in the Middle East, the region’s geopolitics have als…

  • 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
    IranThe War in Ukraine

    Iran’s Involvement in the Ukraine War: Compromising Declared Principles

    May 9, 2023Kourosh Ziabari

    Politicians and commentators are warning about the consequences of an emerging “Ukraine fatigue” in the second year of the Russian invasion of the country. The…

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    The Thorny Relationship between Yemen’s Government and the Southern Transitional Council

    May 3, 2023Afrah Nasser

    In Yemen, the Southern Movement calling for separation between the North and South of Yemen is controversial. For those who oppose it, it is a simple secession…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqUS Foreign Policy

    Twenty Years after “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq: A Critical Assessment

    May 2, 2023Charles W. Dunne

    The crisis had been building for months when, on March 20, 2003, this author stood with a group of military officers deep inside the Pentagon, watching a telev…

  • 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
    The Arabian Peninsula and The GulfClimate and Environment

    The Costs and Benefits of Water Desalination in the Gulf

    Apr 12, 2023Achref Chibani

    Desalination has been identified as one technology that could help solve Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries’ water scarcity problem. Desalination is a co…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranEnergy and Economics

    Iran: A Resource-Rich Country Reeling from Rampant Poverty

    Apr 3, 2023Kourosh Ziabari

    Even for a state as heavily militarized and intractable as the Islamic Republic of Iran, the breadth and depth of the economic maladies it is facing are crushi…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranSecurity and Defense

    Iran’s Nuclear Program Poses Challenges for China and the United States

    Mar 29, 2023Daniel Brumberg

    Now that China has brokered a renewal of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, it must translate that achievement into real tangible benefits. After all, fo…

  • 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…