Policy Analysis

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  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelDemocracy and Governance

    Opposition Parties Offer No Alternative Political Visions in Israel’s Elections

    Jul 9, 2026Mtanes Shihadeh

    Israel is preparing for new elections, whether they take place on time at the end of October 2026 or are brought forward to an earlier date in September. In re…

  • Policy Analysis
    TurkeyDemocracy and Governance

    Tunisia, Turkey, and the New Authoritarian Playbook

    Jul 8, 2026Salim Çevik

    On May 21, 2026, an Ankara appeals court annulled the 2023 congress of Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP). It removed the chai…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqIdentity Politics and Sectarianization

    Sadr, the Militias, and Iraq’s Struggle for Sovereignty

    Jun 17, 2026Giorgio Cafiero

    Iraq could be at a turning point following Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s May 27, 2026, decision to place his armed faction, Saraya al-Salam (the Peace Brigades…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaDemocracy and Governance

    Control without Inclusion: Eastern Syria Under Damascus

    Jun 12, 2026Haian Dukhan

    In May 2026, Hussein al-Sharaa, the father of Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, described the people of Deir al-Zor as “a group of savages with loud …

  • Policy Analysis
    LibyaDemocracy and Governance

    Libya: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

    May 5, 2026Gregory Aftandilian

    In April 2026, with the help of the United States, Libya’s two parallel governments reached an agreement on a unified national budget for the first time since …

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqDemocracy and Governance

    Politics in a Parallel Universe: Iraq’s Leadership Crisis and the Iran War

    Apr 29, 2026Harith Hasan

    The Iraqi government and the leaders of the country’s ruling political factions have every reason for alarm. The US–Israeli war on Iran—and its profound conseq…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaDemocracy and Governance

    The Shrinking Space for Kurdish Autonomy in Syria

    Feb 26, 2026Gregory Aftandilian

    In January 2026, clashes between Syrian government forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) resulted in Damascus regaining large parts of territory that h…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelDemocracy and Governance

    Election Year in Israel: Portents of the Coming Political Battle

    Feb 6, 2026Mtanes Shihadeh

    The upcoming elections will mostly focus on domestic issues, while those related to the occupation, settlers, and control of Gaza will recede from public debat…

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonDemocracy and Governance

    A First-Year Assessment of Lebanon’s Governing Coalition

    Feb 4, 2026Patricia Karam

    In January 2025, President Joseph Aoun took the oath of office and in his inaugural address declared the start of a “new era.” The government then began to rec…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaDemocracy and Governance

    Syria’s New Order: Centralization by External Consent

    Jan 29, 2026Salim Çevik

    On January 8, 2026, Syrian interim government forces moved into two neighborhoods in Aleppo controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the US-backed coa…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelDemocracy and Governance

    Bribes and the Ballot Box: How Israel’s 2026 Budget Serves the Governing Coalition

    Dec 10, 2025Mtanes Shihadeh

    The Israeli government will soon present its economic and financial agenda for 2026 in the form of a draft budget and an Economic Arrangements Law that will se…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaDemocracy and Governance

    Prospects for Syria’s Democratization Under Ahmed al-Sharaa

    Nov 21, 2025Patricia Karam

    The spectacular and unforeseen fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 upended Syria’s political order and launched a precarious transition. Ahmed al-Sharaa o…

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