Policy Analysis

Submit site search
  • Policy Analysis
    IranProtests and Activism

    Iranian Protests and the Crisis of Free Speech

    Feb 23, 2023Kourosh Ziabari

    There is consensus among scholars and observers that the protests that erupted in Iran in September 2022 represent a defining moment in the contemporary histor…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranProtests and Activism

    Iran’s Protracted Protests Represent a Broad Rejection of the Status Quo

    Jan 17, 2023Kourosh Ziabari

    Over the past four months, the international community has been heaping praise on the Iranian people for their audacious uprising, which has been challenging t…

  • Policy Analysis
    JordanEnergy and Economics

    The Deeper Context to Political Unrest and Protests in Jordan

    Dec 21, 2022Curtis Ryan

    Protests have once again rocked the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, with truckers, bus and taxi drivers, and others in the transportation sector having staged var…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranProtests and Activism

    Have Iran’s Leaders Come to Another Crossroads?

    Dec 14, 2022Daniel Brumberg

    Daniel Brumberg examines the ongoing protests in Iran and the country’s hardline response, stressing that the disturbances are unlikely to lead to the collapse…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranProtests and Activism

    Tensions Among Iran’s Nervous Ruling Elites

    Oct 24, 2022Daniel Brumberg

    One of the keys to understanding the Islamic Republic of Iran is that despite the regime’s still formidable grip on power, its ruling elite believe that the re…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranProtests and Activism

    Iran’s Ongoing Protests: Potential Scenarios During a Dangerous Time

    Sep 30, 2022Daniel Brumberg

    To adapt the famous opening line of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, it may be said that while all states are paradoxical, every state is paradoxical in its own wa…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights

    US Silence Enables Israel’s Crackdown on Civil Society Organizations

    Sep 16, 2022Yousef Munayyer

    Nearly one month after the Israeli military raided the offices of seven Palestinian civil society organizations—its latest step in an escalating campaign of re…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantProtests and Activism

    The Political Transformation of Protest Movements in Iraq and Lebanon

    Jun 24, 2022Zeidon Alkinani

    Despite the limited achievements of Iraq and Lebanon's recently-established protest movements compared to their stated objectives, the movements’ small gains m…

  • Policy Analysis
    SudanDemocracy and Governance

    A Coup Cannot Serve Two Masters

    Feb 22, 2022Kholood Khair

    After a two-year experiment in civilian-military power-sharing, Sudan’s military took over on October 25, 2021 in another bid to govern the country alone. Afte…

  • Policy Analysis
    Media and Technology

    Mapping Digital Authoritarianism in the Arab World

    Feb 3, 2022Tamara Kharroub

    The Arab uprisings of 2011 gave rise to a utopian vision of information and communication technologies (ICTs), highlighting their abilities to bypass governmen…

  • Policy Analysis
    EgyptJustice, Equality, and Human Rights

    Sisi’s Transnational Repression: Silencing Political Dissidents in Exile

    Jan 26, 2022Khalil Al-Anani

    On January 6, the FBI arrested Pierre Girgis, an Egyptian American, for spying on critics of Egypt’s president in the United States. According to the US Depart…

  • Policy Analysis
    Education and Development

    What Future Exists for the Arab Youth of Today?

    Dec 22, 2021Yara M. Asi

    In December 2021, an unprecedented event happened in Saudi Arabia: a rave just north of Riyadh. Men and women danced in mixed company, alcohol and marijuana we…