• Policy Analysis
    QatarRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Erdoğan’s Gulf Tour: Reassurance without Substance?

    Feb 21, 2017Mustafa Gurbuz

    Contemporaneous visits to the Gulf region by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani indicate urgent regional diplomacy in …

  • Washington Policy Weekly
    EgyptMigrants, Refugees, and IDPs

    Congressional Update  

    Jan 26, 2017Roxanne Perugino

    I. Legislation to Designate Muslim Brotherhood a Terrorist Organization Re-introducedThe issue of designating the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) a foreign terrorist o…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranIdentity Politics and Sectarianization

    Rafsanjani’s Death and Its Impact on Iran’s Political Bazaar

    Jan 9, 2017Imad K. Harb

    The death of former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani comes at a critical time in the Islamic Republic’s political history. As one of the founders…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    November 8: What’s at stake for the Arab world?

    Nov 7, 2016Joe Macaron

    What motivates the Arab world’s interest in the 2016 US presidential election is primarily the concern about Washington’s role in the Middle East as well as th…

  • Washington Policy Weekly
    IranReligion and Politics

    Congressional Update – October 28, 2016

    Oct 28, 2016

    I. JASTA Update:The 28 Senators who sent a letter expressing concern over the Justice against Sponsors of Terrorism legislation (JASTA) – after having voted fo…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantReligion and Politics

    Implications of Al-Qaeda Rebranding in Syria

    Aug 31, 2016Radwan Ziadeh

     The announcement by the top leader of Al-Nusra Front in Syria Abu Mohammed Joulani to distance his group from Al-Qaeda last month was very controversial.…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantDemocracy and Governance

    The Week that Cut Turkey’s Ambitions Down to Size

    Jul 7, 2016Yousef Munayyer

    Although signs of policy adjustment have been in the works for several months, the events of June 2016 were an emphatic marker of a shift in Turkey’s foreign p…

  • From our Affiliates

    The Crisis of Political Islam – a Five Part Series

    Jun 21, 2016Azmi Bishara

    PART ONE"Political Islam is the end result of the enforced separation of religion and governance, leaving Islamist groups in crisis from their very inception" …

  • Policy Analysis
    IranReligion and Politics

    Battle over Fallujah Tests US-Iran Tacit Deal against ISIL

    Jun 3, 2016Joe Macaron

     As Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s al-Quds Force, was reportedly spotted in the northern outskirts of the besieged city of Fallujah, …

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqDemocracy and Governance

    Defeating ISIL is Not Enough to Save Iraq

    May 10, 2016Joe Macaron

    Two years into the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and amid the persistent downward trend of global oil prices, Iraq is obviously…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantIdentity Politics and Sectarianization

    Freedom of religion as a foundation of Arab democracy: An Arab view of the 2016 report of US Commission on International Religious Freedom

    May 3, 2016Tamara Kharroub

    The onset of the so-called “Arab Spring” in 2011 gave hope to millions of people across the Arab world that change is possible and that freedoms, democratic tr…

  • Washington Policy Weekly
    LebanonReligion and Politics

    Congressional Update

    Apr 29, 2016

     Note:  Congress will recess at the end of the week.  The House will return on Tuesday, May 10, the Senate will return on Monday, May 9. The next Congress…