Policy Analysis

On June 3, 2011, Michael Knights, Lachlyn Soper, Andrew Lembke, and Barak Salmoni addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Dr. Knights is a Lafer fellow with the Institute and author of The Iraqi Security Forces: Local Context and U.S. Assistance. Ms. Soper is a social scientist for the

Islamist parties can moderate their platforms, but only with free elections and the checks of an independent media and strong opposition parties.

A made-by-AKP-only constitution would lack legitimacy in the eyes of half of Turkey, including many large businesses, Kurdish nationalists, liberal and secular Turks, and women.

On June 10, 2011, Robert Wexler and Soner Cagaptay addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute, moderated by Institute managing director Michael Singh. Mr. Wexler is a former seven-term congressman as well as cofounder and former cochair of the Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans. Dr. Cagaptay is

Turkey's tough new stance against the Asad regime's crackdown gives the West an opportunity to adopt a more assertive stance on Syria.

This Sunday, Turks go to the polls for parliamentary elections that will determine their next government. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is predicted to win for the third consecutive time since 2002, extending its mandate into 2016 and making it the longest-ruling faction in Turkey's seven-decade history as

Turkey's newly assertive foreign policy is straining to keep up with the Arab Spring.

Is Hosni Mubarak's trial a necessary step toward democratic reconciliation, or does it raise risks of more anarchy and a violent military crackdown?

Bahrain makes a desperate attempt to charm Washington even as the regime declares war on protestors back home.

The wounding of Yemeni president Ali Saleh during a June 3 attack on his Sana palace compound will likely lead to regime change in his troubled country.

This weekend may witness another Palestinian attempt to breach the frontier with Israel in a repeat of May 15's "Nakba (Catastrophe) Day," when thousands marched on border fences and crossing points during the annual Arab commemoration of events following Israel's 1948 founding. June 5 is being labeled "Naksa (Setback) Day,"

Between May 19 and May 24, 2011, President Barack Obama and Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu delivered three landmark speeches that generated significant controversy regarding the status of relations between the two leaders and Washington's near-term plans for the peace process. At a time when the Palestinian Authority seems bent

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has now made the mistake that all Iranian presidents have made: he has challenged the authority of the country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and he is doomed to fail.

Over the past several decades, the Iraqi Security Forces have been shaped not only by external wars, but also by local factors. As the December 2011 deadline for full U.S. military withdrawal approaches, the success of American assistance in Iraq will rely more than ever on a clear understanding of

Saturday, May 28, the thirteenth anniversary of Pakistan's first nuclear test in 1998, revived a long-running and vicious campaign between the controversial Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan and the former military dictator Pervez Musharraf.

Recent polls indicate that Middle Eastern public opinion is becoming more amenable to Israeli-Palestinian peace, but at a time of immense regional upheaval, such sentiments are not pushing governments in that direction.

Egypt's stock market has plummeted, and the United States should do more to help.

If the Asad regime falls in Syria, a key link in Iran's strategic chain across the region would be broken.

The specific Israeli-Palestinian territorial principles enunciated by President Obama have within them the seeds of deepening tension between the United States and Israel, and perhaps even a rift.

Andrew J. Tabler and Mara Karlin discuss what the United States can do to bring the Syrian crisis and the Asad regime to a peaceful end.