شمال آفریقا

The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the 2012 Foreign Policy compilation Islamists in a Changing Middle East. To read the rest of the article, download the PDF. In addition, the full multiauthor compilation is available from the Foreign Policy website. On November 13, 2011, the

Although Washington has no interest in an Islamist-dominated Egyptian parliament, a brittle and indefinite military regime that lacks legitimacy is not a formula for stability either.

A moderate Islamist party governing in coalition with secularists will offer Tunisia a reasonable chance at real democracy.

Despite Qadhafi's fall, the Obama administration's initial reluctance to become involved in Libya sends a negative signal to Iran and others regarding Washington's stomach for confrontation.

The terrorist attack in the Negev threatens to escalate into both a wider Israel-Gaza conflict and an Egyptian-Israeli diplomatic crisis.

Washington must find the leverage needed to ensure that Egypt's military-supervised transition does not intentionally strengthen Islamists at the expense of revolutionary forces.

The more that liberals concede to Islamist demands, the more they will be marginalized in the struggle for Egypt's future.

Morocco's proposed constitutional changes, while seemingly modest, will forestall further unrest and potentially pave the way for greater reforms.

The June 22 announcement that a youth wing of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is splitting off to form its own secular party is emblematic of the unprecedented political activity in post-Mubarak Egypt. June 21 saw the second meeting of the National Democratic Alliance for Egypt, with fourteen smaller parties