Policy Analysis

Five experts and former high-level officials discuss the gamut of opportunities and risks created by the Trump administration’s diplomatic achievement.

Facing an uncertain economic future and fed up with corruption and mismanagement, young people in countries from Morocco to Iran have begun voicing demands for more responsive leadership and a more open society.

While those deemed responsible for crimes committed under the Assad regime must face justice, the sweeping purge of public-sector employees threatens to deepen divisions in an already fragmented nation.

Executing the president’s ambitious plan will require an army of experts in areas ranging from military command-and-control to community engagement and rehabilitation.

Inevitable attempts by Tehran to rebuild its nuclear and missile programs will require a U.S.-led campaign to track the regime’s proliferation activities and block transfers of related materials.

Ongoing delays in implementing their integration agreements threaten to derail the entire post-Assad national project, but the Kurds and Damascus don’t need to solve all of their core issues right away—they just need to take a well-defined set of urgent confidence-building steps.

An Emirati official and an Israeli expert join two former U.S. officials to discuss the ongoing aftershocks of the Hamas attack, including the revised prospects for peace amid the Trump administration's new diplomatic push.

The potential economic and strategic benefits of reopening the northern Iraqi pipeline are clear, but the agreement still faces bureaucratic, political, and security challenges before exports can resume in earnest.

The regime’s attempts to stir up nationalist support and increase its legitimacy postwar are not working—opposition is at a historical high.

An in-depth report on the corrosive role that Russian and Hezbollah elements are playing in Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and other West African states.

Distinguished former officials and analysts mark two years since the horrific attack on Israel, assessing how best to build on new diplomatic momentum in Gaza while avoiding long-term damage to the prospects of regional integration.

Although top-down change seems increasingly unlikely, elected Libyans may stand a better chance of challenging the national status quo by pushing from the local level.

An expert traces the PMPF’s evolution from a maritime-focused entity to a potent counterterrorism force, exploring why it has been more effective than other local forces.

So far, the proposals presented to Lebanon’s central bank risk prolonging rather than solving the country’s financial and economic woes.

Understanding the background of the twelve-day war and the considerations that shaped Iran’s past nuclear calculus can help illuminate the factors most likely to influence its future proliferation choices.

Prime Minister Netanyahu will likely accentuate the positive in his response to President Trump’s initiative to end the war, but key details—let alone Hamas’s response—could decide whether the plan ultimately succeeds or falls prey to another “yes but” cycle.

Amman and Jerusalem need to worry about maintaining peace, not new arrangements in the West Bank.

The 21-point U.S. plan offers an alternative to Hamas governance, but the president will have to ensure an interim administration meets its disarmament commitments—and support Israeli responses if Hamas reemerges.

Annexation would transform Israel’s legitimate military occupation of the West Bank into an illegitimate land grab, while dismantling the entire edifice of Middle East diplomacy for no discernible strategic benefit.

Although regional peace agreements have survived the Gaza war and other recent crises, the increasingly explicit red lines being laid down by Arab capitals need to be taken seriously in Jerusalem and Washington.