Arab & Islamic Politics

On May 4, 2011, Gilles Kepel and Martin Kramer addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Dr. Kepel is the chair of Middle East and Mediterranean studies at the Insitut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and author of Beyond Terror and Martyrdom: The Future of the Middle East

On April 29, 2011, Ahmed Ali, Michael Knights, and Michael Eisenstadt addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Mr. Ali is a Marcia Robbins-Wilf research associate at the Institute, focusing on Iraqi political dynamics. Dr. Knights is a Lafer fellow at the Institute, specializing in the military and security

Despite being overshadowed by tumult elsewhere in the region, the December 2011 deadline for U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq looms ever closer. And although Baghdad has made notable progress on many fronts, its security forces and related civilian ministries continue to show troubling gaps in both capabilities and decisionmaking, leaving

Although bin Laden played little if any operational role over the past few years, he was the face of the organization and the voice of its extremist narrative, and his death could mark a turning point in the decade-long global struggle against terrorism.

On May 4, Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas is slated to sign a reconciliation agreement with Hamas leaders in Cairo, a development first announced last week. The move will mark an end to the period of estrangement between the two factions, which began in summer 2007 when Hamas expelled

Does the behavior of Iran's armed forces during and after the 1979 revolution hold relevant lessons for current unrest in the Middle East?

As they pay their respects to the House of Windsor, Arab royals may also catch a glimpse of their imperiled future.

Sheikh Muhammad's visit is an opportunity for the White House to clarify its views on Iran, which the Gulf Arab countries do not see as being subject to the standards of universal political freedoms otherwise espoused by Washington.

The power struggle between Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad continues. Signs of deep fissures in the conservative camp are emerging just as the Islamic Republic prepares for parliamentary elections next year, the first countrywide polls since the disputed June 2009 presidential election. These divisions, rather than