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TWI Arabic: اللغة العربية Fikra Forum

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Arab & Islamic Politics

Policy Analysis on Arab & Islamic Politics

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Articles & Testimony

Christian Minorities Under Attack: Iraq and Egypt

On January 20, 2011, Dina Guirguis, a Keston Family research fellow with The Washington Institute's Project Fikra: Defeating Extremism through the Power of Ideas, testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The following is an excerpt from her prepared remarks. "2010 is over.... I had the most wonderful days of

Articles & Testimony

Turkish-Iranian Ties Flourish in New Era

Although the AKP's Iran policy is guided by a core ideological stance, Iran's Turkey policy is at core shaped by national interests.

Soner Cagaptay
Alex Vatanka

Changing a Stagnant Political Order? End of Ben Ali Era in Tunisia

Today, President Zine al-Abadine Ben Ali of Tunisia stepped down after days of worsening riots and, coincidentally, one day after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton bluntly criticized Middle Eastern leaders during a speech in Qatar, where she accused them of tolerating "corrupt institutions and a stagnant political order." In Tunis

J. Scott Carpenter
David Schenker

Hizballah Challenges Lebanon's Prime Minister Hariri -- and President Obama

Yesterday, January 12, as Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri prepared to meet with President Obama in the Oval Office, the Hizballah-led opposition withdrew its support from the Beirut government, forcing its collapse. In the next few days, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is widely expected to announce between two

David Schenker
Matthew Levitt

Articles & Testimony

Who Wins in a Two-Party System in Turkey?

As Turkey approaches elections in June 2011, a consolidation of political parties appears to be in the making, under the auspices of the governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP.

Soner Cagaptay

Combating Violent Extremism: The Counterradicalization Debate in 2011

On January 5, 2011, Peter Neumann, Maajid Nawaz, and Matthew Levitt addressed a special Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute. Dr. Neumann is director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College London and a visiting professor at Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Security

Matthew Levitt

Articles & Testimony

Turkish Political Physics, or Why the AKP Might Stay in Charge for a Long Time

The electoral threshold intended to keep Kurdish nationalists out of the Turkish parliament now excludes almost everyone else from the legislature.

Soner Cagaptay

Combating Violent Extremism:

The Counterradicalization Debate in 2011

Following a year in which homegrown terrorist activity increased sharply, the 2010 holiday season witnessed a spate of attacks, plots, warnings, and arrests around the world, from Sweden to India to Portland, Oregon. As a result, efforts to combat violent extremism are being hotly debated. In Britain, the "Prevent" counterradicalization

Matthew Levitt

Tension with Gaza: Israel's Deterrence under Pressure

In December 2010, violence increased significantly along Israel's border with Gaza, manifest by high-trajectory fire (rockets and mortars) on southern Israel, counterstrikes by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and clashes along the border security fence. The Gaza situation since the end of Israel's Operation Cast Lead in January 2009 has

Jeffrey White

Articles & Testimony

New Kemalism: Religious but Not Conservative

The CHP has to reinvent itself as the party of secularism, to find a place where it can be at peace with religion but also promote socially liberal values.

Soner Cagaptay

Articles & Testimony

President Obama's First Two Years in the Middle East

President Obama assumed office in 2009 with an ambitious Middle East policy agenda. Atop the list of his campaign pledges, then Senator Obama vowed to pursue Israeli-Palestinian peace and re-engage in diplomacy with Tehran and Damascus. Given these grand plans, perhaps not surprisingly the first two years of the Obama

David Schenker

The Coming Secession Crisis in Sudan:

Will There Be War?

On December 17, 2010, Andrew Natsios and Richard Williamson addressed a special Policy Forum at The Washington Institute discussing the ramifications of the upcoming Sudanese referendum. Mr. Natsios, a former U.S. special envoy to Sudan, is currently on the faculty of Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service

Articles & Testimony

Iran's Supreme Power Struggle

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has never been happy about the status of the Iranian presidency -- neither during his own tenure, from 1981-1989, nor during the terms of his three successors. Tension between the president and the Supreme Leader is built into the Islamic Republic's core. The Supreme

Mehdi Khalaji

WikiLeaks, Gulf Arabs, and Iran:

An Opportunity for U.S. Policy

Recent WikiLeaks revelations about the discrepancy between the public and private views on Iran voiced by Gulf Arab leaders have been widely covered by the pan-Arab media without provoking policy shifts or internal tensions in Gulf Arab states. U.S. officials should therefore be encouraged in their policy of pressing for

David Pollock

Palestinian Public Opinion:

Tactically Flexible, Strategically Ambitious

Amid the latest setback in the peace process -- the ongoing failure to agree on a "peace talks for settlement freeze" deal -- Palestinian public opinion trends reveal unexpected flexibility on short-term tactics, but also troubling long-term intentions. Five public opinion polls of West Bank and Gaza Palestinians taken by

David Pollock

Democracy in the Balance?

Iraq's Next Government

On November 30, 2010, Daniel Serwer and Mithal al-Alusi addressed a special Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute. Mr. Serwer, a visiting scholar, senior fellow, and professorial lecturer at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, previously led U.S. Institute of Peace teams working on rule of law

Mithal Al-Alusi

Jerusalem-Ramallah-Cairo-Amman:

A Trip Report and Policy Update

On November 23, 2010, Robert Satloff and J. Scott Carpenter, along with David Makovsky, addressed a special Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. The speakers offered fresh observations from the Institute's 25th anniversary study tour to Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, and Jordan in mid-November. Dr. Satloff is executive director

Robert Satloff
J. Scott Carpenter

Unfinished Business: An American Strategy for Iraq Moving Forward

J. Scott Carpenter, director of The Washington Institute's Project Fikra, gave remarks at an event marking the release of "Unfinished Business: An American Strategy for Iraq Moving Forward," a report to which he contributed as coauthor. In highlighting the report's conclusions, Mr. Carpenter emphasized both the centrality of Iraqi domestic

J. Scott Carpenter

Egypt at the Polls:

Consequences for Cairo and Washington

On November 22, 2010, Dina Guirguis, David Schenker, and Leslie Campbell addressed a special Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute to discuss the context surrounding Egypt's parliamentary elections. Held a week after the forum, the elections were reportedly marred by irregularities. Ms. Guirguis is a Keston Family research fellow

David Schenker

Articles & Testimony

The Evolution of Iran's Special Groups in Iraq

For thirty years, Iran has sponsored Iraqi paramilitary proxies, demonstrating the Islamic Republic's ability to commission violence within Iraq. In this new article, Washington Institute Lafer fellow Michael Knights discusses the genesis of Iran's current support for "Special Groups" of militant Shia diehards, emphasizing their destabilizing effect on Iraq and

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Supported by the

Linda and Tony Rubin Program on Arab Politics

The Washington Institute's Linda and Tony Rubin Program on Arab Politics focuses on social, political, and economic developments in the Arab world, with an emphasis on the Arab countries of the Levant.

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Featured experts

David Schenker

David Schenker is the Taube Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of the Linda and Tony Rubin Program on Arab Politics. He is the former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.

Ghaith al-Omari

Ghaith al-Omari

Ghaith al-Omari is the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Senior Fellow in The Washington Institute's Irwin Levy Family Program on the U.S.-Israel Strategic Relationship.

Hanin Ghaddar

Hanin Ghaddar is the Friedmann Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute's Rubin Family Arab Politics Program, where she focuses on Shia politics throughout the Levant.

Bilal Wahab

Bilal Wahab was the Nathan and Esther K. Wagner Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute.

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