Arab & Islamic Politics

Amid the diplomatic and media frenzy over the Gaza flotilla incident, Egypt's upper house elections were largely overlooked last week, even though the voting for the consultative Shura Council was marred by low turnout, concerted fraud, and violence. These are disturbing indicators of what the international community and Obama administration

In May 2010, Iraq sent its first ambassador to Kuwait since the outbreak of the first Gulf War. On June 11, 2010, World Politics Review's Kari Lipschutz interviewed Washington Institute Marcia Robbins-Wilf research associate Ahmed Ali about the historical context and current state of Iraq-Kuwait relations. World Press Review: What

Last month, a power struggle between rival factions in the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) came to a head when the Hamas-aligned "hawks" attempted to install their preferred candidate as secretary-general of the organization's political party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), over protests from the "doves." Reconciliation efforts have thus far

Turkey is starting to scare Americans, for good reason. There was the high-profile clash at Davos over the Palestinians, fraying Turkish ties to Israel. Then came the surprise uranium deal with Tehran, undermining Western pressure on Iran to come clean about its nuclear program. Now there's a new clash with

The recent resignation of Deniz Baykal, leader of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), over an alleged sex tape scandal presents a serendipitous window of opportunity for Turkish politics. Since the Justice and Development Party (AKP), rooted in the country's Islamist movement, came to power in 2002, Turkish politics

Eleven weeks after the March 7, 2010, elections, Iraq appears to be headed toward a sprawling "unity" government that values stability and inclusiveness over efficiency or decisiveness. Despite being an arguably safer bet for Iraq at a delicate and dangerous moment, this approach will pose several challenges for U.S. policy

On Monday, Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri will visit Washington for a meeting with President Obama. In announcing the meeting, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs called it "a symbol of the close and historic relationship between Lebanon and the United States." Indeed, between 2005 and 2009, bilateral ties were

Turkey's protracted political battle between the governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and its opponents reached a crescendo this month with the Turkish Parliament's vote on proposed constitutional amendments. The battle over the amendments represented the zenith of the country's dangerous polarization between two broad political camps congregated around

On May 11, 2010, Institute Keston Family fellow and director of Project Fikra J. Scott Carpenter cosigned an open letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calling for stronger U.S. efforts to persuade the Egyptian regime to lift its state of emergency. The letter, drafted by the Carnegie Endowment