Arab & Islamic Politics

In the most interesting development in Egyptian politics in years, former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei is eyeing an improbable challenge to six-term incumbent president Hosni Mubarak -- or his son Gamal -- in September 2011. While Egyptian law and Mubarak's authoritarian

On February 25, 2010, Seth Jones, Andre Le Sage, and Thomas Krajeski addressed a special Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute regarding al-Qaeda safe havens in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. Dr. Jones is a political scientist at the RAND Corporation and an adjunct professor in Georgetown University's Security

Willingly or not, Dubai has been thrust onto the front line of diplomacy aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions and terrorism sponsorship. The January 20, 2010, assassination of Hamas gunrunner Mahmoud al-Mabhouh on its soil was a reminder of the emirate's longstanding trade and commercial links with Iran -- he

Against the backdrop of the Iranian government's continuing crackdown on its critics, Western powers are preparing for a fourth round of multilateral sanctions and other measures in the hopes of persuading Tehran to alter course on its controversial uranium enrichment policy. But even with Russia now apparently on board, will

During a campaign speech at the University of Uroomiyeh in northwestern Iran a few months before the June presidential election there, Mir Hossein Moussavi, the main reformist presidential candidate and now opposition leader, was interrupted by angry groups of basiji, the regime's paramilitary enforcers, carrying pictures of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Five years ago this month, Washington withdrew its ambassador to Damascus to protest the Assad regime's presumed role in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. For the State Department, which instinctively believes in the power of diplomacy, yanking its top diplomat was equivalent to the nuclear option

Why are Turks turning anti-Western and why do they view themselves in conflict the West? Examining the development of Turkish policies toward Israel and Hamas since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002 can provide many lessons.

The very concept of public opinion in highly secretive Saudi Arabia is almost an oxymoron. Hard data are difficult to come by, and even rarer is information about controversial and strategically critical current issues: views about military action against Iran, corruption and the state of civil liberties within the kingdom

European secularism, or laicite, practiced in France and other European countries, is distinct from American secularism. While the United States is secular, providing for freedom of religion in education and politics, European societies are laique, providing for freedom from religion in education and politics. Secularism, however, is not a standardized