Arab & Islamic Politics

The May 25 election of Gen. Michel Suleiman as Lebanon's twelfth president was a central element of the Qatari-brokered compromise between the March 14 coalition and the Hizballah-led opposition. The agreement was greeted with relief in Washington and other international capitals, allaying fears that Lebanon was once again heading toward

On May 21, after five days of mediation, Qatari officials announced a compromise solution to the Lebanese crisis between the pro-Western government and Hizballah-led opposition backed by Iran and Syria. According to preliminary reports, the negotiations centered on presidential elections and electoral reform, yet avoided the critical issue of Hizballah's

On the inside back cover of books published by Gallup Press there is the following breathtaking statement: Gallup Press exists to educate and inform the people who govern, manage, teach and lead the world's six billion citizens. Each book meets Gallup's requirements of integrity, trust and independence and is based

For better or worse, yesterday's "Arab street" has merged with today's information superhighway. With public opinion polls from the Middle East becoming front-page -- and usually alarmist -- news, the results raise as many questions as they claim to answer: How reliable are numbers from undemocratic states? Do the region's

Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) must be delighted by the recent turn of events. On March 31, the nation's constitutional court agreed to review a case urging that the party be banned for allegedly violating Turkey's secular Constitution, throwing the country into a period of enormous instability. But while

In post-Saddam Iraq, decentralization has been a central rhetorical theme in the reconstruction process. Yet, it has failed to mature into fully realized policies on the ground, as seen in the continued lack of local participation in governance. Despite legislative changes and other efforts, the frustration caused by this unfulfilled

On Friday, Turkey's chief prosecutor filed a case in the Constitutional Court to shut down the Justice and Development Party, which controls the national government, and ban the president, prime minister and senior party officials from politics for five years. The party -- known by its Turkish initials AKP --

Early indications from Turkey's Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi: AKP), which assumed governance for the second time in July 2007, render it possible to make certain predictions about the future of Turkish foreign policy. The AKP will likely continue its hallmark policy of good ties with the

On February 9, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) passed two constitutional amendments legalizing a specific women's headscarf on college campuses. The Turkish turban -- not to be confused with the South Asian male turban -- first emerged in the country in the 1980s and has long represented an