Arab & Islamic Politics

The resignation of Karen P. Hughes as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy gives President Bush an opportunity to fix one of the most glaring blunders in his administration's response to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 -- a failure to prioritize ideological warfare over public relations. Today, most Americans

On November 3, Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency, putting at risk, despite claims to the contrary, the upcoming January elections. Musharraf justified his move by citing an increase in "the activities of extremists and incidents of terrorist attacks." The action was taken despite recent pleas from

Tomorrow, around 400,000 Omani men and women are expected to vote in elections for eighty-five seats on the nation's Majlis al-Shura, or Consultative Council. Among the conservative Arab states of the Persian Gulf region, Oman -- a key U.S. ally and exporter of oil and gas, strategically positioned opposite Iran

On October 21, 2007, Ehud Yaari and Sari Nusseibeh addressed The Washington Institute's Weinberg Founders Conference. The following is a brief summary of their remarks. Ehud Yaari, an Israel-based Washington Institute fellow and journalist, and Sari Nusseibeh, president of al-Quds university and co-chairman of the Israeli-Palestinian Science Organization, had quite

On October 19, 2007, Walid Jumblatt delivered a keynote address at The Washington Institute's Weinberg Founders Conference. Mr. Jumblatt is chairman of the Progressive Socialist Party of Lebanon, leader of the Druze community, and an outspoken ally of the "March 14" alliance. The following is an edited excerpt from his

In October 2007, George Shultz and Bernard Lewis were honored with The Washington Institute's inaugural Scholar-Statesman Awards at a ceremony in New York.

Widespread Islamist gains -- from Hamas's ascension in Gaza to the Muslim Brotherhood's successes in Egypt -- seem to have muted the previously high-profile agenda of bringing democracy to Arab countries. In both Washington and the region itself, little confidence remains in the short-term viability of democratic reform in an

With secularism, PKK terrorism, and other Turkish issues increasingly becoming international concerns, a dangerous Islamist trend has been overlooked: radical groups inspired more by the revolutionary ideology of Iran than domestic issues such as Kurdish nationalism are staking their own claim to power. One such group is Hizballah in Turkey