Arab & Islamic Politics

If Erdogan can temper his political agenda amid a seemingly endless series of violent incidents, he will go down in history as one of Turkey’s most influential leaders, but otherwise he will be remembered as the man who drove his country into the ground.

Far from sparking World War III, the Ankara assassination will probably spur a Russian escalation against 'terrorists' in Syria and exacerbate internal divisions in Turkey.

As Aleppo's eastern districts continue to collapse, the regime will soon turn its attention to other pressing fronts, but manpower shortages will likely force it to focus on just one of them first.

A conversation on how Assad and Russia have achieved a major victory in a strategically crucial city, and at what cost.

If the kingdom wants its latest economic reform plan to succeed, it will have to change the culture of its labor force, which is a difficult proposition at best.

While the new legislature is hardly a harbinger of deep reform, broader inclusiveness, or greater personal freedoms, it should be considered another welcome exception to the 'rule' that Arab democracy tends to produce instability, Islamist control, or sectarian oppression.

After numerous postponements, the upcoming conference could inject energy into the aging movement and stabilize its ranks, but not if the internal elections exclude large constituencies or come across as rigged.

While liberating territory from the Islamic State is vital, the consequences of ceding portions of Iraq and Syria to de facto Iranian control could be just as dire as leaving them in jihadist hands.

This collection of essays by Washington Institute experts explores how the United States can work with--or, in some cases, around--the various actors in heavily Kurdish-populated northern Syria to advance the fight against the Islamic State and create long-term stability. Successive pieces look at the Kurds themselves, Turkey, Arabs in the