Arab & Islamic Politics

Sayyed Ebrahim Raisi, who is taking over a massive organization, has a repressive record dating back to the 1980s.

March 10, 2016 Since February 2016 the public sector in Kurdistan has protested corruption and unpaid wages. For the first time in 25 years, Kurdish protesters are publicly showing their disappointment in the government. Meanwhile, the KDP’s Massoud Barzani, whose term as president has technically come and gone, has begun

With most of their favorite candidates disqualified, the reformists embraced politicians who were little different from the hardline incumbents, raising questions about their claims of victory.

Syrian Shiite fighters increasingly show loyalty to Tehran, over even the Assad regime, marking an important shift in the wartime dynamic.

Strong ground support for moderate rebels would be needed to keep any buffer zone in the northwest from falling under the control of al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate.

This contribution, the fifth in a series exploring prospects for political reform throughout the Middle East, considers the strengths and limitations of Lebanon’s robust civil society.

March 3, 2016 Could one of Iraq’s most notorious political parties make a comeback after thirteen years in exile? This may increasingly become a central question for Middle East analysts, as Ba’athists are claiming their sociopolitical platform of supporting pan-Arab causes defused sectarianism and united Iraqis around nationalistic themes. They

The prime minister has broad backing to begin absorbing Shiite militias into the armed forces, though two key PMUs seem bent on resisting the move.

Given the absence of sharp ideological differences and the growing irrelevance of old political categories, those who win office this week may have little actual influence on important issues such as succession, economics, or the next presidential election.