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TWI Arabic: اللغة العربية Fikra Forum

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Democracy & Reform

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Articles & Testimony

Turkey's New Political Balance:

Old AKP and New Kemalism

Turkey's protracted political battle between the governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and its opponents reached a crescendo this month with the Turkish Parliament's vote on proposed constitutional amendments. The battle over the amendments represented the zenith of the country's dangerous polarization between two broad political camps congregated around

Changing the Paradigm of U.S. Assistance to Egypt:

Alternatives to the 'Endowment' Idea

Recently leaked documents detail an exchange between Washington and Cairo regarding the future of U.S. economic assistance to Egypt. The documents indicate that the Obama administration has welcomed Cairo's idea of ending traditional assistance in favor of creating a new endowment, "The Egyptian-American Friendship Foundation." This idea has a long

J. Scott Carpenter

Articles & Testimony

An Open Letter to the Secretary of State:

Push Egypt to Lift State of Emergency

On May 11, 2010, Institute Keston Family fellow and director of Project Fikra J. Scott Carpenter cosigned an open letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calling for stronger U.S. efforts to persuade the Egyptian regime to lift its state of emergency. The letter, drafted by the Carnegie Endowment

J. Scott Carpenter

Articles & Testimony

AKP, Alcohol, and Government-Engineered Social Change in Turkey

Since the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, rose to power in Turkey in 2002, special taxes on alcohol have increased dramatically, making a glass of wine or beer one of the most expensive in Europe, and for that purpose anywhere in the world. The AKP leadership is known for

Articles & Testimony

Springtime for Iran

To the casual observer, Iraq's post-electoral political process might appear to be deadlocked or moving at a snail's pace. Although international observers validated the results of the March 7 election as largely free and fair, the outcome has been subjected to a series of ill-natured legal challenges. This will complicate

Articles & Testimony

Challenging Tehran on Human Rights

The rise of the Green Movement following the fraudulent June 12 presidential election, and all that has transpired since, has demonstrated clearly to the Iranian people that the foundational elements of the Islamic Revolution -- the system of velayat-i-faqih (rule of the jurisprudent) and its main implementer, the Supreme Leader

In-Depth Reports

The Obama Administration and the Middle East: Setting Priorities, Taking Action

Thomas Friedman, William Kristol, Martin Kramer, and David Makovsky joined in a keynote discussion at The Washington Institute's 2010 Soref Symposium on April 22, 2010. The event honored the Institute's 25th anniversary. Thomas Friedman is chief foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times. He has won three Pulitzer Prizes

Martin Kramer
David Makovsky

Articles & Testimony

Points of Order:

Iraq's Painful Government Formation

The most likely scenario for government formation is a government of national unity that will hold together just long enough to appoint a president, prime minister and cabinet. Iraq is likely to witness restrictions on prime ministerial power, ongoing corruption and disrupted governance, although these factors will only slow rather

In-Depth Reports

Kirkuk in Transition:

Confidence Building in Northern Iraq

As the United States seeks to reduce its military presence in Iraq, the ambitious withdrawal timetable laid out by President Barack Obama becomes vulnerable to disruption by a number of strategic factors. Chief among these is a violent breakdown of relations between the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan

Michael Knights
Ahmed Ali

Actions, Not Just Attitudes:

A New Way to Assess U.S.-Arab Relations

On March 11, 2010, David Pollock and Marc Lynch addressed a special Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute to discuss Dr. Pollock's forthcoming study Actions, Not Just Attitudes: A New Paradigm for U.S.-Arab Relations. Dr. Pollock is a senior fellow at The Washington Institute and a former senior advisor

David Pollock

Articles & Testimony

Republic of Fear

Last week's arrests in Turkey of dozens of high-ranking military officers mark the country's latest step toward authoritarianism. Neither Europe nor the United States can afford to ignore Turkey's transformation. Since coming to power in 2002, the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and the ultra-conservative Fethullah Gulen

Articles & Testimony

Turkey's Republic of Fear

Last week's arrests in Turkey of dozens of high-ranking military officers mark the country's latest step toward authoritarianism. Neither Europe nor the United States can afford to ignore Turkey's transformation. Since coming to power in 2002, the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) and ultra-conservative Fethullah Gulen Movement have

Articles & Testimony

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan: Revival or Mere Survival?

While all Iraqi political factions are competing strongly in lead up to the March 7 parliamentary elections, in Iraqi Kurdistan the internal competition is especially intense. In particular, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK, the more secular and less tribal of the two major Iraqi Kurdish political parties) stands to

Ahmed Ali

Articles & Testimony

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

Articles & Testimony

U.S. Stepping Up Engagement with Syria

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

David Schenker

Articles & Testimony

Saudi Arabia by the Numbers

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

David Pollock

Setback for Iran's Opposition:

Khamenei's Hardline Reinforced

A few hours after the official demonstration marking the February 11 anniversary of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stated, "Was the presence of tens of millions of motivated and aware people in the festival of the thirty-first anniversary of revolution enough to awaken [to their mistakes] the

Mehdi Khalaji

Articles & Testimony

The Diyanet and Laicite:

New Turkish Exports to Europe

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

How to Assess Political Fissures in Iran

On February 5, 2010, David Cvach, Ali Alfoneh, and Mehdi Khalaji addressed a special Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute to discuss developments in Iran that may indicate either lost ground for reform-minded activists or cracks in the very foundation of the Islamic Republic. Mr. Cvach is political counselor

Ali Alfoneh
Mehdi Khalaji

Khamenei and the Politics of Indecision

February 11, the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, is the most important official holiday in Iran. The public faces of the opposition Green Movement, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi, have called for street demonstrations to mark the occasion. Meanwhile, government officials at every level have warned against such

Mehdi Khalaji

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Supported by the

Project Fikra: Defeating Extremism through the Power of Ideas

Fikra n. [Arabic] "Idea"

The Washington Institute's Project Fikra is a multiyear program of research, publication, and network-building designed to generate policy ideas for promoting positive change and countering the spread of extremism in the Middle East.

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Catherine Cleveland

Catherine Cleveland

Catherine Cleveland is The Washington Institute's Croft-Wagner Family Senior Fellow and managing editor of Fikra Forum.

Ben Fishman

Ben Fishman is the Steven D. Levy Senior Fellow in the Linda and Tony Rubin Program on Arab Politics at The Washington Institute, where he focuses on North Africa.

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