Policy Analysis

Turkey’s president seems focused on cementing his legacy and boosting his popularity with voters, but the move is more likely to damage the country’s international brand.

With a fragile democratic transition process and a continuous low-intensity yet bloody conflict against terrorist groups, Tunisia is still taking stock of the effects and repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country. The pandemic hit at a time of political struggle and economic uncertainty. As such, the government’s response

In my most recent Fikra Forum piece, In Defense of Islamic Religious Reform, I address the need for religious reform in the modern age. In Hassan Mneimneh’s response to my piece, Islamic Religious Reform Is an Institutional Need First, he raises several thoughtful questions regarding Islamic religious reform’s feasibility, and

On July 6, 2020, Iraq’s most prolific security commentator Husham al-Hashemi was assassinated in Zayouna, a social melting pot neighborhood of east Baghdad. At 8:19 pm, he arrived outside his home, driving his own unarmored white SUV. Seconds before, two motorbikes pulled up, each carrying two young men. They knew

Political, social, and epidemiological missteps have left the country with limited options short of an onerous national lockdown.

Even if the regime’s prospects of obtaining enough high-enriched uranium for a weapon have been greatly delayed, the potential repercussions do not end there.

Israeli and Palestinian experts and former negotiators explore the lack of clarity surrounding the next PA leader, including the potential effects succession might have on internal politics, annexation responses, U.S. policy, and more.

Netanyahu is treating the Trump plan like a buffet where he can choose only the parts he likes.

The Kremlin’s interventions in Syria and elsewhere are just one part of its society-wide efforts to bolster Putin’s domestic standing via the security sphere.

The Jordanian “street” is now relatively content with its government’s posture, in spite—or indeed precisely because—of all the turbulence surrounding it.

Although Sudanese workers crossing the border are hardly a terrorist threat, they do pose problems that need to be addressed by Israeli, Lebanese, and international authorities.

The United States and Iraq officially launched the bilateral strategic dialogue on June 11 as an opportunity to mend relations under the newly formed Iraqi government. While Iranian backed forces hoped for the initial meeting to produce dramatic results vis-a-vis the future of U.S. presence in the region, the first

The mixed Kurdish-Arab zone could buckle under any number of security, health, and economic threats, especially if the United States surrenders to Russian and Turkish interests by withdrawing its remaining forces.

With the potential of Israel moving forward with annexation looming, the question of its likely impact on recent steps of normalization with Gulf countries is becoming increasingly relevant. Yet the situation is ambiguous; while the scope of any annexation and the intensity of opposition to it throughout the Arab world

Even after the fall of of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) territorial control last March, the al-Hawl refugee camp of northern Syria remains the group’s beating heart. Over the past five years, both ISIS and other extremist groups have spread extremist ideologies throughout the Syrian al-Hawl region, with the al-Hawl camp

Delinking the embargo from the nuclear deal could offer the best hope of reducing tensions within the P5+1 while also limiting Iran’s access to sophisticated weaponry.

New data from a rare independent opinion poll show that the Egyptian public is much more concerned about domestic problems, including public health, than any foreign policy issue. And when it comes to foreign affairs and U.S. policy, only a third put the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the top of their

After Kataib Hezbollah was caught red-handed prepping new rocket strikes, justice needs to be served, and Iraq’s government needs to be better secured.

Deeper Turkish engagement with the Syrian Kurds would be helpful, but any such talks need to be linked with ongoing efforts to contain the Islamic State and advance the UN’s broader Geneva process.

If Netanyahu decides to throw prudence aside and proceed with the move, it would impose impossibly high costs and deliver few benefits.