Middle Eastern governments and media are demonstrating increasing hostility to foreign researchers and journalists, according to an open letter signed by a group of distinguished scholars, academics, journalists, and… Read more »
Repression and the incompetence of Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi are stoking the next uprising, The Economist argues: As our briefing on young Arabs sets out (see Briefing), the Middle East is where… Read more »
One of the main motivations behind Egypt’s 2013 military coup was to counter potential violence and terrorism. Yet one of its main upshots is a surge in violence and… Read more »
The Arab Spring opened a window of opportunity to revise democracy support in a direction that better reflects local interpretations of citizenship and rights, but external actors have yet to… Read more »
An Egyptian activist was prevented from flying to Beirut for a women’s rights conference on Monday after passport control officials told her she was banned from traveling, Reuters reports:… Read more »
A thorough examination of the Islamic State’s history and practices is useful for designing a coordinated and effective campaign against it—and for understanding why the group might be able to… Read more »
U.S. military assistance could be a major asset in advancing democratic values and institutions, says a prominent analyst. Yet the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, which provides U.S…. Read more »
The audacious decision of Tunisia’s Ennahda movement to separate politics and religion has raised the question of whether Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood would follow Ennahda’s course, notes Khalil al-Anani, an associate professor at… Read more »
Can Muslim-majority countries strike a balance between faith and democracy? Al Jazeera asks. Or, is there an irreconcilable tension between liberal values and Islamic beliefs? When we discuss political Islam… Read more »
The collapse of the post-colonial Arab system is, at its heart, a crisis of legitimacy. The impact of colonialism, often blamed by Arabs for their woes, should not be… Read more »