Viewpoints

Unbalanced Reciprocities: Cooperation on Readmission in the Euro-Mediterranean Area

Readmission Agreements are a mechanism for countering illegal immigration. Such agreements involve reciprocal undertakings to return illegal residents (or irregular migrants) to their country of origin or transit. This special edition of MEI Viewpoints brings together extensive research on agreements between European and North African states.

Read more Viewpoints

  Policy Insights

A New Era in Turkey's Civil-Military Relations

Gonul Tol

Turkey’s professional military has been a force for modernization and progress throughout the nation’s history.  As the constitutionally-appointed guardian of the Turkish Republic, however, the military has often intervened in political affairs, resulting in a constant, underlying tension between the government and the military establishment in Turkey.  Recently, tensions between Turkey’s democratically-elected civilian government and the military flared when Turkey’s Supreme Military Council (YAS) met in early August under the auspices of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to make a series of new appointments within the Turkish Army.

Read more Policy Insights.

  Policy Briefs

Party Politics and Elections in Morocco

Mohamed Daadaoui

This Policy Brief examines party politics and limited elections in Morocco. Political parties in Morocco do not contest the regime’s traditional sources of power and embrace the monarchy’s religious status as an integral part of the political identity of Morocco.

 Read more Policy Briefs

  MEI Commentaries

Where Does the US Stand After Its Retreat from Iraq?

Charles W. Dunne

"The last American combat troops rolled across the Kuwaiti border from Iraq on August 19, nearly two weeks ahead of schedule. The Obama administration has spoken of this milestone as a promise fulfilled and the first major step toward bringing a "responsible" end to the war in Iraq, setting the stage for the final withdrawal of American troops at the end of next year.

But the departure was a tribute more to US military efficiency in mounting a huge logistical operation - said to be the largest movement of materiel since the Second World War - than it was to President Barack Obama's Iraq policy.

The United States leaves behind a country in flux, without a formal government, experiencing worrisome levels of violence and ethnic tensions, and the ever-present possibility of a return to civil war. And amid all this the future of the US-Iraq relationship remains ambiguous. This is true not only of bilateral political relations but security relations as well. The White House insists the schedule for a permanent US departure in 2011 will remain intact, even though the secretary of defence Robert Gates recently stated the US is open to staying on after that if the Iraqis request it."

Read more Commentaries.

  Encounters

The Source of the Mother Well: A Novice Researcher's Search for Answers in the Aflaj of Oman

Jonathan D. Abetti

Architecture in the Sultanate of Oman ranges from the very elaborate and modern Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque to the very simple and traditional falaj...

 Read more Encounters