The Arab Spring: Implications for US Policy and Interests
In the June 2011 Bulletin, Dr. Michael Ryan discusses the implications of bin Ladin’s death for the remainder of the al-Qa’ida network. It also introduces new MEI scholars Dr. Daniel Serwer, who is interviewed on his career in technology and peacebuilding, and Dr. Charles Schmitz, who speaks about his work on Yemen.
This Commentary was first published as an op-ed in Foreign Policy’s “Middle East Channel” on September 27, 2011
Originally posted September, 2011
The Middle East Institute and the UNDP are proud to host a discussion with UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, Under Secretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs Robert D. Hormats, and Middle East Institute Scholar Amb. Edward Walker about how best to address political, economic and human development needs in the Arab world today.
*This article first appeared in the Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Monitor, Volume 9, Issue 20- May 20, 2011.
The Middle East Insitute is proud to host Amb. Edmund J. Hull (retired) for for a discussion about his recent book High-Value Target: Countering Al Qaeda in Yemen. Hull's book tells the inside story of how al Qaeda's Yemeni safe haven was disrupted during Hull's tenure.
*A version of this article was originally published on ForeignPolicy.com on April 12, 2011
Divide and conquer. That's the strategy Ali Abdullah Saleh has employed for 33 years to remain atop Yemen's extremely diverse political landscape. But the Yemeni president's efforts to keep his country in a state of low-level dysfunction are also at the root of its current problems. Chaos allows Saleh to make politics a family affair, keeping the reins of power in the hands of his sons and nephews.
The Middle East Institute is proud to host Janet Sanderson, Christopher Boucek and Charles Schmitz for a discussion about the challenges facing Yemeni President Abullah Ali Saleh as he confronts a third month of anti-government protests and growing calls for secession from southern separatists. Sanderson will examine US policy toward the Saleh government in the face of demands for reform, while Schmitz will examine the respective players in Yemen's protest movement and the government's response to their demands.
The Republic of Yemen occupies the southwest corner of the Arabian Peninsula. Unlike its oil-rich neighbors, Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world. Like other countries football (soccer) is Yemen’s most popular sport. Football has been played in parts of Yemen since before the turn of the 20th century, and since the 1970s, the game’s popularity has increased significantly.
The convergence of multiple crises in an already vulnerable environment has left Yemen and aid agencies at a crossroads. The context has become an extremely complex and challenging one within which to reduce hunger, malnutrition, and fragility. Yet it is precisely because of these challenges that humanitarian intervention is vital to keep struggling populations from tipping into utter disaster.
“In some areas of the Gulf, you can’t tell whether you are in an Arab Muslim country or in an Asian district.”
— Majeed al-Alawi, Bahrain Minister of Labor (October 2007)
The Middle East Institute is proud to host two former Ambassadors to Yemen, Thomas Krajeski and David Newton, for a discussion about Yemen and the role of US foreign policy in a country some political analysts characterize as a failed state. As Yemen grapples with multiple crises, including the growing influence of Al Qaeda, a Houthi Rebellion in the north, a secessionist movement in the south and severe economic woes, what should the US do to help stabilize and secure one of the Arab world’s poorest countries?
Since it emerged in Yemen around three decades ago, the country’s Salafi movement has maintained complex, if not tense links with Saudi Arabia.[1] Before establishing a Yemeni manifestation of Salafism with its own features and clerics,
This project was originally imagined as a multi-authored consideration of Yemen’s April 2009 parliamentary process — its lead-up, outcomes, and likely consequences. Following the postponement of these elections, the authors have instead sought to examine not only the stated and implicit reasons for the delay, but also Yemen’s increasing political unrest — turmoil which the regime has helped foster and to which it has begun to overreact. For the authors, the key question is less whether the elections will be held in 2011, but whether the country will remain intact until then.