Read in-depth research, analysis, and commentary from MEI’s fellows and experts on the Middle East.
After decades of political setbacks, Iran’s former Revolutionary Guards commander has returned to the center of power. Is he an incidental beneficiary of war, or have observers underestimated him all along?
Brian sits down with MEI Senior Fellow Jaser AbuMousa to assess the situation on the ground in Gaza three years after October 7 and a year into the ceasefire. Drawing on his own personal experience, Jaser explores the toll that the war and continued destruction have taken on Gaza’s residents, the implications of the recent Israeli and US elections, and the difficult path forward.
Gulf states and their partners are increasingly looking beyond their most immediate interests of containing the war with Iran. While recent talks between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, and Iran have kept de-escalation on the agenda, a broader regional security framework and non-aggression pact has also emerged, envisioning a longer-lasting solution to regional conflicts. The talks have yet to produce a settlement, but they reflect a growing recognition that Gulf security cannot depend entirely on Washington. Iran will still be there, and its neighbors will have to find ways of living with it.
Since 1967, Israeli settlements in the West Bank have been a contested feature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The ultimate disposition of the settlements and ongoing activity related to their growth have repeatedly defied agreement in negotiations over a resolution to the conflict.
The Houthis are a political-military faction and Zaydi religious movement founded in northwestern Yemen in the 1980s. A key member of Iran’s Axis of Resistance with links to other militant organizations in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, the group has continued to pose a threat to Western interests on a global scale.
The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is a proposed multinational infrastructure initiative aimed at upgrading connectivity between the three regions through integrated trade, energy, and digital networks. Announced at the G20 summit in New Delhi in September 2023, IMEC is envisioned partially as a counterweight to China’s international infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative.
After a decade of post-Arab Spring isolation, Turkey’s leaders have recognized that their ambition to position the country as an agenda-setter on the world stage requires active engagement in all directions. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s consolidation of executive authority has centralized foreign policy decision-making and tied it to his domestic political priorities, transforming the country’s revisionist approach to one shaped primarily by personal and pragmatic interests.
MEI’s flagship weekly podcast on US foreign policy and contemporary political and social issues in the Middle East.
MEI Senior Fellow Brian Katulis engages friends, colleagues, and policy experts in casual conversations on the most important happenings in the Middle East.
MEI Senior Fellow Gonul Tol hosts leading scholars and thought leaders on global democracy trends and the state of the liberal international order.
This article originally appeared in Newsweek Pakistan in their June 10, 2011 edition
This volume has been prepared for the Middle East Institute’s Viewpoints collection. Several stakeholders in the Istanbul Center of Atlanta’s Annual Art and Essay Contest have been involved in the composition of this text. Our goal is to provide a history of this successful program, as well as to define a model for the recreation of such an outreach project for other regions.
*This article first appeared in the Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Monitor, Volume 9, Issue 20- May 20, 2011.
A version of this article appeared first in the interest review AmericanDiplomacy.org on May 30, 2011
Originally posted June 2011
In the early 1970s, I taught art classes in three elementary schools in Phoenix, New York. After enduring long snowy and cold winters for ten years, I moved to the Atlanta, Georgia area where the sun shines almost every day. There, I re-entered the field of education, teaching art for Cobb County Schools for 17. During this time, I shared original programs and curriculum in workshops and lectures held at international, national, and state conferences.
2011 marks the beginning of a new era for both Egypt and Sudan, opening new possibilities to overcome the decade-old Nile water conflict. After the revolution in Egypt, many hope for a reorientation of the country’s foreign policy towards Africa and a potential new approach to negotiations on allocation of the Nile waters.
The Maghreb extends about 2,000 kilometers on either side of the Greenwich meridian (-13° West from Cabo Jubi and 11.08° East to Kelibia) and is located on the same longitude as Europe. Although the Maghreb forms a single climatologic and geographical unit, it is a diverse landscape of mountains, fertile areas, and steppes. Nevertheless, the similarity of climate, geography, and culture in the Maghreb provides a solid foundation for developing a common environmental strategy.
Elaboration of a Sustainable Development Strategy
Most of the numerous articles written about the ongoing revolutions in the Middle East have focused on their political and/or economic causes and likely consequences. However, environmental and natural resource-related issues, which are also at the center of these revolutions, have received little or no attention.
The oldest peer-reviewed publication dedicated to the study of the modern Middle East, MEI’s flagship journal covers politics, society, and culture in the region.