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Research & Commentary

Read in-depth research, analysis, and commentary from MEI’s fellows and experts on the Middle East. 

Trump’s South Caucasus Peacemaking Is His Most Successful, but It Remains Unfinished
  • Commentary
  • Trump’s South Caucasus Peacemaking Is His Most Successful, but It Remains Unfinished

    Of all the fronts in President Trump’s peacemaking agenda, the South Caucasus has delivered the most concrete results. The August 2025 Washington Declaration, signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan and witnessed by Trump, marked an important step toward peace in the region. The two sides initialed a peace agreement and advanced plans to unblock regional connectivity, including through the establishment of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), which would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhijevan exclave through southern Armenia. Implementation of TRIPP has since made notable progress, but construction has yet to start. A breakthrough on those two tracks would, in turn, unlock Armenia–Türkiye normalization, transforming a long-fractured region into an area of trade and interdependence.

    The Iran War Was Always About Regime Change
  • Commentary
  • The Iran War Was Always About Regime Change

    Wars don’t just end. They get interpreted, reinterpreted, and turned into strategic doctrine. That is what happened after the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, a conflict that saw the United States back Tehran’s Iraqi adversaries. The war taught Tehran three lessons it never unlearned: that Washington wants the Islamic Republic gone, that Iran stands essentially alone in the world, and that it cannot survive a direct, overt fight with the U.S. and Israel.

    Iran’s New War Cabinet Is Really an Old One
  • Analysis
  • Iran’s New War Cabinet Is Really an Old One

    Within 48 hours this week, Iran filled six of the most important posts in its battered military and security establishment. Read together with the biographies and mandates behind them, the appointments show how Tehran is drawing lessons from successive wars and preparing for a prolonged period of insecurity, without proving it has abandoned negotiation.

    Additional Research & Commentary

    Backgrounders

    Israeli Settlements in the West Bank
  • Backgrounder
  • Israeli Settlements in the West Bank

    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.

    June 9, 2026

    The Houthis
  • Backgrounder
  • The Houthis

    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.

    May 15, 2026

    The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor
  • Backgrounder
  • The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor

    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.

    June 3, 2026

    Turkish Foreign Policy
  • Backgrounder
  • Turkish Foreign Policy

    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.

    April 23, 2026

    Podcasts

    Middle East Focus

    MEI’s flagship weekly podcast on US foreign policy and contemporary political and social issues in the Middle East.

    Taking the Edge Off 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. 

    Rethinking Democracy

    MEI Senior Fellow Gonul Tol hosts leading scholars and thought leaders on global democracy trends and the state of the liberal international order. 

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    Challenging Stereotypes: Educational Aspirations of Emirati and Indian Muslim Women
    Middle East Institute
  • Analysis
  • Challenging Stereotypes: Educational Aspirations of Emirati and Indian Muslim Women

    Many Muslim women do not choose to forego education, but rather are unable to access this basic right mainly due to a lack of opportunity and socio-political constraints. The sharply contrasting cases of India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are illuminating in this respect. While the Indian case presents a stark picture, the Emirati case presents a bright and more hopeful one.

    February 28, 2013

    Economic Effects of the Arab Spring: Policy Failures and Mounting Challenges
    Middle East Institute
  • Podcast
  • Economic Effects of the Arab Spring: Policy Failures and Mounting Challenges

    Thu, 2/28/2013 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm The Middle East Institute is proud to host economists Andreas Bauer and Dr. Zubair Iqbal for an examination of the economic impact of the upheavals affecting Arab Spring countries, including Egypt and Tunisia. Since the 2011 uprisings, growth in the MENA region has slowed, inequality worsened, and unemployment increased, thus weakening the popular support needed for new governments to introduce difficult, but necessary, economic reforms.

    February 28, 2013

    Economic Effects of the Arab Spring: Policy Failures and Mounting Challenges
    Middle East Institute
  • Podcast
  • Economic Effects of the Arab Spring: Policy Failures and Mounting Challenges

    Thu, 2/28/2013 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm The Middle East Institute is proud to host economists Andreas Bauer and Dr. Zubair Iqbal for an examination of the economic impact of the upheavals affecting Arab Spring countries, including Egypt and Tunisia. Since the 2011 uprisings, growth in the MENA region has slowed, inequality worsened, and unemployment increased, thus weakening the popular support needed for new governments to introduce difficult, but necessary, economic reforms.

    February 28, 2013

    Economic Effects of the Arab Spring: Policy Failures and Mounting Challenges
    Middle East Institute
  • Podcast
  • Economic Effects of the Arab Spring: Policy Failures and Mounting Challenges

    Thu, 2/28/2013 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm The Middle East Institute is proud to host economists Andreas Bauer and Dr. Zubair Iqbal for an examination of the economic impact of the upheavals affecting Arab Spring countries, including Egypt and Tunisia. Since the 2011 uprisings, growth in the MENA region has slowed, inequality worsened, and unemployment increased, thus weakening the popular support needed for new governments to introduce difficult, but necessary, economic reforms.

    February 28, 2013

    Economic Effects of the Arab Spring: Policy Failures and Mounting Challenges
    Middle East Institute
  • Podcast
  • Economic Effects of the Arab Spring: Policy Failures and Mounting Challenges

    Thu, 2/28/2013 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm The Middle East Institute is proud to host economists Andreas Bauer and Dr. Zubair Iqbal for an examination of the economic impact of the upheavals affecting Arab Spring countries, including Egypt and Tunisia. Since the 2011 uprisings, growth in the MENA region has slowed, inequality worsened, and unemployment increased, thus weakening the popular support needed for new governments to introduce difficult, but necessary, economic reforms.

    February 28, 2013

    Interview with Indian Ambassador (ret.) Ranjit Gupta: Cairo, Egypt — The First Posting (1965-1968)
    Middle East Institute
  • Analysis
  • Interview with Indian Ambassador (ret.) Ranjit Gupta: Cairo, Egypt — The First Posting (1965-1968)

    Even before I left India for Cairo, I had the impression that there was a special relationship between India and Egypt. Indeed, within a few weeks of my arrival in Cairo, I found tangible manifestations that it was indeed so and discovered many more in due course.

    February 26, 2013

    Egypt Turns Quietly to Asia
    Middle East Institute
  • Analysis
  • Egypt Turns Quietly to Asia

    Beneath the din and clamor of political clashes and violent street protests, Egypt has been quietly turning to Asia in the form of a flurry of diplomatic activity. In addition to having far-reaching ramifications for Egyptian politics and society, the political ascendancy of the Muslim Brotherhood has also raised important questions regarding the evolution of Egyptian foreign policy.

    February 25, 2013

    Socializing Islamic Capital Market Products through Public Education Events: The Case of Indonesia
    Middle East Institute
  • Analysis
  • Socializing Islamic Capital Market Products through Public Education Events: The Case of Indonesia

    The Islamic capital market (ICM) in Indonesia is not a stand-alone capital market which has its own system. Nor is the ICM separated from the country’s capital market system as a whole. In fact, ICM instruments use the same mechanism as the conventional market for their underwriting and trading. Indonesia, with the world’s largest Muslim population, would seem to have great potential to develop ICM, whether in the form of fatwa, regulations¸ products, or other initiatives.

    February 21, 2013

    Investing in Iraq: Prospects and Challenges
    Middle East Institute
  • Analysis
  • Investing in Iraq: Prospects and Challenges

    Companies from Asia are beating their European and American rivals in investments in Iraq. Being more prone to risk-taking, they are cashing in on the opportunity to establish businesses that would be profitable in the long-term.

    February 21, 2013

    China's Evolving Stance on Syria
    Middle East Institute
  • Analysis
  • China's Evolving Stance on Syria

    Never before have China’s Middle East policies been less motivated by direct economic interests than by Beijing’s desire to prevent foreign (namely, Western) military intervention and forcing regime change in the region, even for the sake of humanitarian intervention.

    February 18, 2013

    India and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region: A Bibliography
    Middle East Institute
  • Analysis
  • India and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region: A Bibliography

    This bibliography is not intended to be exhaustive. The 300 entries contained herein were compiled mainly by employing two search tools, namely, Academic Search Premier and Google Scholar. Where complete tables of contents were available, book chapters include page citations.

    Yemen's National Dialogue: Prospects for Success
    Middle East Institute
  • Podcast
  • Yemen's National Dialogue: Prospects for Success

    The Middle East Institute is proud to host MEI Scholar Dr. Charles Schmitz for a discussion about Yemen’s political future. Two years after the start of anti-government protests in Yemen, the country remains torn by political divisions and rivalries. Schmitz will examine the political challenges ahead and whether or not the country’s upcoming National Dialogue holds the key to stabilizing Yemen.

    February 14, 2013

    Yemen's National Dialogue: Prospects for Success
    Middle East Institute
  • Podcast
  • Yemen's National Dialogue: Prospects for Success

    The Middle East Institute is proud to host MEI Scholar Dr. Charles Schmitz for a discussion about Yemen’s political future. Two years after the start of anti-government protests in Yemen, the country remains torn by political divisions and rivalries. Schmitz will examine the political challenges ahead and whether or not the country’s upcoming National Dialogue holds the key to stabilizing Yemen.

    February 14, 2013

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