Middle East Institute

Iraq and Syria: Regional and Int'l Dimensions

In this latest video interview, Randa Slim discusses the latest diplomatic and political developments in the Syrian crisis and the regional battle against ISIS with host Paul Salem.

Turkey’s Role in Iraq: Too Little, Too Late?

Despite tough talk from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the continued Turkish military presence in Iraq, the odds are no longer in favor of Turkey to claim a share of the Iraqi scene.

Yemeni Factions, Saudi Arabia Escalate Aimless War

The parties to the intractable Yemen war appear further entrenched in their enmity than ever before, despite U.S. and British efforts to push Yemeni leaders toward new negotiations.

MEI's 70th Annual Conference

Registration is open for MEI's biggest event of the year. Join us Wednesday, November 16, for a free, full day of panels with leading experts covering the region's most pressing issues.

Oman Diversifies Allies with Closer India Ties

In the face of economic challenges and geopolitical shifts, Oman is investing in its strategic partnership with India to diversify Muscat’s web of international allies.

Iraq and Syria: Regional and Int'l Dimensions

In this latest video interview, Randa Slim discusses the latest diplomatic and political developments in the Syrian crisis and the regional battle against ISIS with host Paul Salem.

Turkey’s Role in Iraq: Too Little, Too Late?

Despite tough talk from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the continued Turkish military presence in Iraq, the odds are no longer in favor of Turkey to claim a share of the Iraqi scene.

Yemeni Factions, Saudi Arabia Escalate Aimless War

The parties to the intractable Yemen war appear further entrenched in their enmity than ever before, despite U.S. and British efforts to push Yemeni leaders toward new negotiations.

MEI's 70th Annual Conference

Registration is open for MEI's biggest event of the year. Join us Wednesday, November 16, for a free, full day of panels with leading experts covering the region's most pressing issues.

Oman Diversifies Allies with Closer India Ties

In the face of economic challenges and geopolitical shifts, Oman is investing in its strategic partnership with India to diversify Muscat’s web of international allies.

Iran

Oct 17, 2016

Alex Vatanka

The Iranian Industrial Complex

Oct 17, 2016

Alex Vatanka

From its periodic war games and firing off missiles as a show of strength, to the IRGC intelligence arm’s willfully arresting Iranian dual nationals to embarrass the president, the corps barley hides its intention to expose the limits of Rouhani’s power.
Analysis

Oct 04, 2016

Osama Al Sharif

The Secular-Islamist Divide Deepens in Jordan

Oct 04, 2016

Osama Al Sharif

The tug of war between proponents of a civil, democratic, and secular state, on the one hand, and conservative forces, especially religious hardliners, on the other, has become the center of public debate in Jordan against a backdrop of incidents that have recently polarized the kingdom.
Article

Oct 03, 2016

Joseph Fahim

Beirut’s Horror, Sci-Fi Film Fest a Hit Success

Oct 03, 2016

Joseph Fahim

A different kind of horror descended upon Beirut with the opening of Maskoon Fantastic Fest, the Middle East’s first film festival for horror, fantasy, action, and science-fiction.
Analysis

Sep 28, 2016

Aaron Magid

Jordan’s Elections: Voting in a Weak Parliament

Sep 28, 2016

Aaron Magid

While parliamentary space for opposition voices slightly increased, Jordan’s 2016 elections largely preserved the country’s status quo and maintained the tribal-Palestinian divide.
Analysis

Sep 27, 2016

Antoun Issa

Why Syria's Cease-Fires Keep Collapsing

Sep 27, 2016

Antoun Issa

The U.S.-Russia cease-fire attempt in Syria was a patchwork job that was always doomed to fail.

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Nov. 15-16

MEI's 70th Annual Banquet and Conference

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Analysis & Opinion

Turkey

Oct 17, 2016

W. Robert Pearson

Turkey After July 15 - Dawn or Disaster?

Oct 17, 2016

W. Robert Pearson

July 15, 2016 will live in the minds of Turks the way 9/11 is fixed in the minds of Americans.
Monday Briefing

Oct 17, 2016

Randa Slim, Gönül Tol, Charles Lister and Paul Salem

Huge Humanitarian Challenges in Mosul

Oct 17, 2016

Randa Slim, Gönül Tol, Charles Lister and Paul Salem

In this week's Monday Briefing, MEI experts Randa Slim, Gonul Tol, Charles Lister, and Paul Salem provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including potential fallout from the battle for Mosul, how the row between Turkey and Iraq will complicate the operations in Mosul, the implications of ISIS' loss of Dabiq, and recent military cooperation between Egypt and Russia.
Iran

Oct 17, 2016

Alex Vatanka

The Iranian Industrial Complex

Oct 17, 2016

Alex Vatanka

From its periodic war games and firing off missiles as a show of strength, to the IRGC intelligence arm’s willfully arresting Iranian dual nationals to embarrass the president, the corps barley hides its intention to expose the limits of Rouhani’s power.
Analysis

Oct 12, 2016

Hassan Mneimneh

Turkey’s Role in Iraq: Too Little, Too Late?

Oct 12, 2016

Hassan Mneimneh

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has expressed outrage at the recent Turkish parliamentary extension of the mandate of Turkey’s military presence on Iraqi soil.

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Middle East Journal Editor's Blog

A Few Still Relevant Words from the Latest Nobel Prize Winner

Michael Collins Dunn | 3 days 20 hours ago

Experts in the News

NPR - Oct 17

Pages

Events

11/1968th Annual Awards BanquetHonoring Ayman Asfari and Shafiq Gabr, and with special performance by Lubana Al QuntarRegister

Upcoming Event

Oct 18

Saudi Vision 2030: Opportunities and Challenges

Examine Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030" reform agenda with Hala Aldosari, Anthony Cordesman, Fahad Nazer, Jean-Francois Seznec, and moderator Gerald Feierstein.

Recent Events

Sep 30

Regional Predicaments and Turkey’s Role

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Sep 30

7th Annual Turkey Conference

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Integrating Shi'a in the Modern Nation-State: Shaykh Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din, Hizbullah, and Engagement in Lebanese Politics

Farah Kawtharani

The United States and the 1981 Lebanese Missile Crisis

Fadi Esber

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MENA Asia Project

Oct 14, 2016

Giora Eliraz

Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama: A Tolerant, Inclusive Message

Oct 14, 2016

Giora Eliraz

The current initiative by Nahdlatul Ulama (N.U.)—a traditionalist organization with an estimated membership of over 40 million—to promote globally the notion of Islam Nusantara (Islam of the Indonesian Archipelago) aims to spread, both locally and globally—and to the Arab Middle East in particular—a multifaceted message of a tolerance and moderation in an effort to counter religious extremism and terror. This essay examines the background, substance, and significance of this initiative.
Oct 12, 2016

Nikolas Feith Tan

The Rohingya and Refoulement in Southeast Asia

Oct 12, 2016

Nikolas Feith Tan

This essay considers three issues triggered by the pushbacks of boats carrying Rohingya and Bangladeshi asylum seekers and migrants in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal in May 2015. Firstly, whether the actions of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia amounted to refoulement. Second, whether these states are bound by the non-refoulement norm. Finally, whether there exists a customary norm of non-refoulement in Southeast Asia.
Oct 06, 2016

Marc van den Homberg

Big Data for Disaster Response in Data-Poor Settings: Lessons from the 2015 Hindu Kush Earthquake

Oct 06, 2016

Marc van den Homberg

Natural disasters are complex events. Responders require accurate, reliable, and timely data to ensure the decision-making process is efficient and that their efforts are effective. Big data emerges at a fast-paced rate in our digital age and may contribute to enhancing situational awareness. However, there are still large differences between regions in terms of uneven flows of information and levels of access to Information and Communication Technologies. This digital divide exacerbates the information and collaboration gaps between responders and affected communities even more. This essay tries to provide a realistic assessment of the role that big data could play in improving response in a high data poverty context by focusing on a case study of a sudden onset natural disaster.
Oct 04, 2016

Mihir Bhatt

Science and Technology for DRR: Asian Policy Dialogue Agenda

Oct 04, 2016

Mihir Bhatt

The science and technology sectors possess the knowledge and capabilities to reduce risk and build resilience in the Asia Pacific region. In fact, science and technology can play a key role in shaping the upcoming Asia Regional Plan as well as the political declaration at the Asia Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR), which will be held this November in Delhi. This essay proposes several agenda items for these dialogues.
Sep 27, 2016

Deen Sharp

Beirut Madinati: Another Future Is Possible

Sep 27, 2016

Deen Sharp

Few expected the 2016 municipal elections in Lebanon to create any momentum that would reinvigorate civil society in order to attempt to overcome Beirut’s challenges. Traditionally, the municipal elections in post-war Lebanon are a stage-managed affair in which the electoral pie is split between a coalition of traditional Beiruti families and national parties along with a confessional parity between Christians and Muslims. However, the rise of the municipal campaign Beirut Madinati (Beirut, My City) breathed much needed fresh air, and with it hope and enthusiasm, into a social structure that is stratified and filled with anxiety and fear.
Sep 22, 2016

Laryssa Chomiak

The Revolution in Tunisia Continues

Sep 22, 2016

Laryssa Chomiak

This essay addresses Tunisia’s contentious social movements and argues that these highly political campaigns are an extension of the long-standing grievances that the spirit and goals of the Revolution epitomized to many. Now, as before and during the Revolution, such protests signify an important rupture with Tunisia’s technocratic politics-as-usual and underscore the fact that prescriptive economic solutions and promises made by current and past governments are not suitable measures to address this primary and fundamental form of political discontent. In highlighting the political dimension of informal engagement and contention, this essay stresses that Tunisia’s contentious political movements are necessary for the country’s democratic consolidation.

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Turkey Program

Opinion

Aug 26, 2016

Gönül Tol

Is Turkey a U.S. Ally Against ISIS?

Aug 26, 2016

Gönül Tol

In the early hours of Wednesday, Turkey sent tanks and warplanes across the border into Syria in a coordinated campaign with Western-backed Syrian opposition fighters to capture the town of Jarabulus, one of the Islamic State’s last strongholds on the Turkish border, which the Foreign Ministry had recently vowed to “cleanse” of the militant group. But the operation seems to be aimed more at containing the territorial ambitions of the Syrian Kurds, which Turkey sees as its primary enemy in Syria.
Analysis

Aug 24, 2016

Gönül Tol and Alex Vatanka

Turkey and Iran's Rekindled Courtship

Aug 24, 2016

Gönül Tol and Alex Vatanka

Turkish President Erdogan is about to make a high-profile visit to Tehran. The trip is not just about a potential warming of relations between Ankara and Tehran but some think it might become a turning point and herald a new regional alignment on how to end the Syrian civil war.
Analysis

Aug 17, 2016

Gönül Tol, Matt Mainzer and Zeynep Ekmekci

Unpacking Turkey’s Failed Coup: Causes and Consequences

Aug 17, 2016

Gönül Tol, Matt Mainzer and Zeynep Ekmekci

While the failure of the coup attempt on July 15 saved the democratically elected government of Turkey, this does not mean that democracy is the winner.
Interview

Jul 28, 2016

Gönül Tol and Paul Salem

Turkey After the Failed Coup

Jul 28, 2016

Gönül Tol and Paul Salem

A conversation with MEI scholar and director of the Center for Turkish Studies Gonul Tol, hosted by Paul Salem.
Analysis

Jul 21, 2016

Gönül Tol

Post-Coup Purge Adds to Turkey's Instability

Jul 21, 2016

Gönül Tol

The Turkish government’s efforts to “protect democracy” are laying the foundations for an even more authoritarian Turkey.
Analysis

Jul 16, 2016

W. Robert Pearson

What Caused the Turkish Coup Attempt

Jul 16, 2016

W. Robert Pearson

President Erdogan’s uncompromising approach to rule was bound to produce a violent backlash—but this wasn’t the way to go.

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