Bahrain’s Opportunity for a Human Rights Reset
Emile Nakhleh is a retired CIA Senior Intelligence Service Officer and founding director of the CIA’s Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program Office. He is also […] More
Arab Spring
What Are Protests in the Middle East Signaling?
Protesters came out in support of Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Sunday but they were followed by anti-government protesters who have been calling for a […] More
The Risks of Civil War in Sudan
Bottom Line Up Front Civilian pro-democracy protesters were gunned down on Monday by Sudanese security forces in Khartoum, the country’s capital. According to various […] More
Signs of Redemption Amidst Arab Political Upheavals
The anti-regime convulsions currently underway in Algeria and Sudan are the latest version of an “Arab Spring” that erupted in 2011 and that Arab autocrats […] More
The Latest
Has the Arab Spring Finally Reached Algeria?
Bottom Line Up Front On 2 April 2019, Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced his immediate resignation, ending his nearly 20-year rule. For decades, real […] More
The Toxic Half-Life of Strongman Rule
Bottom Line Up Front Time favors strongman regimes, as leaders alternate between stalling tactics, physical violence and belated promises of reform to attenuate protesters’ […] More
Another Arab Spring Builds, Driven by “Discontent Approaching Despair”
In early January, Tunisia and Iran witnessed remarkably similar periods of spontaneous and widespread unrest. In each case, the demonstrations failed to rise to revolutionary […] More
Libya’s Revolution Seven Years On: As Good As It Gets?
February 15, 2018, will mark the seventh anniversary of the Benghazi rallies, in which Libyans took to the streets to protest the arrest of a […] More
The Best of Times and Worst of Times for Moderate Political Islam
The concept of political Islam has deep historical roots in Islamic societies and, during the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 in the Middle East and […] More
The Many Faces of Political Islam – From Moderate to Extreme
Usage of the term political Islam has become common in recent years as Islamist movements vie for influence in a changing Middle East. However, the […] More
Trump and the New Map of the Middle East
The Middle East that the Trump Administration must now come to grips with is not the one Barack Obama envisioned leaving his successor when he […] More
The Mideast’s Front Burner Issues
The Middle East went through maelstrom developments during the Obama Administration. Some of these were put into motion by the 2003 American invasion of Iraq. […] More
Record-Breaking Heat
Instability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is at its worst in recent memory. While political volatility has been something of a constant […] More
The Arab Spring Five Years Later
The Arab Spring was the beacon of hope that would free millions from the grip of autocratic rulers. At first, it looked promising. One by […] More
Cauldron of Conflict
The “Arab Spring” of 2011-12 has profoundly changed the Middle East, but much is misunderstood about its effects. First, it did not produce, other than […] More
Moving Forward
When the so-called Arab Spring burst upon the Middle East five years ago, Henry Kissinger remarked that this was only “scene one of act one […] More
Lessons Learned
As the citizens of Arab nations reflect on the fifth anniversary of the popular revolts of 2011, they are likely to feel a sense of […] More