Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
There have been many attempts by the international community to impose order in the Middle East. The reality is that Arab states must themselves overcome divisive ideologies, prioritize common interests, and develop a cooperative political and security architecture if a new regional order is to come to fruition.
Marina Ottaway and Mohammed Herzallah assess the diplomatic efforts of Arab regimes seeking to fill the power vacuum left by the absence of a strong regime in Iraq and ineffectual U.S. policy in The New Arab Diplomacy: Not With the U.S. and Not Against the U.S.
In a question and answer guide, Nathan Brown offers an analysis of Palestinian law and the core disagreements between the Palestinian factions that cast new doubt on President Mahmud Abbas’s political future.
China’s economy will surpass that of the United States by 2035 and be twice its size by midcentury, a new report by Albert Keidel concludes. China’s rapid growth is driven by domestic demand—not exports—and will sustain high single-digit growth rates well into this century.
The next U.S. administration needs a clear strategic vision for Asia befitting the region’s status as the new global “center of gravity.” In a new policy brief, Asia—Shaping The Future, Carnegie China Program Director Douglas H. Paal presents key steps the United States should take to advance its interests in “rising Asia.”
Arab governments tempered public anger at rising food prices by increasing wages and subsidies, but their approach is not sustainable without raising taxes. Instead they should revise agricultural policies, expand social safety nets, and curb excessive energy consumption, argues Carnegie Middle East Center economist Ibrahim Saif.
Free trade agreements between the West (U.S. and EU) and Middle East and North African (MENA) countries, while containing beneficial elements, have strengthened negative perceptions of “western-led globalization” because they benefit unpopular elites and impose serious short term economic adjustment.
ExxonMobil announced that it will contribute $500,000 to support the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s New Vision of pioneering the first global think tank.
U.S. democracy promotion efforts in the Middle East should focus on realistic political reform goals. The most pressing issue facing Arab countries is the development of political systems that can contend with evolving socio-economic realities and open participation to political opposition, argues Carnegie Middle East Program Director Marina Ottaway.
By voting along tribal and sectarian lines in the 2008 election, Kuwaitis undermined efforts to establish a more democratic party system--a setback for a close U.S. ally curiously overlooked by American efforts to promote political reform in the Middle East.
In a new policy outlook, Sandra Polaski re-examines conventional wisdom about rising food prices, their impact on global poverty, and how trade policy should respond. She finds it is largely wrong.
Influential policy experts on both sides of the U.S. political aisle are proposing a "League of Democracies." However, the proposal rests on a false assumption that democracies share sufficient common interests to work effectively together on a wide range of global issues.
The current U.S. approach to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict further undermines the chances for a two-state solution. Rather than pretending that an agreement is possible, it would be far better if U.S. efforts in the remainder of this year began to address underlying problems to improve the scenarios for the next administration, urges Middle East expert Nathan J. Brown.
Lebanon’s prolonged political crisis erupted in violence following the Lebanese government's dismissal of an official close to Hizbollah and the launch of an investigation into the organization’s telecommunications network. Contrary to a similar escalation in December 2006, Iran has not interceded to halt the violence.
Despite recent electoral reform, Kuwait’s parliamentary election on May 17 will produce little change. This question and answer guide explains the significance of the election, and the implications of the electoral reform on campaigning, opportunities for women in Kuwaiti politics, and most significantly, for democracy in the Gulf.
Zhou Dadi, former director general of the Energy and Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in China, has joined the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to run the Beijing arm of its Energy and Climate Program.
Douglas H. Paal, a leading expert on China, former U.S. representative to Taiwan, and national security official in the George H. W. Bush and Reagan White Houses, has joined the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as Director of its China Program in Washington and Beijing.
The Egyptian government’s crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in advance of the April 8 local elections was motivated by its determination to exclude the Brotherhood from the 2011 presidential election and is likely to persist until the matter of presidential succession is settled.
Despite Algeria’s recent economic growth and domestic stability, the government’s refusal to address the legacy of its violent civil war threatens its long-term stability. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s decision to push forward his “Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation” without public input or dialogue has undermined the prospect for true reconciliation.
In Breaking the Suicide Pact: U.S.-China Cooperation on Climate Change, William Chandler, director of the Carnegie Energy and Climate Program, identifies practical, non treaty-based approaches both countries could take to cut their carbon dioxide emissions across economic sectors—with little financial impact.