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Middle East
Programs
Middle East
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About the Program

The Middle East Program in Washington  combines in-depth regional knowledge with incisive comparative analysis to provide deeply informed recommendations. With expertise in the Gulf, North Africa, Iran, and Israel/Palestine, we examine crosscutting themes of political, economic, and social change in both English and Arabic.

Projects

Program experts

Rafiah Al Talei

Editor-in-Chief, Sada, Middle East Program

Nermin Allam

Nermin Allam

Nonresident Fellow, Middle East Program

Nathan J. Brown

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Middle East Program

Yasmine Farouk

Nonresident Scholar, Middle East Program

Amr Hamzawy

Director, Middle East Program

Zaha Hassan

Fellow, Middle East Program

Marwan Muasher

Vice President for Studies

Karim Sadjadpour

Senior Fellow, Middle East Program

Frederic Wehrey

Senior Fellow, Middle East Program

Katherine Wilkens

Nonresident Fellow, Middle East Program

Sarah Yerkes

Senior Fellow, Middle East Program

Diwan landing header
Sada landing header

Diwan

Diwan, a blog from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Middle East Program and the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, provides insight into and analysis of the region. Drawing on the expertise of a team of Carnegie scholars—both in the Middle East and in Washington—this blog will offer reactions to breaking news, interviews with personalities and political figures, and updates on Carnegie research projects.

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Sada

Sada is an online journal rooted in Carnegie’s Middle East Program that seeks to foster and enrich debate about key political, economic, and social issues in the Arab world and provides a venue for new and established voices to deliver reflective analysis on these issues.

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Arabic Multimedia

Carnegie’s YouTube in Arabic

This channel hosts Carnegie original content in Arabic, including podcasts, documentaries, and more.

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Focus

Key Areas of Research

Focus

Key Areas of Research

Iran
Iran
North Africa
North Africa

Palestine/Israel

Tracking political, diplomatic, and economic changes in Palestine and Israel, we carry out on-the-ground research, publish groundbreaking research, and host frequent discussions on related topics.

Palestine/Israel

Tracking political, diplomatic, and economic changes in Palestine and Israel, we carry out on-the-ground research, publish groundbreaking research, and host frequent discussions on related topics.

Egypt

Our program has carried out innovative research on Egypt’s political, economic, security, and social trajectory throughout years of turmoil and reverses. Current research focuses on tracking constitutional, legal, and political changes; human rights and civil society issues; and activities of the large and growing community of political exiles abroad.

Egypt

Our program has carried out innovative research on Egypt’s political, economic, security, and social trajectory throughout years of turmoil and reverses. Current research focuses on tracking constitutional, legal, and political changes; human rights and civil society issues; and activities of the large and growing community of political exiles abroad.

Iran

We provide current and long-range analysis of political, leadership, military, and economic trends in Iran and the country’s role in the region.

Iran

We provide current and long-range analysis of political, leadership, military, and economic trends in Iran and the country’s role in the region.

North Africa

We have unusual depth of expertise in North Africa, with renowned experts on Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. Current research focuses on the causes and likely results of ongoing protests as well as the implications of marginalized citizens and regions in each country.

North Africa

We have unusual depth of expertise in North Africa, with renowned experts on Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. Current research focuses on the causes and likely results of ongoing protests as well as the implications of marginalized citizens and regions in each country.

Completed Projects

Completed Projects

All work from Middle East

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5023 Results
event
Dissent, Protest, and Palestine-Israel: Restrictions on Civic Space During Violent Conflict
December 3, 2024

Join the Carnegie Endowment’s Middle East program for a panel discussion moderated by Ishaan Tharoor, a Washington Post global affairs columnist, featuring editors of the new volume and legal scholars examining the book’s major findings and wider implications for speech and protest on college campuses and beyond.

  • +5
Russia in the Middle East and North Africa: Arms, Power Projection, and Nuclear Diplomacy
research
Russia in the Middle East and North Africa—Disrupting Washington’s Influence and Redefining Moscow’s Global Role

The agency of MENA states and nonstate actors and their multilayered interactions with the United States, China, Russia, and the EU have helped shape the complex outcomes of the great power competition.

· December 2, 2024
night sky lit up by light from rockets
commentary
Emissary
The Middle East’s New War of Attrition

Egypt and Jordan are caught in the middle.

· November 14, 2024
commentary
Sada
Sustainable Security through Unarmed Civilian Protection in Palestine

Now is the moment to develop more sustainable security mechanisms in Palestine. The proven practice of unarmed civilian protection and accompaniment is a critical initiative toward such security.

  • Eli McCarthy
· November 14, 2024
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (5L) poses for a family photo with representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members states
article
Russia’s Great Energy Game in the Middle East

Russia has largely inherited the Soviet Union’s Middle East foreign policy. China may be best positioned to take advantage of this historical relationship.

  • Sergey Vakulenko
· November 12, 2024
in the media
One on One: Jordan’s Role in Ending Gaza War

A conversation about the role of Jordan and other Arab states in halting the ongoing war in Gaza and the wider regional ramifications of Israel’s war on Gaza.

· November 8, 2024
Middle East Eye
commentary
Sada
Somalia’s Strategic Counterbalance to Ethiopian Influence in the Horn of Africa

As hegemonic Ethiopian ambitions threaten stability in the Horn of Africa, Somalia is building strategic alliances regionally and internationally to counter Ethiopia’s growing political and military influence.

  • Hisham Ahmed
· November 7, 2024
Suppressing Dissent: Shrinking Civic Space, Transnational Repression and Palestine–Israel
book
Suppressing Dissent: Shrinking Civic Space, Transnational Repression and Palestine–Israel

Civic space is shrinking across the globe. Every year, human rights defenders, humanitarians, social justice activists, and their organizations face new threats in their ability to advocate for change, organize campaigns, or protest against oppressive policies. Nowhere is this crisis of civil society more acute than in the context of dissent and speech related to Palestine–Israel.

· November 7, 2024
Oneworld
in the media
Beyond ‘Bomb, Rebuild and Repeat’ in Gaza

What will bring stability and security for both Israelis and Palestinians, reduce the likelihood of recurring violence, and open the possibility for a future in which the people of the region can live together as neighbors in equal dignity—that is, what ought to be meant by the “day after”—requires a plan for realizing Palestinian self-determination.

· November 5, 2024
International Centre for Dialogue Initiatives
in the media
How Autocracy Prevailed in Tunisia

Not long ago, Tunisia was considered one of the biggest success stories in the Middle East and North Africa. But last month, for the first time in fourteen years, Tunisia held a sham presidential election.

· November 4, 2024
Foreign Affairs
event
Dissent, Protest, and Palestine-Israel: Restrictions on Civic Space During Violent Conflict
December 3, 2024
  • +5
Russia in the Middle East and North Africa: Arms, Power Projection, and Nuclear Diplomacy
research
Russia in the Middle East and North Africa—Disrupting Washington’s Influence and Redefining Moscow’s Global Role
· December 2, 2024
night sky lit up by light from rockets
commentary
Emissary
The Middle East’s New War of Attrition
· November 14, 2024
commentary
Sada
Sustainable Security through Unarmed Civilian Protection in Palestine
  • Eli McCarthy
· November 14, 2024
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (5L) poses for a family photo with representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members states
article
Russia’s Great Energy Game in the Middle East
  • Sergey Vakulenko
· November 12, 2024
In The Media
in the media
One on One: Jordan’s Role in Ending Gaza War
· November 8, 2024
Middle East Eye
commentary
Sada
Somalia’s Strategic Counterbalance to Ethiopian Influence in the Horn of Africa
  • Hisham Ahmed
· November 7, 2024
Suppressing Dissent: Shrinking Civic Space, Transnational Repression and Palestine–Israel
book
Suppressing Dissent: Shrinking Civic Space, Transnational Repression and Palestine–Israel
· November 7, 2024
Oneworld
In The Media
in the media
Beyond ‘Bomb, Rebuild and Repeat’ in Gaza
· November 5, 2024
International Centre for Dialogue Initiatives
In The Media
in the media
How Autocracy Prevailed in Tunisia
· November 4, 2024
Foreign Affairs