Security assistance from the West stands to play a critical role in Tunisia’s postauthoritarian transition to democracy.
Nationalist and protectionist impulses have hampered the exchanges of knowledge and goods that foster economic growth. Similar failures of global coordination are now exacerbating the coronavirus pandemic.
While countries worldwide have announced lockdowns to block the coronavirus, North African governments are using the opportunity to further quell freedom of expression and advance their agendas. Will civil society stand their ground?
The coronavirus is catalyzing new forms of civic activism. International supporters of civil society should step up their efforts to bolster these local responses.
To contain the coronavirus, Arab governments are mobilizing official Islamic institutions. The most pressing goal is to shut down sites of potential contagion as Ramadan approaches.
The novel coronavirus has turned Donald Trump’s overreliance on sanctions into an immediate threat to the health and well-being of the American people.
The Trump administration holds a decidedly critical view of China’s infrastructure initiatives in Pakistan. Although there is much to criticize in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the administration’s fixation on commercial and economic issues threatens to distract U.S. policymakers from deeper concerns.
The proposal to list military businesses on the Egyptian Stock Exchange may founder due to issues of transparency, profitability, unfair competition, and legal ambiguity.
Russian-led military reform in Syria can deal with the twin challenges of weak sovereignty and Iranian influence by committing to developing Syrian military education, training a highly mobile force, and monitoring the political reconciliation process over the long term.
Even though the Syrian civil war is far from over, Russian advisers can use their experience modernizing Syrian forces from 2015 to prepare for an effective postwar force structure.
Building on its own postwar experience, Russia should support the restructuring of the special services in Syria in order to ensure Russia’s lasting influence.
Russia faces a conundrum in Syria: how to modernize the armed forces while the regime’s political priorities undermine proposed reforms in personnel management, force generation, and unit organization.
While France and Germany will factor prominently in the post-Brexit EU, other European countries are forming informal, ad hoc blocs to lobby for their respective interests.
As the United States confronts China more directly, Merkel is exploring deeper cooperation with Xi. Economic upheaval from the coronavirus could reinforce the temptation in Berlin to keep Beijing close.
Extreme inequality underlies recent protests throughout the Middle East. Without drastic structural reforms, a larger storm is brewing in the region.
Civil society organizations throughout Europe are not taking authoritarian encroachment sitting down. Instead, they are finding creative ways to fight back.
The EU’s traditional business model is not fit for a world of power politics. Whether the EU can protect its interests and values in this new situation will depend on stronger and more decisive leadership.
No matter who wins in November, turning back the clock to 2016 will not be possible. European trust in U.S. leadership has been irreparably damaged.
China and the EU face enormous challenges in 2020: human rights, Huawei, and beyond. The EU is taking a tougher stand—what does this mean for the EU-China relationship?
Tunisia’s interior regions have been a wellspring for social protests. Without deep economic restructuring, populists could pose an even graver threat to the country’s nascent democracy.