Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Kirk H. Sowell is the principal of Utica Risk Services, a Middle East-focused political risk firm.
Despite the apparent military success in Mosul, the state’s ineffectiveness has driven a reliance on airstrikes and put pressure on Abadi’s government.
The operation to retake Mosul is part of a broader power struggle between Baghdad and Ankara over spheres of influence in northern Iraq.
Though the Muslim Brotherhood won a plurality of seats in Jordan’s elections, the biggest takeaway was the continued fragmentation of the vote within a weak field of parties.
Jordan’s weakened Islamists are building alliances with tribal candidates to boost votes in the upcoming elections.
Jordan’s latest government and constitutional changes could allow the monarchy to shift the burden of austerity to an elected government
Tensions among Haider al-Abadi, Muqtada al-Sadr, and their rivals result from power struggles, not real disputes over reform.
The latest budget confirms that Jordan is increasingly dependent on public debt and foreign aid to prop up continued spending—especially on energy subsidies.
Despite the small but important military victory in Ramadi, Iraqi forces still face significant challenges fighting the Islamic State in Anbar and reining in Shia militias in Diyala and Basra.
Abadi’s reforms have been mischaracterized both in terms of their content and the reasons driving opposition to them.
Despite initial optimism, Jordan’s draft election law does little to erase parties’ disadvantage against tribal candidates.
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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