The second round of negotiations between the Syrian opposition and the government failed. As of now, the resolution of the conflict almost entirely depends on the position adopted by the external actors, whose relations, however, are now getting more complicated.
The conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran is not driven primarily by a Sunni-Shiite divide or even Arab-Persian ethnic differences. The conflict is informed by two radically different models of government and two very different visions of regional order.
The decision by Islamist parties to boycott the upcoming Algerian presidential elections exposes the fragmented and weak state of the movement.
The terrorist threat to the Sochi Olympics may come from individuals who do not belong to organized and at least somewhat known terrorist groups.
Mubarak’s overthrow ushered in more of the same in Egypt—an authoritarian political process. The Egyptian state needs to be completely reinvented.
Tunisia and Morocco are stuck between competing secularist and Islamist conceptions of the true and ideal nation and the role of religion in it.
Turkey’s greatest influence among the Turkic populations of the post-Soviet world derives not from their common ethno-linguistic roots, but from the success of Turkey’s religious outreach.
What is missing in the interpretations of sectarianism and identifying its roots is a focus on the role of institutions and the agency of political actors in deliberately invoking and amplifying sectarian passions.
Probably for the first time in the history of the Olympics, sports-related issues concerning the Games took a back seat to the issues of security. Keeping the Sochi Olympics safe is a matter of Russia’s political prestige, as well as the evidence of its ability to respond to terrorism.
The current conflict between Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and religious authority Fethullah Gülen, if not stopped, has the potential to damage Turkey’s image and soft power in the world.