The Arab states in transition are confronted with a seemingly intractable task: rebuilding state institutions and social contracts in an era of global change. Conventional approaches to security sector reform that fail to grasp the dilemmas and challenges complicating this effort are certain to fail.
Dismissing the Arab Spring uprisings as failures does not capture how fully they have transformed every dimension of the region’s politics.
The various conflicts raging in the Middle East, and particularly in Syria, have created a refugee crisis of unprecedented scale.
Reforms and development in the wake of the Arab Spring protests in Morocco have addressed some surface issues but have failed to resolve underlying structural problems.
Five years into the conflict, a credible path toward peace has yet to emerge in Syria.
Russia’s announcement of its withdrawal from Syria has surprised the international community and raised questions about the underlying calculations of the decision and the effect it may have on Syria’s future.
Following the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has altered its goal from societal outreach to organizational survival.
A recent crackdown on demonstrators in rebel-held Idlib is testing the alliance between two of the Syrian insurgency’s most powerful factions.
Earlier assessments of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s ability to act as a firewall against violent extremism need to be updated in the wake of the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi.
If European policymakers want to help stabilize and reorient Libya, they should recall the lessons of the five years since the country’s 2011 revolution.