About the center

The Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East examines the barriers preventing many people in the region from reaching their fullest potential. Our work also highlights success stories of individuals and institutions who overcame significant challenges in pursuit of social, economic, and political progress. Inspired by these examples, we delineate practical and implementable policy recommendations that policymakers in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East can implement to unleash the region’s economic and human potential.

Featured commentary & analysis

Featured in-depth research & reports

Leadership

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Events

We convene the most important stakeholders on issues of primary concern to the transatlantic community when it comes the Middle East and North Africa, from senior US and Middle East government officials to civil society activists and budding entrepreneurs.

Past events

Content

SyriaSource

Jun 11, 2019

New rules of engagement needed as ISIS remains and adapts

By Abdullah Almousa

The Islamic State was crippled this past year in several fierce battles with the international coalition, but is regrouping and the international community needs to recognize this and redevelop its strategy.

Syria

MENASource

Jun 11, 2019

In the face of climate change: Challenges of water scarcity and security in MENA

By Amal A. Kandeel

Renewable freshwater resource constraints constitute one of the most critical challenges to sustainable development and human security in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Climate change is expected to exacerbate this challenge.

Climate Change & Climate Action

IranSource

Jun 11, 2019

Japan’s historic opportunity to play peacemaker between the US and Iran

By Sachi Sakanashi

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will finally make a trip to Iran on June 12. Since becoming prime minister at the end of 2012, every time Abe attempted to visit Tehran, the idea was eventually withdrawn mainly due to US disapproval, according to rumors.

Iran Japan

IranSource

Jun 10, 2019

A non-subversion pact for the Persian Gulf?

By Barbara Slavin

A major complaint of those who rejected the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is that it did nothing to curb Iran’s regional interventions and actually may have spurred them.Iran, these opponents argue, remains a theologically driven hegemon out to subvert Arab states and turn them into states too weak to threaten Tehran. Thus they reject recent proposals […]

Iran Saudi Arabia

IranSource

Jun 7, 2019

INSTEX: More about politics than economics?

By Mohsen Tavakol

Ever since the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018, the European Union (EU) has emphasized its sovereignty regarding both commercial and political relations with Iran, insisting that it could continue trade under the framework of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Despite that, trade has cratered and a mechanism—the […]

Iran

Event Recap

Jun 6, 2019

Event Recap: Can the United States and China Cooperate in the Middle East?

By David A. Wemer

This recap originally appeared in The New Atlanticist. Watch the video. While the United States and China grapple over trade, intellectual property rights, technology transfer, and geopolitical tensions in East Asia, open competition has not yet extended to the Middle East, a region where Washington remains a major player and Beijing has rapidly expanded its influence.

China Middle East

SyriaSource

Jun 6, 2019

Syria: why it still matters

By Frederic C. Hof

What has happened in Syria—one of history’s most sustained assaults on innocent human life—has not stayed in Syria. The consequences of mass homicide threaten the security of the United States and the entire Western alliance.

Syria
Beirut

MENASource

Jun 6, 2019

The evolution and aspirations of Beirut’s upcoming modern art museum

By Reema Hibrawi

The art industry in the Middle East had historically flourished in the cultural capitals of the region namely Beirut, Baghdad, Damascus, and Cairo. Over the last few decades, the arts lost their foothold in these capitals due to conflict, repression, and ongoing security threats; specifically in Cairo and Damascus.

Middle East

IranSource

Jun 5, 2019

How bank fees can help the Iranian economy

By Maziar Motamedi

Since the 1979 revolution, Iran’s banking system and the government-dependent central bank have not undergone any major reforms. Working in tandem with parliament, the administration of President Hassan Rouhani aims to finally instill much-needed reforms in the ailing Iranian banking system.

Iran

IranSource

Jun 4, 2019

Three decades after Khomeini’s death, his clan rules from the sidelines

By Arash Azizi

“Your smile smells of someone who stays, so stay! Make me a poet again, make me fall in endless love.” These cheesy lines are from a Persian language Instagram post on May 25 by Fatemeh Daneshpajooh dedicated to the 21st birthday of her husband, Ahmad.

Iran