Middle East

Discontent in Jordan and Youth Activism

The Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East hosted a private roundtable on August 5 to release a new issue brief, “Jordan’s Youth: Avenues for Activism,” and to discuss how Jordanian youth are engaging in the political process and prospects for coordinated efforts. Hariri Center Director Michele Dunne moderated a discussion with Deputy […]

A Momentous Month

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

In terms of terrorism and jihadist non-state actors, July was the single most momentous month since the Arab Uprisings began, and perhaps since September 2001. The impact of some of the past month’s developments are obvious, and will play out in the near term; for others, the significance will likely only be appreciated months or […]

New Iranian President Undertakes ‘Damage Control’

By Barbara Slavin

This Sunday Iran will trade an abrasive diplomatic embarrassment for a far more presentable figure.

Part II: Can the Transitional Government Turn the Egyptian Economy Around?

By Mohsin Khan

Transitional governments can be very weak, since they have no popular mandate, or very strong, since they do not have to face the electorate when their term ends. To arrest the decline of the economy and put it on a trajectory of high growth and job creation, Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi’s government will have to […]

What the Third Square Represents

By Mai El-Sadany

Colored by General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s call to fight terrorism through a popular mandate that brought millions to the streets, Egypt is witnessing a deepened polarization of the political scene. The increasingly-armed and charged Muslim Brotherhood sit-in that is now solidly going into its second month has added to this tension, contributing to the emergence […]

Part I: Can the Transitional Government Turn the Egyptian Economy Around?

By Mohsin Khan

Since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in January 2011, the Egyptian economy has been struggling. While much of the blame for the economic problems that the country is facing is directed at the Morsi government that took office in June 2012, the decline started over a year earlier. Indeed, in many respects economic performance under the […]