North Africa

Consent and Legitimacy

By David Johnson

This article should begin with the explicit acknowledgement that the author, as you might have guessed on seeing the byline, is not Egyptian. Thus, it is inherently that much more dangerous, as an outsider, to speak about what it seems the Egyptian people want. Of course, given the limited extent of public opinion polling in […]

The Libyan Economy after the Revolution: Still No Clear Vision

Most headlines out of Libya today are about the political and security crises gripping the country, and little has been said about the state of the economy beyond a recent spate of oil export disruptions. Hariri Center Senior Fellows Mohsin Khan and Karim Mezran recently authored an issue brief evaluating Libya’s underlying structural economic problems […]

Top News: Secularists to Dominate Egypt’s Final Constitution-Drafting Process

By EgyptSource

Informed sources close to the ten-member technical committee tasked with drafting the constitutional amendments revealed to Ahram Online that: “The presidency has already received the names nominated by political, religious, social and economic institutions to form the fifty member committee.” The lists show that secular forces are slated to gain a majority in the fifty member committee

A Sad Melody at the End of the Road

By Ahmed Naje

The time for retreat is past and all the chances to avoid this path have been burned up. The incendiary speeches are escalating from every side and are morphing from incitement to war speeches. The television stations put up the slogan “Egypt is fighting terrorism” written in English and no one tells us who and […]

Ways Out of Political Crisis in Tunisia

By Duncan Pickard

Tunisia is amid its most turbulent political crisis since the revolution that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali over two years ago. A confluence of factors has brought the crisis to a head.

Top News: Prosecutor Refers Espionage Allegations Against Political Activists to State Security

By EgyptSource

Well-known activists and founding members of the April 6 Youth movement Esraa Abdel Fattah and Asmaa Mahfouz are being investigated by the Supreme State Security Prosecution on charges of espionage.

Egypt’s Christians: Pawns in a Political Chess Game

By Amira Mikhail

Following the violent and bloody dispersal of the month-long pro-Mohamed Morsi sit-ins in Raba’a al-Adaweya and al-Nahda, a wave of attacks spread across Egypt leaving close to one hundred churches and Christian properties attacked, damaged, or fully destroyed. While there are only a few reported deaths, this is the largest, most coordinated sectarian violence that […]

Parody of Democracy

By Julian Lindley-French

Aung San Suu Kyi said recently, “Sometimes I think that a parody of democracy could be more dangerous than a blatant dictatorship because that gives people an opportunity to avoid doing anything about it.”  Some reports suggest 1700 people were murdered by a Sarin gas attack this week in a Damascus suburb.  The Assad regime or some […]

This Week in Egypt – August 23, 2013

By Amira Mikhail

Catch up on the latest out of Egypt every week, with analysis, news updates, photos, videos, and more.

Top News: Thousands of Pro-Morsi Demonstrators Take to the Streets

By EgyptSource

Marches are underway in several parts of Egypt on Friday with thousands taking to the streets protesting the removal of ousted president Mohamed Morsi and the killing of hundreds of Morsi supporters during a security crackdown last week.