North Africa

America’s Difficult High-Wire Act in Egypt

By R. Nicholas Burns

As the chaos in Egypt accelerates, Washington will have to think hard about the role it must play as the most influential outside force in that critical country. Despite a distracted Congress, declining military and diplomacy budgets and the general inward direction of the country, the Obama administration has no choice but to remain engaged […]

End of the Military Strongman?

By Kathryn Alexeeff

The success of Pakistan’s democratic elections in May and the outcome of the recent protests in Egypt point to a shift in both countries’ military participation in politics – while they will support or depose governments, they no longer seem interested in ruling the countries themselves.

Electoral Politics Under Tunisia’s New Constitution

Overtaken by regional events in Syria and Egypt, coverage of Tunisia’s transition pales in comparison, but much more political maneuvering and dynamism is taking place in the cradle of the Arab spring. The Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East hosted a roundtable discussion on July 11, 2013 for the launch of its […]

Electoral politics under Tunisia’s new constitution

By Duncan Pickard

In the latest issue brief from the Rafik Hariri Center at the Atlantic Council, “Electoral Politics Under Tunisia’s New Constitution,” author Duncan Pickard assesses the challenges and likely outcomes for political parties in Tunisia after the completion of the country’s new constitution. Tunisians have been waiting for a new constitution to cement democratic order after […]

Mr. President Missing in Action?

By Harlan Ullman

Regional crises abound. Massive protests in Egypt that ended the flailing Morsi government to continued bloodshed from Afghanistan to Syria are representative of these crises.

The US Should Give Egypt’s Military 48 Hours to Restore Civilian Rule

By Sarwar Kashmeri

It is a truth universally acknowledged (my apologies to Jane Austen) that the removal of a country’s elected leader by its military is deemed a military coup. So while I agree with President Obama’s pragmatic refusal to so label the recent overthrow of Egypt’s President Morsi, this finesse of terminology had better be a temporary […]

Turmoil in Egypt: What to Expect

By Jason Harmala

On July 9, 2013, the Atlantic Council’s President and CEO Fred Kempe  hosted a members’ conference call with Dr. Michele Dunne, an Atlantic Council vice president and director of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, to discuss the July 3 ouster of President Mohamed Morsi and prospects for violence and political turmoil in […]

Egyptian Democracy 2.0?

By Julian Lindley-French

In a master-class of under-stated British diplomatic fudgery Foreign Secretary (and fellow Yorkshireman) William Hague said of the Egyptian Army’s ‘soft coup,’ “It’s happened, so we will have to recognize the situation will move on.”  Implicit in that statement is recognition that if Egypt is to create Egyptian democracy 2.0 one would not ideally start from […]

Egypt: A Coup Is What it Is

By Rajan Menon

On Wednesday, Egypt’s military, long the country’s most powerful political institution and an outfit with a massive economic empire, deposed Mohamed Morsi, the only Egyptian president ever to attain office by winning an election in which all political parties could compete on an equal footing.