Shared economic and security interests have kept Saudi Arabia and the US close over the decades despite dramatic differences in the way the two countries are governed.
For many centuries, Syrian society has included people of many faiths – Sunni and Shi'i Muslims, Christians and Druze. This past is important to know to understand the present.
Despite a wave of hope sparked by the Arab Spring, women have found themselves marginalised once again by regimes with little interest in rights and equality
The Muslim Brotherhood exists in the form of many local organizations and well as an international organization. Research shows there isn’t a coherent Muslim Brotherhood ideology.
Although Ecowas and the AU made sure that Yahya Jammeh stepped down after losing the elections in The Gambia, caution is warranted in assuming this heralds a trend against African dictatorships.
The world is steadily transitioning to a multipolar systemic balance of power. The UN Security Council needs to reflect and be a truer representative of the emerging voices of a contemporary “UN”.
The value of democracy needs to be restated and defended, rather than presumed. In doing so, there is value in adopting a more tempered stance, one that understands its worth but also its flaws.
The new forms of protest in Zimbabwe raise the possibility that the country’s long-simmering crisis may have reached boiling point. The time could indeed be ripe for a unique form of politics.
Five years ago, young people in the Middle East and North Africa led a major uprising with hopes for a better life. A University of Texas labor market expert explains why little has changed.
Grassroots protesters are questioning the logic of export-led ‘growth’ and renewed fiscal austerity pushed through the ‘Africa rising’ narrative. They want policies that meet their basic needs.
In the wake of the Arab Spring the international community lauded Tunisia’s political transition to democracy. But a plethora of challenges may threaten democratic consolidation in the country.
The rise of Islamic State and its declaration of the caliphate can be read as part of a wider story that has unfolded since the formation of modern nation states in the Muslim world.
On February 11 a Syrian ceasefire was signed in Munich. Few are optimistic it will hold. Why? Because, argues one Middle Eastern scholar, world leaders are ignoring key realities.