Research & Publications

Egypt is bracing for the first anniversary of the police crackdown on protestors at Rabaa Adawiya and Nahda squares in Cairo. Khaled Dawood explains why the stalemate between the state and the Muslim Brotherhood is likely to continue.

MEI's Kate Seelye describes the rich mosaic of communities inhabiting northern Iraq and the Nineveh Plain—some of them for thousands of years—and warns that some minorities may be known to future generations only through history books and the letters and diaries of one American missionary who had the good fortune to know the area in more peaceful times.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won the presidential election in Turkey's first direct presidential election on Sunday. Gönül Tol looks at the challenges he faces in his bid to transform Turkey's parliamentary system.

For the first time in Turkey's history, voters will cast ballots to select a president. Gönül Tol explains the significance of this election on the course of Turkish politics.

The presidential vacuum in Lebanon is likely to continue until an electable candidate is found who respects Hezbollah’s military autonomy and does not challenge its Syria policy. Lamia Estatie explains the geopolitical considerations on which Hezbollah’s Syria policy is based.

The Islamic State recently declared its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to be the caliph, or successor to the Prophet Mohammed, an announcement that was met with derision by rebel fighters in Syria. Aron Lund explains the reasons for the antipathy to al-Baghdadi and his followers.

Jordan has survived – and at times even prospered – because of its ability to "sell" its geographical location, stable domestic politics, and pro-Western orientation to the United States and its allies on the Arab side of the Gulf. Considering Jordan’s dearth of other more tangible resources, the path to survival carved by the late King Hussein and his son King Abdullah II was essentially the only one available.