MENA
The Gulf War’s Afterlife: Dilemmas, Missed Opportunities, and the Post-Cold War Order Undone
The Gulf War is often remembered as a “good war,” a high-tech conflict that quickly and cleanly achieved its objectives. Yet, new archival evidence sheds light on the extended fallout from the war and challenges this neat narrative. The Gulf War left…
Book Review Roundtable: Iran Reframed
1. Introduction: Selling a Revolution Gregory Brew On Aug. 19, 1978, hundreds of people packed into the Cinema Rex theater in Abadan, Iran. The movie that night was The Deer, a 1974 film by acclaimed Iranian director Masoud Kimiai. Twenty minutes into the…
The Simulation of Scandal: Hack-and-Leak Operations, the Gulf States, and U.S. Politics
Four hack-and-leak operations in U.S. politics between 2016 and 2019, publicly attributed to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, should be seen as the “simulation of scandal" — deliberate attempts to direct moral judgment against their…
Policy Roundtable: The Future of the Middle East
What does the future hold for the Middle East and U.S. policy in the region? We asked a group of scholars and practitioners to weigh in and discuss.
Book Review Roundtable: Arab-Israeli Diplomacy Under Carter
We asked a group of experts to review Jørgen Jensehaugen's book, "Arab-Israeli Diplomacy Under Carter: The US, Israel, and the Palestinians," which asks whether President Jimmy Carter could have done more.
Book Review Roundtable: What to Make of the Suez Canal Crisis
What lessons does the Suez Canal crisis hold for policymakers today? We assembled a roundtable to review the recently published book "Suez Deconstructed" to tackle that question.
Policy Roundtable: 17 Years After September 11
To understand what has gone both right and wrong since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, we have convened a roundtable of some of this country’s foremost experts on terrorism, insurgency, and strategy.
Restraining an Ally: Israel, the United States, and Iran’s Nuclear Program, 2011–2012
In asymmetric alliances, a superior state provides security to a weaker ally, who in exchange surrenders its autonomy to its stronger protector. But what happens when the weaker state’s vital interests clash with its stronger ally’s preferences? In 2011…
Book Review Roundtable: America’s Hot and Cold Relationship with Its Counterterrorism Partners
Stephen Tankel's new book, With Us and Against Us, looks at the troubled relationship between America and its counterterrorism partners in the Middle East and North Africa.
Unbeatable: Social Resources, Military Adaptation, and the Afghan Taliban
Following the 9/11 attacks, the Afghan Taliban were obliterated in a lightning war prosecuted by the United States. Their Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan ceased to exist as a physical entity, and the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, fled to Pakistan.…
Policy Roundtable: What Is the Future of the Jihadist Movement?
With ISIL having lost the bulk of its territory in Iraq and Syria, we asked a group of experts what comes next for the jihadist movement.
The International Order and Nuclear Negotiations with Iran
The international order is not just an abstract concept, but rather is of concrete value to U.S. national security, as exemplified by America's policy toward Iran.