ARTICLES
Saudi Vision 2030: Mirage or Oasis?
Hala Najjar explores the implications and potential outcomes of Saudi Arabia's radical new economic strategy.
Hala Najjar explores the implications and potential outcomes of Saudi Arabia's radical new economic strategy.
Turkey enters 2017 facing security crises on multiple fronts. Francesca Fazey and Julian Karssen unpack the terrorism risk in the country in the year ahead.
Shifting geopolitics and a consolidation of control by several of the Middle East's ‘strongmen' has multiple implications for the region in 2017. Francesca Fazey and Julian Karssen consider the likely effects of Russia's emergence as the region's new global power, after its decisive role in the recapture of Aleppo.
Julian Karssen and Francesca Fazey discuss the potential for the Islamic State militant group to revive its kidnapping operations in broader Iraq in the wake of recent territorial losses.
Francesca Fazey assesses the increase in wrongful detentions in Egypt over 2016 and the implications for foreign nationals going into 2017, notably journalists and NGO workers.
While a sudden US military response to a chemical weapons attack in northern Syria suggests a shift in US strategy, expectations of future intervention against the Syrian government may be premature, writes Julian Karssen.
The Palm Sunday bombings at two Coptic churches in Egypt's Nile Delta demonstrated a renewed determination by Islamic State to target the country's Christian minority. But to what end? Francesca Fazey unpacks the motivations for the current escalation in the group's campaign and considers its limitations.
Since the Islamic State (IS) group declared its caliphate in Raqqa and Mosul in 2014, Iran has remained insulated from the regional threat posed by the jihadist group. However, the recent attack in Tehran on 7 June raises concerns over the potential for IS to establish a presence in Iran, and carry out further attacks, writes Erin Drake.
Even though certain international sanctions targeting Iran have been lifted since January 2016, the IRGC's involvement in strategic economic sectors continues to represent a compliance challenge for foreign investors, writes Hamish Kinnear.
Ezra Cohen discusses why politicians in Israel continue to engage in acts of corruption despite the success of legal authorities in uncovering and punishing these crimes.
Bouteflika's re-election, while unsurprising, represents a missed opportunity for Algeria, where longstanding policies aimed at suppressing civil unrest are threatened by political and economic instability, writes Albert Arbuthnott.