In The News

Egypt Highlights Race Between Trade and Terror

Humphrey Hawksley August 15, 2013
The Arab Spring protests, with demands for representative government and economic stability, have disintegrated into violent power struggles. After one year, Egypt’s military removed the first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, from power and cracked down on protests by his supporters, leaving more than 500 dead. Violence unfolds in Syria, Libya, Tunisia and Iraq, too. Building...

People Will Pay if Army Fails Challenge of Political Islam

Amin Saikal August 15, 2013
Political Islam in Egypt – with the democratic election of Mohamed Morsi and one chaotic year in office – took an ideological approach to government, failing to compromise with other forces in society that led the revolution against Mubarak’s dictatorship. After deposing Morsi, the Egyptian military has cracked down on his party, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other supporters. Conservative...

Iran’s Mounting Malaise

Jamsheed K. Choksy August 6, 2013
Iranians – frustrated by a flailing economy, compounded by rigid policies of a theocratic government and sanctions from the West that target the country’s nuclear program – expect reforms from President Hassan Rouhani. Iran confronts challenges that, if left unaddressed, will bring severe consequences at home and abroad, warns Jamsheed K. Choksy, professor of Iranian Studies at Indiana University...

For Stability, Japan Needs Political Reform

Frances McCall Rosenbluth July 30, 2013
The political certainty that comes with a landslide victory in July and the Liberal Democratic Party’s control of both houses of the Japanese parliament may be short-lived. And while the conservative LDP has held steady power in Japan since 1955, except for two brief periods, a win does not mean the country is headed for one-party rule. The parliament remains fractured, showing fundamental...

Why Egypt Matters

Sallama Shaker July 25, 2013
Democracy does not stop with elections, argues Sallama Shaker, a former Egyptian ambassador and former assistant minister of foreign affairs, who is now a visiting professor at Yale University. Transition of power in Egypt, with the military ousting the democratically elected president and promising elections soon, followed massive protests. Egyptians of all ages, placing their trust in the...

Algeria’s Shadow Hangs Over Egypt’s Revolution

Roula Khalaf July 11, 2013
Algerian Islamists advise supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi to resist militarization in avenging a military coup, or that could lead to civil war and foreign jihadists hijacking Islamist agendas, advise Algerian Islamists. “This was sound counsel from a North African state that suffered more than 10 years of civil war after a 1991 Islamist electoral victory was abruptly cancelled by...

Mursi Role at Syria Rally Seen as Tipping Point for Egypt Army

Yasmine Saleh, Tom Perry July 3, 2013
Egypt’s army has ousted Mohamed Mursi. Concern intensified in mid-June when the president attended a rally that called for “holy war” in Syria and was said to have called for foreign intervention. The army responded by suggesting its duty was to guard Egypt’s borders. The powerful, largely secular army has long mistrusted the Muslim Brotherhood, which supported Mursi as president and claimed it...