Arab Spring

The Arab Spring, a wave of protests sweeping through the Middle East in 2011, inspired hope for more freedoms in the region. Such anticipation was short-lived as authoritarian rulers recalibrated strategies for control by strengthening alliances with constituencies including elites, secular middle classes and workers who are wary of rapid changes that might threaten economic stability, explains Hicham Alaoui, the director of the non-profit Hicham Alaoui Foundation for Social Science Research. He delivered the annual Coca-Cola World Fund at Yale Lecture this year, and this essay is based on that lecture. He describes operational tactics employed by some governments: repression of opposition and extensive monitoring of public activities, exploitation of fear, selective enforcement of strict interpretations for Islam, and increased interventions throughout the region. “However, at the heart of retrenched authoritarianism rests a long-term gamble,” notes Alaoui, that “all else being equal, youth activists that comprise the vanguard of opposition movements can be permanently deactivated.” Societies with a high proportion of youth cannot ignore that driving force of change.

After five years of violence and political instability, Libya may be on the verge of forming a stable government.

Tunisians are marking five years since the culmination of their “Jasmine Revolution.”

A big question is reverberating in the minds of many; why have the Arab Gulf states not taken in any Syrian refugees?

Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa on Tuesday night, according to preliminary reports.

A desperate Tunisian fruit and vegetable vendor immolated himself on Dec. 17, 2010, setting off a chain of demands for dignity and a better life. The past four years in the Arab world have seen vast turmoil, and the end is not yet clear.

The meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Egyptian President Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi September 25, 2014 on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York marked the first encounter between Obama and any Egyptian president since his meeting with Hosni Mubarak in the summer of 2010.

A judge dismissed murder charges Saturday against former President Hosni Mubarak and acquitted his security chief over the killing of protesters during Egypt’s 2011 uprising, crushing any hope of a judicial reckoning on behalf of the hundreds victims of the revolt that toppled him.

We Are The Giant documents the bravery of six activists challenging oppression in the Middle East that followed Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution.

Tunisia, the birthplace of the 2011 Arab uprisings, is on the cusp of a defining moment. The parliamentary election of October 26 is about pivoting toward democratization. Presidential elections will follow on November 23. The focus of this piece is on how the elections are likely to reshape Tunisia’s polity and society.

In a period of about six weeks spanning August and September 2014, President Obama dramatically revamped his Middle East policy to put degrading and destroying the Islamic State (ISIS) at its center.

Violence is once again flaring in the Middle East and the Arab Spring seems like a distant, wilted dream.

Violence is once again flaring in the Middle East and the Arab Spring seems like a distant, wilted dream. But while the violence is grabbing the headlines, the real problem—lack of opportunity—is receiving little attention.

Three and a half years ago, the world was riveted by the massive crowds of youths mobilizing in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to demand an end to Egypt’s dreary police state.

After the death of Osama Bin Laden in May 2011, the global jihadist movement seemed to have become fragmented and considerably weakened. This happened for various reasons.