With the 2023 debt-ceiling negotiations under way, a new issue brief from John Diamond, director of the Center for Public Finance, and Autumn Engebretson looks at the effectiveness of the Budget Control Act 2011, enacted in response to the 2011 debt-ceiling crisis. Did it in fact control the budget? And could similar legislation work now?
John W. Diamond, Autumn EngebretsonFebruary 16, 2023
The dramatic electoral defeat of Morocco’s Islamist PJD party last fall signaled a major shift in the region’s politics: Islamist parties have become politically vulnerable and must deliver results or face the wrath of voters.
Middle East fellow A.Kadir Yildirim reviews the varied responses of Islamist groups in the Middle East to the Biden presidency and suggests that, in most cases, their reactions were crafted to further their political — not religious — objectives.
Despite near-universal identification with the Palestinian cause and a visceral opposition to Israel, religious and Islamist responses to the Arab normalization agreements have ranged from sharply critical to relatively measured. What's behind this variation? Middle East fellow A.Kadir Yildirim explains.
To what extent do Moroccans view state leadership in religion favorably, or see head of state King Mohammed VI as a source of religious authority? The author examines these questions in this issue brief, produced as part of a two-year Center for the Middle East study on religious authority in the Middle East.
By Laila Elimam
Protests erupted in Jerada, Morocco, after the deaths of two brothers who were killed in the nearby abandoned mines. Research associate Laila Elimam examines this event and the response of the Moroccan legislature.
The Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris have turned public opinion against allowing Syrian refugees to resettle in other countries. But rejecting refugees based on their religion or assumptions that they may assist ISIS in launching acts of terrorism betray universal values of freedom and equality.
While the recent fiscal troubles in Greece have received much attention, the U.S. fiscal position is hardly comparable to that of Greece. However, the United States is experiencing, and will continue to experience, one of the fundamental economic costs of relatively large and persistent deficits.
A deadly virus named MERS has spread from Saudi Arabia to over a dozen countries since 2012. While the chances for widespread infection are remote due to the virus's low human-to-human transmission rate, all governments should nevertheless support academic freedom and scientific collaboration to keep local outbreaks of viruses like MERS from becoming serious pandemics.
Kirstin R.W. Matthews, Monica M. Matsumoto, Jon FlynnJuly 25, 2014