Research Library

The good news: we managed to get through June and July without war in the Persian Gulf. The bad news: the risk of conflict remains high. Read more at the Baker Institute Blog: https://bit.ly/2MKqWDS

Declarations against violence issued by ulama on behalf of their government provide an opportunity for Muslim political leaders to signal their commitment to the international security agenda while vilifying Islamist opposition actors as terrorists. Baker Institute Blog: https://bit.ly/2LNAZrr

"With the U.S. and Iran staggering toward war, it bears asking: How would U.S. interests be served by war with Iran?" writes fellow Jim Krane. Read his argument for why U.S. interests would be deeply undermined by any such war on the Baker Institute Blog.  This post originally appeared in the Forbes Blog on June 17, 2019.

Fellow for the Middle East A.Kadir Yildirim and undergraduate intern Meredith McCain explore survey data on the goals, outcomes and beneficiaries of the Arab Spring protests.

How does a country’s constitutional form of governance — specifically, if it is a presidential or parliamentary system — influence its susceptibility to a military coup? The author examines the issue in Political Science Quarterly

Who speaks for Islam and who holds religious authority in the Middle East? These questions strike at the heart of the relationship between religion and politics in the Muslim world, for whoever can legitimately claim religious authority has an opportunity to shape the extent to which religion is politicized in the region. Our study examines this issue by identifying the channels of influence between religious leaders who claim to hold Islamic authority and individual Muslims across the region. The findings depict a complex religious space in the Middle East that reflects its citizens’ nuanced approach toward religion and the religion-politics relationship.

A pending bill in Congress would hobble OPEC by opening the door to anti-trust lawsuits against government-owned oil companies. This brief examines the multiple ways such legislation, known as NOPEC, would undermine critical U.S. interests. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25611/rezh-fc53

A newly released study from the Project on Middle East Political Science at George Washington University includes a contribution from fellow Jim Krane on subsidy reform and tax increases in the Middle East.

Edited by A.Kadir Yildirim The briefs in this collection explore how the Arab Spring process reshaped social, religious, political and economic pluralism. The research aims to shed light on the state of pluralism and to document the extent to which inclusive policies were implemented. This work is part of a two-year project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York on “Building Pluralistic and Inclusive States Post-Arab Spring.”

As Persian Gulf countries consider a future in which hydrocarbons play a smaller role in their economies, much of the Arab world remains embroiled in conflict and political uncertainty. This report recaps a conference on the impact of these issues on both Houston and U.S. energy and security interests.