Research Library

The current leaders of Egypt and Saudi Arabia are trying to assert much more political control over their respective country's religious institutions. The lesson both regimes seem to have taken away from the Arab upheavals is not the necessity of pluralism, but instead the need for more regimentation, hierarchy, control, and exclusion.

By Courtney Freer, London School of Economics Cross-ideological movements uniting Islamist and secular groups have increasingly focused on sweeping political reforms instead of social policies and ideology in post-Arab Spring Kuwait, writes the author. This brief is the second of four resulting from a May 2018 workshop held in Kuwait by the Baker Institute in partnership with the Alsalam Center for Strategic and Developmental Studies. 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.”

Procedural reforms can further advance the development of start-ups in Bahrain, writes the author in this evaluation of the country’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.

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.

Morocco's monarchy preserves its power by maintaining a balance among the country’s 33 political parties, preventing the emergence of a strong party, and further dividing an already fragmented political elite. The author examines how the Justice and Development Party (PJD) has survived and grown under such constraints.

In an age of populism and authoritarian entrenchment, the author explores whether the PJD is at the vanguard of democracy in Morocco.

Contrary to expectations, the relationship between Ennahdha and the Salafis in Tunisia was destined for failure. The authors explain why, but note that the reasons young people looked to Salafism for revolutionary purity and inspiration remain. Those interested in the stability of Tunisia's regime should not take the defeat of Salafism for granted, they write.

This brief explores how the alliance between Tunisia's two leading political parties — Nidaa Tounes and Ennahdha — has contributed to the Tunisian public’s growing dissatisfaction with formal politics, which has potentially dangerous consequences for the country’s democratic transition.

This month, the Syrian Civil War will have lasted seven years. The authors of this brief explore how the United States — first under President Barack Obama and now under President Donald Trump — has struggled to develop a coherent strategy that balances U.S. interests in the conflict with the military, financial and diplomatic resources necessary to pursue them.

The list of 13 demands presented in June 2017 by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates suggests a supremely ambitious set of goals behind their embargo of Qatar, including “red lines” that touch directly upon Qatari sovereignty and that Doha will almost certainly reject. The stage is thus set for a contest of endurance, one that with every passing month looks more likely to result in favor of Qatar, writes fellow Gabriel Collins in this brief.