Research Library

What is empowerment? How can women across the MENA region become empowered? Is it possible for Western-born concepts — such as female empowerment — to travel across complex contexts and patriarchal/male-dominated cultures? While agreeing on a definition for female empowerment has proved to be a challenging task among scholars and policy practitioners, working out a universal framework that is applicable to different settings has proven to be an even more daunting task.

As the United States once again ramps up involvement in Iraq, it makes sense to examine U.S. interests and strategy while considering what might constitute realistic parameters for participation and outcome. In this issue brief, energy fellow Jim Krane explores answers to the question "What are U.S. interests in Iraq and how are they best pursued?"

The changing regional geopolitics of the Middle East have created new opportunities for the Gulf states to engage in Arab-Israeli conflict resolution after the Arab Spring. This policy report examines the potential role that the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — might play in Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolution. It presents policy recommendations on how the Gulf states can engage with regional and international partners and build upon the greater space for action as the shifting parameters of Middle East politics create new regional pathways for action and cooperation.

Thursday's Baker Institute Blog carries a commentary from fellow Joe Barnes on President Obama’s Sept. 10, 2014, speech on ISIS and Iraq.

Women living with HIV in the Middle East face public scrutiny, stigmatization and even abandonment. It is critical not only to curb the spread of HIV in the region, but also to educate and protect women who may be less knowledgeable about the disease, writes Ariana Marnicio, research analyst for the Women and Human Rights in the Middle East Program.

One hundred years after the start of World War I, the legacies of decisions made by colonial powers during and after the period cast a long shadow over the Middle East.

Peter Hotez, fellow in disease and poverty, proposes ways for countries around the world to increase their reliance on vaccine diplomacy in their foreign policy approaches.

In the second issue of the Journal of Women and Human Rights in the Middle East, students explore the various aspects of Islamic feminism. Essay topics range from Islamic thinker Gamal al-Banna's approach to Islamic feminism to differing feminist perspectives in the Moroccan women's rights movement to Western assumptions about Islamic feminism.

Microfinance institutions have continued to grow over the past few decades, enabling greater access to credit in many of the world's less developed nations. However, in many Muslim countries, the poor tend to reject microfinance on religious grounds. This paper develops an alternative microfinance model that is Islamically permissible and tests it against the standard model.

Despite mounting efforts toward achieving gender equality, the MENA region continues to rank the lowest worldwide in women’s economic participation and opportunity.