Research Library

In February 2018, the Baker Institute, the American University of Beirut’s Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York held a two-day conference in Beirut to examine critical challenges and effective policy options for fostering more inclusive and pluralistic systems in the MENA. Leading experts discussed issues such as post-conflict reconstruction and the economic, political, and socio-religious dimensions of pluralism and inclusion in the MENA. This report summarizes some of the participants' discussions and proposals.

This brief explores how a quirk in the measurement of women’s labor force participation and the demographic peculiarities of the Persian Gulf have resulted in the significant undercounting of female citizen labor in the Gulf Cooperation Council. I

The invocation of sectarianism as a category of analysis for understanding the Middle East is misleading. It conflates a religious identification with a political one, and it ignores the kinship, class and national and regional networks within which sectarian self-expression has invariably been enmeshed. What is urgently needed is a new research agenda to study the dialectic — the complex, constant and unequal relationship between local and foreign — that makes up the modern Middle East.

Instability in the Middle East will continue without pluralistic political systems that include opposition voices, women and ethnic minorities in the decision-making process. The continual marginalization of these groups will lead to heightened levels of popular discontent and even violence.

Despite many differences, the United States and Saudi Arabia maintain important mutual interests. Fellow Jim Krane explains why rebuilding ties with Saudi Arabia could incentivize the kingdom to place more importance on U.S. goals.

This working paper analyzes how Iran's nuclear deal has affected the country's regional policies and stability in the Middle East.

This working paper analyzes the roots of Iran’s “dissonant” political system and revolutionary ideology, the fractious contest over defining and applying this ideology, and the implications of these struggles for Iranian foreign and security policy.

This working paper analyzes the prospects of Iran changing its domestic and foreign policy behavior over the longer term, and outlines what the United States and others can do to promote such changes.

This working paper discusses the “pattern of wary engagement” between Russia and Iran and its implications for future regional security issues in the Middle East. The paper was presented as part of the "U.S.-Iran Relations at a Crossroads" conference at the Baker Institute.

This working paper discusses the regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia.