Research Library

Corruption is a complex social, political and institutional problem that is difficult to define. This brief describes the challenges involved in defining, understanding and measuring corruption and evaluates the case study of Mexico, where corruption has increased in recent years, to illustrate these complexities.

By Marwan Muasher, Ph.D., Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The author explores reform efforts and identifies challenges in Jordan following the Arab Spring. The brief is part of a two-year project is generously supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

By Imad Salamey, Ph.D., Lebanese American University Contemporary Arab politics have been overwhelmed by communitarian divisions. This research reviews rising transnational communitarianism in the Middle East and suggests communitarian plurality as a solution to ongoing political conflicts in the region. Imad Salamey discusses in both a short issue brief and longer research paper on pluralism and inclusion in the Middle East after the Arab Spring. The project is generously supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

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 Tahani Al Terkait, Durham University Two recent examples of gender politics in Kuwait reveal the challenges with women's integration in the socio-religious sphere of Kuwaiti society, writes the author. This is the fourth brief 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.”

By Hamad H. Albloshi, Kuwait University The organization of the Kuwaiti political system is conducive to the successive rise and fall of pluralistic social movements, writes the author. This brief is the third 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.”

The PJD's pragmatic politics — intended to maintain the king’s support and appeal to heterogeneous constituencies — failed to protect the party from fragmentation and moves to weaken it.

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.

The responses of Morocco's monarchy to the rise of the PJD are examined for what they suggest about the monarchy’s perception of its vulnerabilities and because they help to frame the environment in which the PJD and the regime operate.