Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
1 to 10 of about 10
Despite flagging oil revenues and the introduction of conscription in the Gulf, the use of foreign contract soldiers, sometimes called mercenaries, is here to stay.
While the Middle East needs a collective security architecture, the U.S. proposal must be changed if it is actually going to exist—let alone succeed.
The Iraqi Islamic Party has demonstrated resilience over the last fifteen years, but unless it can increase its popularity, it is unlikely to regain a meaningful role in governing Iraq.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah have taken a flexible approach to maintaining their political influence. This has allowed them to weather the ups and downs of their relationship in recent years.
Gulf-based Salafi financiers have had a diminished role in the Syrian civil war recently, but their influence will linger in the country's religious sphere.
The twin shocks of the Euro debt crisis and the Arab Spring are forcing members of the Gulf Cooperation Council to grapple with old and new challenges, including overreliance on oil, changing trade relationships, and regional integration.
The unprecedented change in the Middle East has created immediate challenges to maintaining social cohesion and macroeconomic stability. Over the longer-term, countries must define their own political, social, and economic transformations.
The private sector has become the main driver of growth in the Middle East and North Africa, but more consistent and equitable regulations are needed to transform the region into a diversified, high-performance economy.
The economic outlook for the Gulf Cooperation Council remains encouraging, but the crisis has revealed financial sector vulnerabilities that need to be addressed in order to limit future disruptions of economic growth.
Though sovereign wealth funds, valued at $2.4 trillion globally, played a stabilizing role during the crisis, their widely varying governance standards may pose geopolitical risks in the future.