Robert reported on foreign policy for The Atlantic for three decades and is currently the Robert Strausz-Hupé Chair in Geopolitics at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. His most recent book is The Loom of Time: Between Empire and Anarchy, from the Mediterranean to China. Access Bonus Episodes on Patreon Make a one-time Donation to... Continue Reading →
Isabel Kershner on Israel and its Divisions
Isabel Kershner is a reporter at The New York Times and the author of a new book called The Land of Hope and Fear: Israel's Battle for Its Inner Soul. Access Bonus Episodes on Patreon Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox. It's very hard to understand what's happening today without looking at the... Continue Reading →
Cole Bunzel on Wahhābism
Cole Bunzel is a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and the editor of the blog Jihadica. He is the author of the book Wahhābism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement. Access Bonus Episodes on Patreon Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox. The Jihadis today root themselves theologically and ideologically... Continue Reading →
Marsin Alshamary on Iraq’s Struggle for Democracy
Marsin Alshamary is a research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative and nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy. She is the author of the paper "Iraq’s Struggle for Democracy" in the Journal of Democracy. Access Bonus Episodes on Patreon Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox. The... Continue Reading →
Steven Simon on American Foreign Policy in the Middle East including Iran and the Wars in Iraq
Steven served on the National Security Council staff from 1994 to 1999 and again fro 2011 to 2012. Earlier he served in the State Department for fifteen years. He is currently a Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies and his most recent book is Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall... Continue Reading →
The Long Shadow of Qatar’s Human Rights Abuses
By Cathryn Grothe A Spotlight on Qatar The international spotlight is on Qatar for the 2022 World Cup. It’s not only the football matches that are receiving global attention, but also Qatar’s harrowing human rights record. To fully appreciate the controversy surrounding this year's host country, it is important to understand the long history of... Continue Reading →
Liberalism in an Illiberal Region
By Justin Kempf A review of Quest for Democracy: Liberalism in the Modern Arab World by Line Khatib Liberalism in the Modern Arab World On July 25th, 2021 Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed suspended parliament and dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi. It marked the collapse of the last remaining democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring.... Continue Reading →
Change is in the Air: The Protests in Iran
By Prof Shahram Akbarzadeh, Convenor of Middle East Studies Forum, Deakin University. He is the author of Middle East Politics and International Relations: Crisis Zone. You can follow him on Twitter at @S_Akbarzadeh Widespread protests against the ruling regime in Iran have raised serious questions about the future. Will the regime survive this popular expression of dissent?... Continue Reading →
Why Saudi Arabia Remains an American Ally
Become a Patron! Saudi Arabia as an American Ally President Joe Biden plans to visit Saudi Arabia in a scheduled trip to Europe and Israel. Normally, the visit would come across as business as usual. Saudi Arabia has been a key American ally in the Middle East for decades. However, President Biden tried to take... Continue Reading →
Zoltan Barany on the Ineffectiveness of the Gulf Militaries
Zoltan Barany is the Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Centennial Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Armies of Arabia: Military Politics and Effectiveness in the Gulf. The last time, and luckily this hasn't really happened since 1990, there was minimal resistance from the Kuwaiti and the... Continue Reading →