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Middle East Brief 72
Is the Jordanian Monarchy in Danger?
Asher Susser, Stanley and Ilene Gold Senior Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University

The Jordanian monarchy is going through one of its most difficult periods ever. The Arab Spring has emboldened the opposition by eroding the deterrent effect of the notorious “fear of government” (haybat al-sulta) in the Arab world in general and in Jordan in particular. ... Read the full text

Middle East Brief 71
The Islamic Awakening: Iran’s Grand Narrative of the Arab Uprisings
Payam Mohseni, Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center, holds a Ph.D. from Georgetown University’s Department of Government and is a member of the Iran Study Group at the United States Institute of Peace

In Iran, the 2011 Arab Spring was hailed as an “Islamic Awakening” based on its own Islamic revolution in 1979. In this Brief, Dr. Payam Mohseni focuses on the Iranian conceptualization of this “Islamic Awakening” and the domestic ideological context in which it took shape. ... Read the full text

The National Interest - March 20, 2013
Netanyahu's Allies and Adversaries
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center

The new Israeli government reflects the recent election’s confusing results. When added to other ambiguities of Israel’s electoral history, the results make it difficult to predict precisely what avenues the new government will take. The composition of the new Israeli government is the result of at least four new political realities. ... Read the full text

Middle East Brief 70
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Egypt’s Political Transition
Abdel Monem Said Aly, Chairman, CEO and Director of The Regional Center for Strategic Studies (RCSS) in Cairo, and Senior Research Fellow at the Crown Center
Karim Elkady, PhD candidate in the Politics Department at Brandeis University and the Crown Center 

To what extent has the transitional period--from the trial of Hosni Mubarak in August 2011 to the civil disobedience seen in the city of Port Said in Winter 2012--moved Egypt closer toward a democratic system of governance? In this Brief, Dr. Abdel Monem Said Aly and Karim Elkady provide a net assessment  ... Read the full text

26th Annual Camden Conference - February 23, 2013
Israel  and  Iran:  An  Evolving  Debate
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center

Watch the presentation

Middle East Brief 69
The Transformation of Public Space in Turkey
Dror Ze'evi, Professor of Turkish and Ottoman History in the Department of Middle East Studies, Ben-Gurion University. 

One of the mainstays of Turkey's governments throughout its modern history has been a dogged secularism. However, in recent years the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), while still paying lip service to secular tenets, has churned out a stream of laws and injunctions that, taken together, amount to a radical transformation of Turkey’s public sphere. ... Read the full text

The National Interest - February 27, 2013
The Tough Task of Middle East Peace
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center

Assuming that the Obama administration decides that a breakthrough in Palestinian-Israeli relations is important not only for its own sake, but also for addressing other U.S. national interests in the Middle East, what would it take to achieve such a breakthrough? The long history of the efforts to resolve the Arab-Israel conflict—and particularly its Palestinian-Israeli dimension—yields at least eight different requirements for success  ... Read the full text

Inter Press Service - February 20, 2013
Israel Not Pushing Obama to Arm Syrian Rebels

Crown Center Director Prof. Shai Feldman quoted on the "three phases of Israeli thinking on Syria: initially, a desire to keep 'the devil we know;' later, the view that getting rid of Assad would strike a major blow against Iran and its ability to supply Hezbollah in Lebanon and; now, 'real worries about what happens next.' Israel can handle 'extremists like Hamas in Gaza and [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah in Lebanon,' ... but fears chaos. It worries about who will control Syria’s arsenal of weapons and who, if anyone, will check the influence of Al-Qaeda affiliates."

Event Video - January 16, 2013
The Upcoming Israeli Elections: Domestic and Regional Ramifications 

Watch the exciting panel discussion with Prof. Ilan Troen, Prof. Shai Feldman, Dr. Hussein Ibish, and Dr. Yehudah Mirsky as they explore the possible implications of the January 22, 2013 Israeli Parliamentary elections.... Watch the full video

The National Interest - January 18, 2013
Israel's Election and the Iran Crisis
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center 

Israel’s January 22 elections will produce a new government. The extent to which it will differ from the outgoing government remains to be seen. But efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons might be affected. Could the composition of a new Israeli government indirectly impact the Israeli-U.S. discourse on Iran's nuclear program? ... Read the full text

Al-Monitor - January 16, 2013
Bibi’s Choice After Election Will Set Course for Israel
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center 

In the aftermath of next week’s Israeli elections, Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu will face the decision of his political life. What kind of governing coalition he chooses to form will affect Israel for years to come. ... Read the full text

The National Interest - December 10, 2012
The Coming Clash Over Iran
Graham T. Allison Jr., Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center 

The Obama administration and the Netanyahu government were largely on the same page during the Gaza crisis, and the two country’s leaders seemed to be able to set aside their mutual animosity and distrust, working together to defuse the crisis. But much greater turbulence in their relations can be expected by the middle of next year when the issues associated with Iran’s nuclear project will likely reach another crescendo. ... Read the full text

Middle East Brief 68
Islamist Understandings of Sharia and Their Implications for the Post-revolutionary Egyptian Constitution
Aria Nakissa, Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center and has a Ph.D. in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University 

Dr. Aria Nakissa takes a closer look at the concept of Wasaṭism, an important component of the Muslim Brotherhood’s orientation toward implementing Sharia, and considers how this approach has found expression in the drafting of Egypt’s post-revolutionary constitution. He concludes by stating that differences of opinion which have surfaced ... Read the full text

Working Paper 4
The New Politics of Patronage: The Arms Trade and Clientelism in the Arab World
Shana Marshall, Former Crown Center Junior Research Fellow in 2011-2012. She is currently the Associate Director and Research Instructor at the Institute for Middle East Studies, Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington Univeristy.

This Working Paper focuses on a less visible source of state patronage—the international arms trade. Dr. Shana Marshall identifies some of the interests and institutions involved in the arms trade between the United States and the Arab world...Read the full text