How should we understand Sudan’s war? Nada Ali and Anna Reumert discuss counterrevolution, the unfinished 2018–19 uprising, and how a stalled democratic transition became an extractive war economy.
What did Islamic television have to do with Egypt’s 2011 revolution? Yasmin Moll, in conversation with Amahl Bishara, traces how debates over religious media reshaped everyday religious practice and revolutionary politics for millions of Egypti
Fırat Bozçalı, in conversation with Elif Babül, explored how Turkey’s expanded anti-smuggling laws have turned criminal courts into unexpected arenas where Kurdish smugglers and their lawyers challenge state authority.
Crown Center research and analysis to help contextualize the escalating conflict involving Iran, Israel, and the United States.
The Crown Center for Middle East Studies is committed to conducting balanced and dispassionate research of the modern Middle East that meets the highest academic standards. The Center seeks to help make decision- and opinion-makers better informed about the region. The scope of the center's research includes the 22 members of the Arab League as well as Turkey, Iran and Israel. The Crown Center's approach is multidisciplinary in its study of the politics, economics, history, security, sociology and anthropology of the region's states and societies.
Sudan’s war is one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, with a February 2026 UN report finding that atrocities in El Fasher bear the “hallmarks of genocide.” Yet the conflict is often reduced to a power struggle between rival militaries—the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces—obscuring its deeper political dimensions. In this Crown Conversation, we spoke with Nada Ali and Anna Reumert about Sudan’s war: whether it is best understood as counterrevolutionary, how it relates to the unfinished demands of Sudan’s 2018–19 uprising, and how an incomplete democratic transition morphed into an extractive war economy.
The Crown Center is dedicated to sharing balanced and dispassionate research on the Middle East. Please see the Crown Center analyses which delve into the roots and evolution of the conflict between Hamas and Israel.
Image credit: Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo
Counter/Argument: A Middle East Podcast is produced by the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Through conversations with scholars and practitioners encompassing a variety of disciplines and perspectives, each episode will debunk key misconceptions about the contemporary Middle East. "Counter/Argument" is committed to a balanced and dispassionate approach to the region and to making scholarship more widely accessible. Available wherever you get your podcasts.
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Image credit: Chae Lee