International Relations and Security

This week, Egypt’s parliament approves a motion to amend the country’s constitution. The proposed amendments would keep the current President, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in power until 2034. In Libya, Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Hifter continues operation to take territory in the country’s southwest, including al-Sharara oil field. And in Washington, the US […]

JMEPP Levant Editor Kelsey Wise sat down with Former U.S. Ambassador Edward S. Walker Jr., who served in the State Department as Ambassador to Israel, Egypt, and the UAE, as well as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. The discussion covered U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, especially the changes it has […]

This piece, written by Okey Uzoechina, discusses the emerging regional approach of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in regard to support to its member states in countering terrorism and violent extremism. It appeared in the 2018 APJ print edition.  Abstract This paper discusses the emerging regional approach of the Economic Community of […]

BY JILLIAN RAFFERTY “Are you aware of the charges brought against you?” “Yes.” “Do you wish to plead guilty or not guilty?” “Guilty.” “Do you wish to make a statement at this time?” “Yes. I want to speak to my people and to my family. I am Muslim. I admit to these crimes. Al Qaeda […]

Kurdistan Regional Government Rep. Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman discusses Kurdish politics since the KRG’s 2017 independence referendum and the Erbil-Baghdad relationship at Harvard Law School.

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard parade in Ahwaz, the capital of the Khuzestan province of Iran, ended in chaos in September when four gunmen opened fire on an assembled crowd of troops, civilians and children. Assailants dressed in military garb killed at least 25 people and wounded about 60 more at the parade that was meant […]

A final resolution to the conflict in Yemen must be locally led and locally driven. Oxfam CEO Abby Maxman comments on prospects for peace in Yemen.

BY SHAI KIVITY A tectonic movement in the nature of international relations has arrived, with most of the West ignoring it – the rise of China. As China’s GDP has recently surpassed the United States’, making it the strongest country in the world from an economic standpoint, the US has woken up to find itself […]

Renewed US sanctions will have a detrimental impact on the Iranian economy, but Iran is winning the public relations battle on the world stage.

Trump’s statement on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi is worth examining for the baldness of its cynicism and perhaps unprecedented about-face on human rights. But Congress still has an opportunity to act where the White House falls short.

BY ERIN GREGOR Populism may have toppled the domino theory. On April 7, 1954, just before Vietnamese nationalists led by communist Ho Chi Minh won a decisive battle at Dien Bien Phu, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of countries falling like dominoes to communism. “You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over […]

Mitigating the Sahel Security Conundrum: The Need for a Strategic Paradigm Shift The Sahel security conundrum (described in this article as an “immunodeficiency security disorder”) is a unique security dilemma facing the region. The Sahel region represents the ‘spinal cord’ of the continent’s geopolitical body, and as such the phenomena of its security conundrum not only […]