Journal of Middle Eastern Politics & Policy

After years of tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, the United States and Iran have held the highest-level talks since the 1979 Revolution to negotiate the status of Iran’s nuclear program and have set a November 24 deadline to come to a deal. The Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy’s Lauren Leatherby asks Dr. […]

The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University hosted a talk by Harvard Kennedy School Professor Tarek Masoud on Monday, November 9. The lecture, entitled “When God Speaks, Does Anyone Listen?” was based on a study Dr. Masoud conducted on one of his recent trips to Egypt. Dr. Masoud began the presentation by […]

Tunisia’s parliamentary elections, held on October 26, resulted in Nidaa Tounes garnering 39.71% of the vote and Ennahda receiving 31.79%, robbing the Islamists of their leading seat. Nidaa Tounes’s victory has been widely hailed in the media as a victory of secularism over Islamism. This discourse fits neatly into Western conceptions of modernization and secularization […]

“The Turtle’s Rage,” directed by Pary al-Qalqili, is a raw, intimate look into one man’s anguish over the loss of his homeland. That man is Pary’s exiled father, who recounts for his filmmaker daughter what it means to be Palestinian, to be in constant conflict with Israel, and what the realities of return look like […]

“Arab civilization, such as we knew it, is all but gone.” Those are the words of Hisham Melham, Washington bureau chief of Dubai-based media outlet Al-Arabiya. In a 2,000-word piece for Politico, Melham argues that Arab civilization has collapsed, and that it won’t be revived in his lifetime. Is this gloomy outlook overwrought, or simply […]

In this installment of “Inside the Middle East: Q&A,” Ambassador Robert Ford, former United States Ambassador to Syria from 2011 to 2014 and Algeria from 2006 to 2008, discusses his experiences with the State Department in Iraq and Syria, US strategy in the Syrian Civil War, and Syria’s future. Ambassador Ford also gave a public […]

In this installment of “Inside the Middle East: Q&A,” Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, discusses the challenges to providing humanitarian assistance in Syria, the action (and inaction) of the UN Security Council in the crisis, and the politicization of aid. You can watch the interview, conducted by Jennifer Quigley-Jones, […]

Srdja Popovic was a founder of the Serbian nonviolent resistance group Otpor! that led the successful campaign to unseat Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000. Popovic later served a term as a member of the Serbian National Assembly 2000-2003. In 2003, Popovic and other ex-Otpor! activists started the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and […]

In this installment of “Inside the Middle East: Q&A,” Soli Özel, Professor of International Relations, Kadir Has University, Istanbul, discusses Turkey’s politics, domestic concerns, and upcoming elections.  You can watch the interview, conducted by Delphine O, editor of the Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy and Master in Public Policy candidate at Harvard Kennedy School, […]

In this installment of “Inside the Middle East: Q&A,” Raed Charafeddine, First Vice-Governor, Central Bank of Lebanon, discusses the job market in Lebanon and the Middle East and the role of financial institutions in the region. Mr. Charafeddine also gave a public lecture at the Middle East Initiative on April 14, 2014. The paper from […]

In this installment of “Inside the Middle East: Q&A,” Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, Executive Committee Member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), discusses the ongoing peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians, and prospects for the future.  You can watch the interview, conducted by Colin Eide, Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and […]

Dr. Suzan Bartels is a co-author of the report ‘Running Out of Time – Survival of Syrian Refugee Children in Lebanon’ that was published by FXB center last January.  She is board certified in Emergency Medicine in both the U.S. and Canada and is currently an attending physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center as […]