Middle East & North Africa
Triannual analysis of conflict dynamics, state fragility, energy geopolitics, and the foreign policy of MENA states.
Surviving the Spring
Show moreShow lessMain question: How did Egypt’s regime survive the 2011 uprising and re-emerge stronger? Argument: It did so through “compound authoritarianism” — the interaction of institutional entrenchment (military control), economic co-optation (rentier dynamics), and calibrated repression.…
Rethinking the EU’s Expansion Dilemmas
Main question: How can the EU pursue geopolitically necessary enlargement without weakening its internal cohesion and governance capacity? Argument: The EU must implement a phased “European Political Sphere” framework alongside extending Qualified Majority Voting to prevent single-state vetoes. C…
Iranian Resistence between Opression and War:
1. Sanaie links her family’s persecution to support for the NCRI and its vision of a secular democratic Iran. 2. She says protests are driven by repression, economic crisis, and violent state crackdowns. 3. Sanaie rejects foreign intervention and monarchy restoration, arguing only organized inter…
Bahrain after the Arab Spring
This article asks why Bahrain’s Arab Spring uprising failed to produce democratic change. It argues that the monarchy survived through repression, opposition exclusion, sectarian framing, and regional Gulf backing. The conclusion is that Bahrain illustrates authoritarian reconsolidation: formal i…
The Continued Fight for Democracy
The report follows how different countries in the MENA region have been shaped by the Arab spring, focusing on its effects on 1. the legal political systems 2. the socio-political impact 3. the role of regional/domestic and international human rights organisations – providing a comparative overvi…
Morocco’s Dual Strategy of Control
Main question: Why has Morocco experienced renewed youth-led protest (GENZ212) more than a decade after the Arab Spring, despite formal political reform and institutional stability? Argument: Morocco’s post-2011 stability is the result of a dual process of top-down reforms and repression Conclusi…
The Security Dilemma in post-Arab Spring Libya
How did the Arab Spring shape Libya’s long-term political fragmentation and insecurity? The 2011 uprising dismantled weak state institutions, triggering a security dilemma where militias and foreign actors filled the power vacuum, reinforcing division. Libya’s instability persists due to entrench…
The Gulf Cooperation Council Explained
Main question: Why do Gulf states cooperate within the GCC despite internal rivalries and regional instability? Argument: The GCC functions as a framework for security coordination, economic integration, and regime survival, driven by shared threats rather than deep unity. Conclusion: The GCC sho…
Unfinished Revolutions
main question: how different mena questions developed post arab spring, how did this manifest politically and legally through out the region, what are major on-going/ recent/ past developments actively shaping the countries