Middle East Policy announces an Early View of its Summer 2025 journal! The 164th issue in its more than four decades features analyses of Iran’s setbacks over the last year and its relations with the United States, Israel’s struggles in domestic and international politics, regime change and transnational corruption in the Levant, and the strategies of small states in the region.
Four of the articles of original research are open access, available in full text to all readers, even those without a subscription. The table of contents of the summer issue is below.
The new edition of Middle East Policy is anchored by Thomas Juneau’s analysis of Iran’s “annus horribilis” in 2024. He analyzes the “mounting losses” suffered by Tehran and its allies throughout 2024:
Israel pounded Hamas in the Gaza Strip; the group has not been vanquished but is severely weakened. Hezbollah, long the jewel in the crown of Iran-backed armed groups, also suffered heavy blows at the hands of Israel, especially in the second half of the year. The Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, the only state among the Islamic Republic’s regional partners, collapsed in December after a rebel offensive that lasted less than two weeks.
But Juneau says, it is too early to assume that we know where this is going: “The coming years will undoubtedly see aggressive Iranian efforts to claw back its losses.”
Among the other open-access articles are Iftah Burman and Yehuda Blanga’s examination of Hezbollah’s criminal enterprise from 1985 to 2005; Chen Kertcher and Gadi Hitman’s explanation of how middle powers like Israel and Syria try to achieve their interests; and Fred H. Lawson and Matteo Legrenzi’s analysis of the shifting relationship of the United States and United Arab Emirates, a dyadic protectorate that has allowed the smaller state to slowly gain confidence in forging its own path.
Middle East Policy, Summer 2025—forthcoming in June!
THE LONG ARC OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC
Iran’s Annus Horribilis in 2024: Beaten, but Not Defeated
Thomas Juneau—open access!
Conjuring an Enemy: US Discourse and Policy on Iran, 1979–88
Annie Tracy Samuel
ISRAELI POLITICS, AT HOME AND ABROAD
Military Reservists and the Resistance to Netanyahu’s Legal Overhaul
Guy Ziv
The Impact of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Beliefs on Israel’s War against the Axis of Resistance
Emir Hadžikadunić, Marko Ćuže—forthcoming
The Gaza War and the Future of the Abraham Accords
Mahmood Monshipouri, Manochehr Dorraj, John Fields—forthcoming
WAR AND REBUILDING IN THE LEVANT
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham: Voices of Syria’s New Leaders
Rasim Koç—forthcoming
Lessons from the Syria-Hezbollah Criminal Syndicate, 1985–2005
Iftah Burman, Yehuda Blanga—open access!
THE RESOLVE OF SMALL STATES
Middle Powers and Limited Balancing: Syria and the Post‐October 7 Wars
Chen Kertcher, Gadi Hitman—open access!
Antinomies of Alignment Redux: The United Arab Emirates and the United States
Fred H. Lawson, Matteo Legrenzi—open access!
The Making of a Ruler: Haitham bin Tariq on the Omani Throne
Joseph Albert Kéchichian
BOOK REVIEWS
Omar Ashour, How ISIS Fights: Military Tactics in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt
Reviewed by Manoug Antaby
Birol Başkan, The Politics of Islam: The Muslim Brothers and the State in the Arab Gulf
Reviewed by Gökhan Çınkara
Mohammad Dawood Sofi, The Tunisian Revolution and Democratic Transition: The Role of al-Nahdah
Reviewed by Mohammad Irfan Shah
Hilmi Ozan Özavcı, Dangerous Gifts: Imperialism, Security, and Civil Wars in the Levant, 1798–1864
Reviewed by Hasim Tekines
Max Boot, Reagan: His Life and Legend
Reviewed by A.R. Joyce—forthcoming