Middle East Policy
Volume XXXI, Issue 2
Summer 2024
This issue, the journal’s 160th, explores the many elements of politics and war in Israel and Palestine, Turkish President Erdoğan’s struggle to stay in power, the influence of Russia on regional states’ reactions to the Ukraine war, and more.
The Israel-Palestine Conflagration
Lessons for Israel’s Gaza War In America’s Strategic Blunders
Lessons learned from counterterrorism operations indicate that purely military solutions are doomed to fail, and Israel is primed to repeat many of these mistakes. The comparison between America's post-9/11 wars and the ...
The Impact of Factional Discourse On the Palestinian National Cause
With the Israeli war on Gaza raging, the Palestinian national movement must overcome divides that have weakened the cause. This study delves into the ramifications of divisive discourse on factionalism in Palestine, ...
Israeli Hydro-Hegemony and the Gaza War
This article analyzes the vicious cycle of Israel's control of water resources in Jordan and the Palestinian territories, the development of a one-state reality in the region, and geopolitical changes driven by ...
Conflict and Complexity Across Regions
The Middle East and the Ukraine War: Between Fear and Opportunity
While the ambivalence among Middle Eastern states about the war in Ukraine stems from multiple sources, Russian influence is a significant, if underappreciated, factor. Several of these countries see Moscow as an ...
The Practice of Friendship Balancing: Russia-Israel Relations, 2015 to 2021
Since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, Israel's reactions have been met with criticism from a key friend: Russia. However, Moscow's public condemnation of the humanitarian crisis has not changed its ...
Unlikely Alliances: How the Wars in Karabakh And Gaza Shape Northwest Asian Security
This study analyzes how ongoing conflicts in the Levant and the post-Soviet South Caucasus have upset the balance of relationships among Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Israel, Turkey, and Russia—and how this could escalate ...
Assessing The Turkish Path Forward
Do Turkey’s 2024 Local Elections Signal the End of Erdoğan’s Reign?
The unexpected victory of the opposition Republican People's Party in Turkey's March 31 municipal elections raises intriguing questions about the future of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after more than two decades of ...
Constitution Making and Enduring Challenges To Democracy in Turkey
Some observers expected that the 2023 general elections in Turkey would end the long rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, while others anticipated his narrow victory. But it takes more than results ...
Egypt and Islamism
Ten Years After: Revisiting the Ouster Of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood
The ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 marked a turning point in Egypt's modern history. The long-persecuted Muslim Brotherhood immediately became a key political player, and its candidate, Mohamed Morsi, won ...
Muslim Brotherhood Memoirs: Prison as a Link among Hostile Groups
In Egypt's 2012 elections, the Muslim Brotherhood came to power after many years of repression, an unprecedented victory for the country's most active opposition movement. The Brotherhood's journey can be divided into ...
Book Reviews
Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War
Book Author: Samuel Moyn Reviewer: A.R. Joyce Reviewer Title: Editor, Middle East Policy. Publishing Info: Farrar, Straus and […]
The Struggle for Supremacy in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia and Iran
Book Author: Simon Mabon Reviewer: Guo Juanwugao Reviewer Title: Doctoral candidate, School of History & Culture, South China […]
The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Historical and Political Perspectives
Book Author: M. Hakan Yavuz and Michael Gunter Reviewer: Umut Uzer Reviewer Title: Associate professor, Istanbul Technical University. […]