By James M. Dorsey
Download Insight 81 Dorsey HERE
Rather than offering a comprehensive, encyclopedic threat analysis, this Insight aims to pinpoint the most immediate threats to the security of Gulf energy and international shipping and the likelihood that they could become a reality. It constitutes a first attempt at looking at the likely scenarios that so [...]
By Nurhidayahti Mohammad Miharja
MEI was pleased to host Mahmood Sariolghalam, Professor of International Relations at the National University of Iran in Tehran, for a recent seminar on “Iran and the Arab Spring: New Middle East Geopolitics.” The seminar, held at the Traders Hotel, addressed Iran’s changing role in the reshuffling of Middle East international politics, [...]
By Nurhidayahti Mohammad Miharja
Last month, Dr. Tariq Ramadan’s most recent book, The Arab Awakening, provided the context for his talk that was co-hosted by MEI and MUIS (the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore) at the Shangri-La Hotel, which was filled to capacity.
While the downfall of authoritarian regimes in the course of the uprisings unleashed many [...]
MEI Visiting Research Professor Lilia Labidi, former Minister of Women’s Affairs in the first transitional government of Tunisia, gave an interview to the Singaporean Malay language newspaper Berita Harian on 21 July 2012 about her country’s Jasmine Revolution and its repercussions. MEI Research Assistant Nurhidayahti Mohammad Miharja translated the article from Malay to English.
Impact of [...]
By Sami Moubayed
Download Insight 71 Moubayed HERE
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Syrian President Bashar al-Asad in 2010.
Analysts are busy trying to predict what will happen to Syria based on the Tunisian, Egyptian, Libyan, and Yemeni models, which have provided something of a textbook for the “Arab Spring.” The checklist, after all, is hauntingly similar among [...]
By Michael C. Hudson
Download Insight 64 Hudson HERE
As the Arab uprisings unfold it is increasingly clear that they are taking different forms in different countries. In three cases—Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya—dictators were deposed definitively and relatively quickly. But in three others—Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria—the struggle continues between an incumbent regime and popular opposition. (In [...]
By Mimi Kirk
Architect and scholar Ying Zhou presented two in-depth lectures at MEI in April on “contemporary urban manifestations” in the Arab world, specifically regarding the cities of Damascus and Cairo.
Ms. Ying Zhou explains the history of Cairo's Tahrir Square.
In her first lecture, Ms. Ying addressed four stages of Damascus: the city’s formation, the French [...]
By Abdulkhaleq Abdulla
Download Insight 60 Abdulla HERE
2011, the year of the “Arab Spring,” was an epochal one in contemporary Arab history. 2011 will also likely go down as a turning point in the Arab world’s perception of China and its relationship with the rising Asian power.
For the past 60 years, the Arab world has generally [...]
By Nurhidayahti Bte Mohammad Miharja and Mimi Kirk
In a closed-door session last week, Consul General of Singapore in Dubai Umej Singh Bhatia visited MEI to discuss a variety of issues regarding the impact of the Arab uprisings on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. Topics covered included differences between Arab republics and monarchies, the GCC [...]
By Linda Matar
Download Insight 58 Matar HERE
Macroeconomic policies adopted during Bashar al-Asad’s regime have had serious socioeconomic consequences for the Syrian population. So detrimental to citizens’ everyday lives were these policies that they helped bring about the Syrian uprising now at play. The purpose of this essay is to shed light on the social and [...]
