Research Library

This brief explores how a quirk in the measurement of women’s labor force participation and the demographic peculiarities of the Persian Gulf have resulted in the significant undercounting of female citizen labor in the Gulf Cooperation Council. I

Nonresident fellow Valentine Moghadam argues that women’s legal status, social positions, and collective action prior to the Arab Spring helped shape the nature of the 2011 mass protests as well as the political and social outcomes of individual countries.

Instability in the Middle East will continue without pluralistic political systems that include opposition voices, women and ethnic minorities in the decision-making process. The continual marginalization of these groups will lead to heightened levels of popular discontent and even violence.

The incoming president will have to rebuild ties of trust with ruling elites in the Persian Gulf states shaken by U.S. policy toward the Arab uprisings in 2011, the civil war in Syria, and the nuclear negotiations with Iran, writes fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen.

A multi-pronged policy that engages both secular and nonviolent Islamist parties may produce a foreign policy agenda that more successfully advances short- and long-term U.S. objectives in the Middle East, writes research scholar A.Kadir Yildirim.

Despite many differences, the United States and Saudi Arabia maintain important mutual interests. Fellow Jim Krane explains why rebuilding ties with Saudi Arabia could incentivize the kingdom to place more importance on U.S. goals.

This paper discusses the shortcomings of the narrow Egypt and Saudi Arabia Visions 2030 and argues for a comprehensive framework for regional economic integration, wherein each country’s vision is harmonized with those of its neighbors.

A successful coup in Turkey would have further complicated U.S. foreign policy toward the country, fellow Joe Barnes writes in a new post for the Baker Institute Blog.

Research analyst Ariana Marnicio explores whether gender-segregated transportation in the Middle East protects women’s rights and presence in the public sphere, or serves to deepen gender divides.

This paper examines the progress of energy subsidy reforms in the Persian Gulf, documenting policy changes in all six monarchies and briefly examining the role of energy and the state.