Research Library

Rapid urbanization and expansion of cities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has created new opportunities — along with environmental risks, lack of financial and natural resources, and social disparity. In a new issue brief, visiting research scholar Osamah Alsayegh explores how developing smart sustainable cities can bring social and economic benefits to the growing urban population.

Climate change, conflict, and displacement in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region present overlapping challenges to policymakers. This new joint report from the Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East and United States Institute of Peace examines four key components — natural resources, urban fragility, gendered impacts, and international financing — and makes specific recommendations to address these complex issues.

Hama's Oct. 7 attack on Israel threatens to undermine a key pillar of Saudi Arabia’s foreign and domestic agenda: the “de-risking” of the region, writes fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen.

Five key factors make the Biden administration’s attempts to expand the Abraham Accords in the Middle East likely to fail, writes nonresident fellow Omar Rahman. Instead, regional approaches like the restoration of Saudi-UAE diplomatic relations with Iran are now holding sway.

The Eastern Mediterranean could become a key source of gas for Europe. Can its potential translate into reality? Several major points emerged from our latest Middle East Energy Roundtable, a collaboration between the Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East and the Center for Energy Studies.

Do women experience displacement differently from men? In a compilation of briefs from the Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East, the contributing authors — who include scholars from Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Palestine, Tunisia, and Lebanon — explore the experiences of women migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in the context of the Middle East and North Africa.

This policy brief draws attention to the limited representation of independent Egyptian migrant women and discusses the likely factors behind the absence of women’s voices in the field. It also highlights the positive impacts that can stem from Egyptian women’s migration, including higher remittance flows and the empowerment of women in Egyptian society.