Near East Policy Forum

  • Are the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea a Solidarity Campaign or a Ruse?  – or is not the Right Question

    Recently, there has been a surge of interest in Yemen following the Houthi military campaign attacking ships traversing the Red Sea. But why and how have their campaigns increased the groups popularity both regionally and beyond?

    Kamilia Al-Eriani

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    Bulk carrier traversing the Red Sea
  • Qatar-UAE as rivals in the Horn of Africa

    Qatar-UAE as rivals in the Horn of Africa

    One effect of the rift between Qatar and its GCC neighbours Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE has been the exportation of this division since 2017. Emirati and Saudi allies Eritrea, Comoros, Mauritania, and Senegal in the Red Sea severed diplomatic ties with Qatar at the beginning of the crisis, and cross-regional divisions only became…

    Courtney Freer, London School of Economics

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  • Security as strategy? Israeli Arab Gulf states alignment

    Security as strategy? Israeli Arab Gulf states alignment

    A few months after the Abraham accords were signed between Israel, Bahrain and the UAE, the Pentagon announced the transfer of command oversight of Israel from the US European Command (EUCOM) to its key military command outpost in the Gulf, CENTCOM. While the transition may be seen to pave the way for an overt regional…

    Nasser Khdour

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  • Uzbekistan’s economic challenges under President Mirziyoyev

    Uzbekistan’s economic challenges under President Mirziyoyev

    For 25 years after independence in 1991, Uzbekistan was ruled by the former First Secretary of the Uzbek Soviet Republic, Islam Karimov. Karimov’s rule was characterized by ruthless political leadership and gradual economic reform. While some commentators lauded the economic achievements under Karimov, a more common view was that the economy had underperformed in improving…

    Richard Pomfret, University of Adelaide

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  • Third restart? Kyrgyzstan’s latest ‘revolution’

    Third restart? Kyrgyzstan’s latest ‘revolution’

    Protesting parties were a diverse crowd, from the liberal Reforma, to the market-liberal BirBol, the liberal-socialist Ata-Meken, the conservative Mekenchil, the radical Chon Kazat, the religious Yiman Nuru, and others in between. The ideological leanings of Kyrgyz political parties tend to be mostly declarative and matters of convenience than of conviction, but still, their general…

    Emilbek Dzhuraev, Kyrgyzstan

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  • Iran in a Shifting US Foreign Policy

    Iran in a Shifting US Foreign Policy

    Following Biden’s election as President of the United States, many officials who served under the Obama administration returned to senior positions. With them, they brought familiar approaches to the same pressing issues which continue to plague the Middle East. Iran sees this as a golden opportunity for rapprochement with the U.S, but on its own…

    Bassam Barabandi

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