Author: Marwan Muasher

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Amphitheatre in Amman, Jordan (image: picture-alliance/M. Schmidt)

Rentier system and security policy

Jordan’s profound economic crisis

Excessive reliance on rentier economics and foreign aid is bringing Jordan to its knees, argues Marwan MuasherMore

The Levant: Jordan's fragile stabilityOne hundred years of Jordan: "A land for all Arabs" turned Middle East anchor of stability The Middle East's "Axis of Failure": Arab autocrats – ruining their own statesMiddle East and North Africa: The next Arab Spring will come
A man holds up a sign that reads "Democracy betrayed" at protests against Tunisian President Kais Saied, Tunis, February 13, 2022 (photo: Hassene Dridi/AP Photo/picture alliance)

Middle East and North Africa

The next Arab Spring will come

Where are the measures to deal with the looming challenges facing the Arab world? In this commentary, Marwan Muasher warns that the region is in grave danger of falling behind when it comes to human developmentMore

COVID-19, COP27 and World Cup 2022: Crisis management in the Arab worldMiddle East: A new Arab Spring, thanks to the Ukraine war?Interview with Asef Bayat: Examining the Arab Spring revolutions from within Arab Spring 2.0: The Middle East's fearless protestersMilitary coup in Sudan: Is the Arab Spring about to die in Khartoum?
Jordan's royal males: King Abdullah II, Prince Hassan bin Talal and Prince Hamzah (photo: AFP/Jordanian Royal Palace)

Middle East: Empowering women

Reform Jordan for full female equality

How can we expect Jordanian women to participate fully in political life if they know that they don’t enjoy the same legal status as their male counterparts, or the constitutional protections that allow them to play an equal role in building the state? By Marwan MuasherMore

Women's rights in Jordan: The women of Dar AmnehProtecting women from violence in Jordan: For a self-determined life Women′s rights in the Arab world: No house room for criminalsProtests in Jordan: "The status quo has to go"
Joe Biden and Palastinian President Mahmoud Abbas (photo: Debbie Hill/AP Photo/picture alliance)

U.S. foreign policy in the Arab world

Joe Biden and the Middle East – bid farewell to Trumpism

Recognising the shifting geopolitical priorities facing America and the Arab states, analyst Marwan Muasher cites three areas in which U.S. President-incumbent Joe Biden's Middle East policy is likely to differ from that of his predecessor Donald TrumpMore

Arab reactions to the U.S. presidential election: "The world needs a break from the Trump era!"U.S. elections and the Middle East: Arab dictators hold their breath at Trump's possible exitU.S. foreign policy in the Middle East: Slave to the Trumpian impulse
A student protester holds up a placard outside the Lebanese Ministry of Education in Beirut on 7 November 2019 (photo: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Malla)

Mass protests in Sudan, Algeria, Lebanon and Iraq

Is this the Arab Spring 2.0?

Nearly a decade after the Arab Spring fizzled out, a new wave of protests has swept across the Middle East and North Africa. What is different this time – and will the protesters get what they want? By Marwan MuasherMore

Unrest in the Arab world: The genie is out of the bottleThe Arab Spring and the "Spring of Nations": Failed revolutionaries?Authoritarian reinstatement in the Arab world: Whatʹs left of the Arab Spring
Arab Spring protesters

Arab Spring five years on

Brave new world?

While the West focuses on IS or Iran′s destructive role in the Middle East, most Arabs are simply trying to improve their lives. What they lack is the reassurance of good governance. By Marwan MuasherMore

Five years of Arab Spring: The butterfly effectThe Egyptian Revolution five years on: Ghosts of the uprising Political rule before and after the ″Arabellion″: Internal colonialism and counter-revolution