Research Papers
Number:
Author:
Faris Al-Sulayman
Research Fellow
The first half of 2017 has seen Saudi Arabia take substantive steps in the renewable energy space, as the newly formed Ministry of Energy, Industry, and Mineral Resources aims to fulfill the goals set in Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program 2020, a broad blueprint for the Saudi economy, and the more detailed interim plan. Underlying these goals is the aim of transforming the Saudi economy from a centralized, oil-based economy to a model that is more diversified and reliant on private-sector growth.
Number: 34
Author:
The recent ratcheting up of tension between the Trump administration and the Islamic Republic has cast the spotlight once again on the regional activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the controversial elite body that handles most of Iran’s regional Middle Eastern policy. Caught on the defensive after the substantial failure of candidates considered to be allied, or very close to it, in the May 2017 presidential elections in Iran, such as Ebrahim Raisi and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the IRGC has also been hit by an increasing offensive coordinated by the president, Hassan Rouhani, against its sprawling domestic economic empire. Y
Number:
Author:
This report attempts to examine Moroccan elections held in 2016 where the Justice and Development Party (JDP) took the lead. This win, though, did not give the party the power to form a new government by itself and was forced to seek help from other party/parties. Moroccan parties were very versatile in hampering JDP’s attempts to form a new government, wasting 5 months of effort from Abdullah Bin Kiran and forcing the Monarchy institution to call on another person from the party (Saadeddine Othmani) who was able to form a government in 15 days. What did Othmani achieve and Bin Kiran fail in?; What were the alliances forged?; What are its effects on the political future of
Number:
Author:
Mohammed Aldujayn
Iraqi Kurdistan’s referendum on Monday, September 25, 2017, which resulted in more than 90% of the votes in support of independence from Iraq, has triggered an international debate among Kurdistan’s neighbors. Turkey views this ongoing independence referendum with many doubts, and it has condemned the vote process as illegal and the referendum itself as threatening to regional security and a unified Iraq. In addition, nations other than Turkey are also concerned. In particular, Iraq and Iran share the same attitudes regarding what has been going on in the de facto capital of Erbil.
(Continued
Number:
Author:
Hasan Radi
This study begins with a quick overview of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, its emergence, its political, military, security and economic objectives that were behind its establishment. The study then moves on to view the Guard’s economic activity and the economic aspects it controls in Iran through the creation of its own companies, or the takeover of existing companies with established economic activities. This tactic, in turn, enabled the Revolutionary Guard to gain complete control of Iran’s security and economic policies. The author shows – through statistical data, tables
Number:
Author:
Ridwan Al-Seyyed
The term “Politics” gained prominence in the Islamic way of life – in the context of the arts and means of managing city and state – in the mid 13th century Hijri / 9th century AD. This was during the times of Islamic philosophers such as Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi – who gave much attention to the term, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd alongside philosophers in 4th century Hijri / 10th AD, known as Ikhwan al-Safa' (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity). As for jurisprudents of the four doctrines in Islam, the term “Politics” carried many interpretatio
Number: 33
Author:
On July 21, 2017, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters initiated an assault across the Qalamoun Mountains near Arsal in northern Lebanon’s Baalbek-Hermel governorate. Soon joined by the Syrian air force, the offensive was aimed at rooting out pockets of entrenched fighters affiliated with the former Syrian al-Qaeda branch, Jabhat al-Nusra, which was relabeled in 2016 as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS).
Just one week after the onset of the operation, Hezbollah declared victory over the militants who were stranded in the contested Jroud Arsal region. As an immediate result, the belligerent parties struck a deal, which was mediated and confirmed by Lebanon’s Gener
Number:
Author:
Libya has recently been witnessing moves at the local, regional and international levels to find a national consensus and a vision for the future of the conflicting parties. This is in order to put the country on a solid political ground and to build stable institutions for a modern state after decades of tyranny and waste of wealth in a country that is rich in resources, distinguished by its strategic location at the regional level. Although the revolution that broke out in February 2011 was aimed at putting an end to the absolute authoritarianism of the former regime, it has so far failed to develop a road map that can achieve the
Number:
Author:
This research is concerned with the study and analysis of the relationship between the new virtual currency (Virtual Currency) - also called (Cryptocurrency encrypted currencies), characterized by great degrees of confidentiality, privacy and decentralization - and religious extremist groups that adopt violence as a means of action and expansion, and study indicators of the growing importance of these currencies in the trading, exchange and business transactions, as well as financing arms purchases and equipment used by those groups.
(English version of the research is currently not available)
Number:
Author:
Emine Enise Yakar & Sumeyra Yakar
This article focuses on the historically complex relations between the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) and the Turkish state. It asserts that the Diyanet, from its establishment in 1924 to the present time, has experienced transformation from a strictly state-controlled institution to a more autonomous one. This transformational process transpired, sometimes overtly and sometimes covertly, within the borders of the secular state. In exploring this process, the article analyzes the ways in which the institution’s position has gradually risen within the state’s constitution and how its religio