Middle East & North Africa

This Handbook offers a comprehensive overview of the latest research from leading scholars on the international political economy of energy and resources. Highlighting the important conceptual and empirical themes, the chapters study all levels of governance, from global to local, and explore the wide range of issues emerging in a changing political and economic environment.

The Right Honourable Douglas Alexander offered his views on European security in a discussion moderated by FDP Executive Director Cathryn Cluver.

Putin and his government seek respect, stability from next U.S. administration, panel says.

In the global revulsion at the recent terror attacks in four Muslim countries, the United States and its allies have a new opportunity to build a unified command against the Islamic State and other extremists. FDP Senior Fellow David Ignatius examines the diplomatic relationships needed to create an effective counterterrorism strategy.

Many energy consumers, and even analysts and policymakers, confront and frame energy and climate risks in a moral vacuum, rarely incorporating broader social justice concerns. Here, to remedy this gap, we investigate how concepts from justice and ethics can inform energy decision-making by reframing five energy problems — nuclear waste, involuntary resettlement, energy pollution, energy poverty and climate change — as pressing justice concerns.

"If Europe genuinely supports a two-state solution — and I believe it does — then Europe can individually and collectively affirm that by recognizing the “state of Palestine,” even though the Palestinians do not enjoy full control of the territory of their anticipated state in the Israeli-occupied or -besieged West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Highlighting formal recognition of a Palestinian state and then activating that status through issues like recognizing passports, trade accords and other means will hasten the day when a majority of Israelis comes to its senses and lives peacefully with the Palestinians in contiguous states. "

"That the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, could, along with John Kerry, help sponsor the Geneva II Conference, which was held on the basis of a transition to regime change, and then refuse at the conference itself to even nudge the Syrian government delegates along this line, proves once again that Russia is less of a partner than an adversary."

The Syrian opposition took a big step forward this month by forming a broad political coalition that includes local activists who started the revolution. But the opposition’s military command is still a mess, and until it’s fixed, jihadist extremists will keep getting more powerful.