Middle East Dossier

For decades, diplomats have pursued a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian, and Israeli-Arab conflicts. Unfortunately, many have incorrectly believed that peace with Israel and the wider region could only come after a negotiated settlement was reached between Israel and the Palestinians. The Abraham Accords, negotiated by Jared Kushner and Avi Berkowitz, have shattered this myth, reshaped the pol...

The new book from Frédéric Grare and Jean-Loup Samaan analyses the emergence of the Indian Ocean as a strategic space of central importance. For a long time, the Indian Ocean was a “neglected ocean”, almost marginal compared to the global centres in the East and West. However, by the end of the 2000s, China’s global growth triggered new interest in the region. Although this was primarily driven by...

The agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore their diplomatic ties is a significant development with potential to which will reverberate throughout the Middle East region and beyond. The next few months will be crucial to determining if the deal lives up to its promise, and whether China’s role is a reflection of its new clout in the region. This webinar will examine the rationale of the...

The United Nations’ Women agency, in an explainer, stated categorically that the global climate crisis is not “gender neutral”, since women and girls experience the greatest impacts of this phenomenon, which in turn amplifies existing gender inequalities. Conversely, the findings by Project Drawdown, a non-profit organisation that researches on climate solutions, reveal that access to family plann...

Most violent jihadi movements in the twentieth century focused on removing corrupt, repressive secular regimes throughout the Muslim world. But following the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a new form of jihadism emerged – global jihad – turning to the international arena as the primary locus of ideology and action. With his new book published with Stanford University Press, Glenn E. Robinson...

Gulf stability is beginning to play a larger role in the foreign policy calculus of many states, but the evolving role of Asian powers is largely under-represented in the International Relations literature. To fill this gap, MEI will host a discussion with the editors and contributors of a new book that provides fresh perspectives on the topic. The underlying assumption is not that Asian powers ha...

The Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore, in coordination with Wardah Books, invites you to join Dr Hisham A. Hellyer, a scholar in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (USA), Dr Suzaina Kadir, Vice Dean and Associate Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS and Mr Fazlur Rahman, a Muslim community leader for a discussion on...

As China deepens its engagement in the Middle East, the United States is relooking its posture in the region. These moves will impact ties between Washington and its traditional partners. Join us as experts from the Washington Institute, dissect the issue.

China’s rise is changing the world. Much attention has been given to how China’s geo-economic vision is playing out in the global economy, or how its technology is reshaping the planet. Yet, it is over its western borders, in Central Asia, that China’s influence has been quietly expanding in a more pervasive way. It is here that you can find the first strand of Xi Jinping’s grand Belt and Road Ini...

The 27th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take place in Egypt from 6 to 18 November 2022. The location in Egypt, part of a wider Middle East region vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, offers a better opportunity to reflect regional concerns, challenges, and diverse national circumstances. This public discussion aims...

Throughout history, the Middle East has been locked in engagements with the West through crusades, wars, colonialism and terrorism. However, beyond the clichés and convenient facades lie many lesser known facets from economic transformation to climate change. This lecture series will give you a comprehensive overview of the region and its impacts on Singapore and the world.

In the past, media and think-tanks have published numerous reports and papers on the social transformations happening in the Arabian Peninsula, and, more specifically, inside Saudi Arabia. However, this analysis too often focused on the changes brought about from the top, via government initiatives like the emblematic Saudi Vision 2030. The newly-published book, Charity in Saudi Arabia, takes the...

Throughout history, the Middle East has been locked in engagements with the West through crusades, wars, colonialism and terrorism. However, beyond the clichés and convenient facades lie many lesser known facets from economic transformation to climate change. This lecture series will give you a comprehensive overview of the region and its impacts on Singapore and the world.

Throughout history, the Middle East has been locked in engagements with the West through crusades, wars, colonialism and terrorism. However, beyond the clichés and convenient facades lie many lesser known facets from economic transformation to climate change. This lecture series will give you a comprehensive overview of the region and its impacts on Singapore and the world.

Throughout history, the Middle East has been locked in engagements with the West through crusades, wars, colonialism and terrorism. However, beyond the clichés and convenient facades lie many lesser known facets from economic transformation to climate change. This lecture series will give you a comprehensive overview of the region and its impacts on Singapore and the world.

Throughout history, the Middle East has been locked in engagements with the West through crusades, wars, colonialism and terrorism. However, beyond the clichés and convenient facades lie many lesser known facets from economic transformation to climate change. This lecture series will give you a comprehensive overview of the region and its impacts on Singapore and the world.

Throughout history, the Middle East has been locked in engagements with the West through crusades, wars, colonialism and terrorism. However, beyond the clichés and convenient facades lie many lesser known facets from economic transformation to climate change. This lecture series will give you a comprehensive overview of the region and its impacts on Singapore and the world.

Concerns about food global food supplies have been exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine crisis, compelling states across the Middle East and North Africa to revisit their food security policies. The UAE, for one, announced its “National Food Strategy 2051” in 2018, and has since acquired substantial agricultural and food production assets from Latin America to South Asia. It also aims to become a maj...

Throughout history, the Middle East has been locked in engagements with the West through crusades, wars, colonialism and terrorism. However, beyond the clichés and convenient facades lie many lesser known facets from economic transformation to climate change. This lecture series will give you a comprehensive overview of the region and its impacts on Singapore and the world.  

Dr. Marc Owen Jones discusses digital authoritarianism, the recent developments in technology and tactics of repression in the Middle East. This podcast series is presented by Dr Alessandro Arduino, Principal Research Fellow at the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore.

Throughout history, the Middle East has been locked in engagements with the West through crusades, wars, colonialism and terrorism. However, beyond the clichés and convenient facades lie many lesser known facets from economic transformation to climate change. This lecture series will give you a comprehensive overview of the region and its impacts on Singapore and the world.  

Towards the end of 2021, the late President of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed approved an extensive list of legal reforms. New laws and updated legislation span the business, labour, family, personal status, crime, intellectual property and e-commerce sectors. Of note is a new law permitting investors and entrepreneurs to completely own onshore companies in all sectors – a significant departure...

Disinformation can lead to indoctrination, which can in turn lead to incitement. The Arab world has been a victim of violence incited by an information disorder. Who wields the “stick” of (dis)information? Social media and digital technology, which helped fuel the Arab Spring, is now being used as a tool of counter-revolutionary repression to protect the authoritarian status quo across the MENA re...

Mr Roy Zur, retired major from the Israeli Defence Force – Unit 8200 – discusses the future of cyber warfare and cyber intelligence. This podcast series is presented by Dr Alessandro Arduino, Principal Research Fellow at the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore.

Since the introduction of a quota system for the Muslim pilgrimage in 1988, calls for increased hajj quotas by different countries have been ceaseless. Annually, administrative arrangements, including the deployment of speedy transportation, have been constantly revisited and improved. Technology, particularly the mobile phone, has not only brought ease, and more pilgrims, to the hajj, but has als...