The Political Contours of the Middle East and North Africa

Some eight years after what came to be known in Israel as the regional “upheaval,” and elsewhere as “the Arab Spring,” Brig. Gen. (ret.) Itai Brun and Dr. Sarah Feuer sit down to discuss the political contours of the Middle East and North Africa today. Drawing on a recent article written with INSS Neubauer research associate Itay Haiminis, they offer a framework of competing hypotheses for understanding the current state of affairs across the region, and demonstrate the framework’s utility in assessing unfolding developments in Libya and Algeria. They close with a discussion of the policy dilemmas and choices Israel has confronted in light of the region’s unrest.