Social and Political Change

Analyzing social and political trends throughout the region

For more than a decade, calls for social and political change have ricocheted throughout the region. Governments have responded, and their citizens have responded as well. The consequences of the resultant alliances and struggles affect events in individual countries, inspire regional observers, and help shape how governments engage regionally and globally. The Middle East Program tracks social and political trends on a national and regional level to better understand where the region is heading over the next few decades and where it came from.

Featured Analysis

Getting the Pandemic Completely Wrong

Commentary by Jon B. Alterman — January 12, 2022

Monica Marks: Tunisia’s Popular Authoritarian

Podcast Episode by Jon B. Alterman , Will Todman , and Caleb Harper — September 21, 2021

Ties that Bind: Family, Tribe, Nation, and the Rise of Arab Individualism

The Arab world is experiencing a revolution. States have relied on pyramids of authority that reach down through society, often through tribes into families. Yet those ties are fraying, and individualism is rising.

Report by Jon B. Alterman — December 2, 2019

A Coup in Tunisia?

Critical Questions by Will Todman — July 27, 2021

Bessma Momani: Jordan’s Royal Intrigue

Podcast Episode by Jon B. Alterman , Natasha Hall , and Daniel Sharp

Citizens in Training: Conscription and Nation-building in the United Arab Emirates

Report by Jon B. Alterman and Margo Balboni

Photo: MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP/Getty Images

The Middle East Transition We Need to Talk About

Commentary by Jon B. Alterman

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A Conversation with H.E. Hoshyar Zebari

Please join the CSIS Middle East Program for a conversation on the unfolding political situation in Iraq, Erbil-Baghdad relations, and the security situation in Iraqi Kurdistan with H.E. Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's minister of foreign affairs from 2003 to 2014.

Event by Jon B. Alterman and H.E. Hoshyar Zebari — September 28, 2022

Photo Credits: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images

The Middle East Transition We Need to Talk About

Dr. Jon B. Alterman calls attention to a transition in the Middle East that receives little attention, and how the United States can help regional states approach the looming changes to the benefit of U.S. strategic interests.

Commentary by Jon B. Alterman — July 21, 2022

Rethinking Saudi Arabia

Dr. Jon Alterman discusses progress and setbacks in Saudi Arabia's sociopolitical reform efforts and what these mean for U.S. engagement (or disengagement) with the kingdom in the future.

Commentary by Jon B. Alterman — June 23, 2022