Most articles and op-eds published recently on the recent Israeli election deal with the election results, the changing balance of power in Israel, and the diminishing support for Prime Minister Netanyahu. Peri presents an analysis of the deeper political changes, social trends, and cultural transformations that have long-term significance for Israeli society and politics. These include the emergence of a new, “fourth generation” of political leaders; the generational upheaval in the Israeli electorate; and the “religionization” of Israeli collective identity. Peri examines the implications of these trends for Israeli policies concerning the Middle East conflict.

Ambassador Mahmoud Karem analyzes the challenges before the Egyptian revolution, discusses how to build consensus in a polarized environment, and lists a few policy objectives for Egypt and the United States.

The most famous terrorist group in modern American history was the Weatherman Underground, later called the Weather Underground Organization. An outgrowth of Students for a Democratic Society, Weather was active in 1969 through the 1970s. Arthur Eckstein will argue that this is misleading and that the true history of Weather is much grimmer and more ambiguous.

While there has been much research on the effect of valuable natural resource extraction on a state’s domestic development (e.g., the “resource curse”), Wilson Center Fellow Jeff Colgan focuses on how natural resource extraction affects foreign policy. In 'Petro-Aggression: When Oil Causes War,' Colgan finds that “petrostates” – countries where revenue from oil exports exceeds 10 percent of GDP – are twice as likely to engage in inter-state conflict than non-petrostates.