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Interviews

Iran & Region: Salvaging Iraq

Jan. 26, 2015
Alireza Nader, a senior international policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, discussed Iran's role in the Iraq conflict.
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Iran & Region: Goals in Syria

Jan. 26, 2015
Alireza Nader, a senior international policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, discussed Iran's goals and activities in Syria.
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Ghannouchi: Islamists Lack Support to Rule

Jan. 20, 2015
Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi, co-founder of Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda movement, said Islamists have lost some of their appeal in the Middle East.
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Jebali: Don't Let Tunisia Slip Back to Despotism

Jan. 20, 2015
Hamadi Jebali, former secretary general of Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda party, said Islamists’ mismanagement of the political transition led to the party’s losses in the 2014 elections.
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Ghannouchi: Middle East at Crossroads

Sept. 29, 2014
On September 29, Sheikh Rachid al Ghannouchi argued that the Middle East is at a crossroads rather than in a crisis. On one hand, the region is experiencing a rise in extremism and instability, but it is also moving “towards democracy, development and progress,” he said at the United States Institute of Peace.
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Islamists Struggle to Match Religious Values to Politics

May. 28, 2014
Mainstream Islamist movements across the Arab world have struggled to close the gap — or, really, even define the gap — between religious ideals and the mundane realities of everyday politics.
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Ghannouchi: Tunisia’s New Political Order

Feb. 26, 2014
On February 24, Sheikh Rachid al Ghannouchi outlined how Tunisia avoided a political crisis and drafted a constitution despite tension between Islamists and secularists. “In Tunisia, we are learning how to live together and deal with conflicts between secularists and Islamists,” he said at meeting at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
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Ominous Divide: Shiite Iran vs the Sunni Gulf

Feb. 18, 2014
Sectarian tensions have become a major part of political life in the Gulf Arab states, particularly in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait. Shiites in each state suffer varying degrees of religious discrimination and political marginalization. Tensions are typically portrayed as a spillover effect of sectarian strife elsewhere in the region or Iran’s deliberate incitement of local Shiite communities. But they are only part of the story.
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Tunisia’s Islamists I: Ennahda Withdraws

Dec. 18, 2013
Tunisia’s Islamists are the first to step aside voluntarily after being elected. But they are also more divided today than ever before. The challenges of being in government rather than trying to topple it have driven sharp new wedges into old cracks within the Ennahda Party.
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Tunisia’s Islamists II: The Salafis

Dec. 18, 2013
Salafis today influence Tunisian politics in multiple ways. While the number of militant Salafis remains modest, their activism influences the way in which Tunisians and outside observers think about the state of affairs in the country. Generally speaking, violence has not been a common political tool in Tunisia. But the steady escalation in Salafi militancy over the past two years undermines this reputation.
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The Military vs. the Islamists

Nov. 04, 2013
Political Islam in Egypt has suffered a tremendous blow, its biggest setback since its emergence as a formidable ideology and political movement in the early 20th century. But it is not yet clear if other Islamist groups, particularly Salafi groups such as the Nour Party, are in or have benefited from the Brotherhood’s declining fortunes.
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Dalia Ziada on Egypt’s Turmoil

Sept. 04, 2013
Dalia Ziada is an award-winning human rights activist and the executive director of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies in Cairo, Egypt. She analyzed the ouster of the Islamists in the following interview.
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The Marriage and Divorce of Hamas and Hezbollah

Aug. 26, 2013
Hamas and Hezbollah have had a dramatic break-up after the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011. Part of the break-up is due to sectarian differences; another part is due to rival regional alliances. For the wider Middle East, the Hamas-Hezbollah split is a dangerous microcosm of a growing trend.
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Scorecard: Islamist Successes and Failures

Jun. 25, 2013
Islamists have won unprecedented political power In the Middle East since the 2011 uprisings, notably in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi marks his first year in office on June 30, 2013. Nathan Brown analyzes the Islamist scorecard. “Despite electoral victories, Islamists have not yet figured out how to wield political power,” he concludes.
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Tunisia's Jebali on Traumas of Transition

June 19, 2013
Hamadi Jebali was Tunisia’s first prime minister after the 2011 Jasmine Revolution. Often compared to Nelson Mandela, he spent 17 years in prison for his involvement with the Islamist Ennahda movement. Jebali reflects on post-revolution achievements and failures and future challenges in two interviews and a public appearance.
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Ghannouchi: Islamists now taking on Islamists

May. 30, 2013
Sheikh Rachid al Ghannouchi spoke candidly about the new crackdown on Salafi extremists and other challenges Tunisia faces two years after the Jasmine Revolution. "We have to fight against this phenomenon [of extremist violence] through economic development, through the media," Ghannouchi said in Washington.
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Qatar Bets on Islamists

Feb. 07, 2013
Qatar has seized the opportunity of the Arab uprisings to expand its influence across the region. It moved into the vacuum after the revolutions caught the United States and other major powers by surprise. Despite its small size, it now aspires to a play a leading role in Arab politics.
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Iran-Egypt: Prospects of a New Alliance?

Jan. 11, 2013
After 32 years without diplomatic relations, Egypt and Iran have initiated a dialogue since the Muslim Brotherhood has risen to power. But the Islamic Republic and the Brotherhood are not natural allies. The Brotherhood is a mainstream Sunni Islamist group that is more aligned to other Arab states in the Gulf than to Iran.
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Tunisia: Interview with Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi

Nov 2, 2012
Tunisia -- Robin Wright interviewed Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi, the leader of Ennahda Party, on the first anniversary of Tunisia’s first democratic elections. Ghannouchi reflected on the new Islamist spectrum, especially concern about the growing Salafi factor.
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New Era of Relations Between Egypt and Saudi Arabia?

Jul. 12, 2012
Newly elected Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi travelled to Saudi Arabia on July 11. In this exclusive interview, Senior Scholar David Ottaway explains the significance of this trip.
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Profile of Egypt’s New President Mohamed Morsi

Jun. 26, 2012
Who is Mohamed Morsi? Mohamed Morsi Issa el Ayat is a former chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and a long-time leader in the Muslim Brotherhood. He is a trained engineer educated at the University of Southern California.
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