Ali Hijazi

A political scientist and Senior Researcher at the Politics and Society Institute, specializing in comparative politics, security, and identities in the Middle East. His work bridges academic research, fieldwork, and policy analysis, with a particular focus on subnational identities and national security. Regionally, his expertise spans the Levant and the Arab Gulf States, where he is committed to producing evidence-based knowledge that informs policy and empowers vulnerable communities. He earned his Ph.D. in International Relations, with a concentration in Middle Eastern Studies, from the Social Sciences University of Ankara. He also holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of Jordan. Professionally, he has worked with the National Center for Human Rights in Jordan and held research affiliations with institutions including Columbia University. His scholarship contributes to national and international debates on regional security, identity dynamics, and governance in postcolonial contexts.
Article

Intelligence and the Construction of Influence in the Middle East: The Turkish Experience

Introduction: Why Has Intelligence Become an Instrument of Regional Power? The Middle East is no longer governed, as it was during the twentieth century, solely through the balance of conventional armies, the size of military arsenals, or formal diplomatic alliances. The deeper transformation witnessed across the region over the past two decades lies in the shift of the center of…

Read More »
Uncategorized

Iran Under the Supreme Leader’s Cloak: Who Controls the Decision Between War, Negotiation, and Succession?

What is actually advancing is a more disciplined style of decision-making organized around one overriding objective: protecting the regime. If that objective requires hardline policies, the system will produce hardline policies. If it requires negotiations, the system will produce negotiations. The overlap of authorities functions as a mechanism of survival rather than a sign of weakness. Ghalibaf’s importance lies in…

Read More »
Slide 1

Beyond the Supreme Leader: Reshaping Iran’s Domestic Order and the Balance of Power in the Middle East

The hypothetical absence of Iran’s Supreme Leader can be understood as a potentially pivotal moment, though not necessarily as an automatic collapse of the regional balance of power. Since the 1979 revolution, the Iranian political system has not been constructed around a single individual; rather, it rests on a complex institutional–security–ideological architecture in which power is distributed among the religious…

Read More »
Article

The Architecture of Turkey’s Domestic Politics: The People’s Alliance, State Mechanisms, and the Question of Political Tenure toward 2028

The appointment of former Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akin Gürlek as Minister of Justice carries deep political implications, given his association with sensitive judicial files related to the opposition. The Turkish opposition interpreted the move as a politicization of the judiciary, while international analyses linked it to the redeployment of legal instruments in managing political conflict. The simultaneous change in…

Read More »
Commentaries

Ankara at a Critical Juncture: How Is It Viewed from Jordan?

The security architecture of the Middle East has, for several years, been undergoing profound and overlapping transformations that have reshaped the contours of the regional environment. The expansion of fragile states, the continuation of Israeli military operations and their repercussions for regional stability, coupled with the decline of U.S. engagement and the erosion of the effectiveness of the “security umbrella”…

Read More »
Slide 1

What If No One Is Any Longer Able to Intervene in the West Bank?

The Policy and Society Institute has issued a new situation assessment paper entitled:“The Risk of Deteriorating Strategic Conditions in the West Bank: Intersections of Israeli Elections, Emerging Palestinian Leadership, and the Requirements of the Jordanian Response,”prepared by Dr. Ali Hijazi, Director of the Research and Studies Department at the Institute. The paper warns that the West Bank is undergoing a…

Read More »
Studies and Researches

The East Between “Clash of Civilizations, Orientalism, and Post-Islamism”: How the Major Questions Are Shifting in an Unstable World

Introduction In the third decade of the twenty-first century, the world is undergoing a profound transitional moment that extends well beyond familiar geopolitical shifts. Alongside the rise of Asian powers, the erosion of Western centrality, and the intensification of transnational crises, there has emerged a broad wave of identity redefinition, the politicization of cultural belonging, and a renewed prominence of…

Read More »
International Policies

From Khan to Mamdani: The Leadership of Major Cities Amid the Decline of the State

Today, major cities are undergoing a phase of redefining their political, economic, and cultural roles. They are no longer merely urban spaces for residence and work but have become centers of decision-making and influence on global issues such as climate change, migration, equality, and sustainable development. As the nation-state’s capacity to monopolize representative authority shrinks, the city rises as an…

Read More »
Jordanian Policies

The Jordanian Throne: Between Risk Management and the Consolidation of Legitimacy in a Turbulent Regional Context

His Majesty King Abdullah II’s Throne Speech comes at a politically delicate moment—both domestically and regionally—where internal Jordanian transformations intersect with a region in turmoil. At a time when political and economic reform challenges intensify amid growing social and livelihood pressures, the speech transcends its formal constitutional role of inaugurating a parliamentary session. It becomes instead a mirror of the…

Read More »
Commentaries

The United States and the Reality of Alliances: A Reading in the Discourse of Hegemony and Dependency

The United States is no longer an alliance-based state foreign policy, but one that operates by virtue of a network of transient instruments employed in a bid to achieve its objectives, and jettisoned once obsolete. Washington, as expressed in the political and media discourse from certain corners, does not see its allies as “allies,” but as “means” to construct its…

Read More »
Back to top button