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  At first glance, Samir Al-Rifai’s resignation letter (from the Sente Council) appears to be a conventional text within the traditions of the Jordanian state: a language of loyalty, a discourse of gratitude, references to the Hashemite leadership, and a courteous request for the acceptance of his resignation from the Senate. Yet a deeper reading suggests hidden layers and meanings…

The Economist recently paused to examine Jean-Luc Mélenchon, one of France’s most prominent left-wing politicians, as a political phenomenon worthy of attention. The question the magazine raised was not merely about his place in French politics, but about what his rise reveals: how has a radical left-wing politician in his seventies become one of the most successful figures in attracting…

Hamas’s current elections are not merely a process of leadership replacement; they constitute a test of the movement’s ability to survive and reconstruct itself in the aftermath of the losses incurred since October 7. The internal competition within Hamas revolves around two principal approaches: one centered on resistance, alignment with Iran, and close ties to the military wing; and another…

After the wave of political reforms that Jordan witnessed in recent years, expectations related to the role of youth in public life have risen, especially with the official tendency toward restructuring the model of political and parliamentary work and strengthening the presence of young segments within the public sphere. The outputs of the Royal Committee for Modernizing the Political System…

The outbreak of the 2026 US–Iran war has once again placed the transatlantic alliance under pressure, but unlike previous crises, its significance lies less in the immediate military implications and more in what it reveals about the internal dynamics of NATO. While the alliance has historically demonstrated resilience in the face of external threats, this conflict has exposed a deeper…

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…

The historic turning point Hezbollah is experiencing today extends far beyond the scene of its ongoing, intermittent war with Israel, which has continued for nearly three years (with the exception of the ceasefire period and temporary truce, which was never a full truce but rather closer to de-escalation, particularly from the Israeli side). Another challenge, no less significant or dangerous…

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…

In parallel with the ongoing war and the current phase of negotiations between the United States and Iran—and the debates and “day after” scenarios that follow—there are negotiations of no lesser importance and powerful dynamics taking shape in the region, but on a different front: the economic one. In particular, large-scale economic projects and the logistics networks they entail have…

Amid the sweeping transformations reshaping the Arab East, a central question emerges: where does political Islam stand within these changes, how is it interacting with them, and how are they, in turn, reshaping it? This is the question that the recently published volume “Islamists After October 7: Questions of Identity and Destiny” (issued by the Politics and Society Institute and…