Iraq was pushed to the brink of civil war in August following a series of tit-for-tat exchanges between Muqtada al-Sadr—head of Iraq’s most powerful socio-political movement (the Sadrist movement) and one of the country’s most powerful militia groups (Saraya Salam)—and a coalition of Iran-aligned parties and militias known as the Shiite Coordination Framework.
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In early 2019, the hirak, a nationwide peaceful movement, called for the removal of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
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The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has undergone many Track II initiatives, with the aim of resolving, or at least alleviating, conflict.
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Mirroring region-wide trends, Turkey has adopted a policy of bridge-building across the Middle East in recent years.
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These challenges represent long-term trends that can be anticipated but cannot easily be avoided. Countries can only prepare for them.
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It is possible for countries that performed well to reap benefits in terms of increased citizen trust in government
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Iraq is the world’s fifth-most vulnerable nation to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity.1 But it is a threat that is inter-connected with a host of other challenges, creating a potential multiplier effect that could amplify socio-economic challenges, result in the proliferation of armed groups and create geopolitical flare-ups that have… Continue reading Iraq’s Climate Crisis: A Geopolitical Conflagration in the Making
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