Social Change Will Be Tweeted—By a Select Few

By Nadine El Sayed / Summer 2022

While social media has had a drastic impact on social and political movements in the region, the dynamics of its algorithms and the financing models of the media still pose limitations on who is heard online

A Decade of Enlightenment

By Nabil Fahmy / Winter 2022

Editorial

African Podcasting: Challenges and Chances

By Josephine Karianjahi and Kim Fox / Summer 2021

While podcasting in Africa faces many challenges, including prohibitive data consumption costs and the digital divide, it offers the amplification of regional perspectives and audience expansion in return.

The Olympics and International Relations

By Nabil Fahmy / August 20, 2021

The Tokyo games illustrated how much the world is inter-connected. How and what can countries learn from the Olympic moment?

Egypt’s Wildest Women

By Pascale Ghazaleh /

A study of Egypt’s art, culture, and politics of the 20th century is incomplete without a look at the leading ladies of the interwar period.

More than a Monolith

By Ariana Bennett / Summer 2021

Home to 54 unique countries, ancient civilizations and cultures, Africa is much more than meets the world’s eye.

Regulating Change in Historic Cairo

By Amina Abdel-Halim / June 3, 2021

Renovation and conservation projects in Historic Cairo fall within a complex legal framework, which sometimes does more to hinder development than to promote it.

Doughnut Economics: Living in a Sustainable World

By Dania El Akkawi /

How humanity can transform from traditional growth-first economic policies to a 21st century vision centered around sustainable development.

The Rise of the United Arab Emirates

By Abdulkhaleq Abdulla / Spring 2021

By harnessing national confidence, proactively dealing with regional security concerns and exercising geopolitical cooperation, the UAE is positioning itself as a regional powerhouse.

The UAE Art Scene: Challenges and Opportunities

By Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi / Spring 2021

Sustainability and longevity of a thriving cultural sector in the Gulf must be treated as a priority, which is why long-term planning is essential in order to ensure the ability of the art field to meet with both current and future challenges.

The Normalization of Antidemocratic Extremism in the United States

By Risa Kitagawa / May 4, 2021

To dissect the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol requires an understanding of the language of American political violence.

Non-Western Theater Elevates Local Culture

By Ibrahim Elzayat and Omar Auf /

Theater Professor Jillian Campana discusses the richness of local theater traditions and the ways in which they can engage Western-dominated theater.

Theater Spotlights Social Trauma and Sexual Harassment

By Ibrahim Elzayat and Omar Auf / Winter 2021

How theater can be used to generate community dialogue and set the stage for social change.

Funding Feminism: Grantmaking for Women’s Rights

By Sydney Wise / Winter 2021

Anne Firth Murray, founding president of the Global Fund for Women, chronologizes a lifetime of harms faced by women and posits community as a remedy.

Can the Arab Region meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030?

By Mourad Wahba / Winter 2021

There are multiple challenges which need to be confronted in both data collection and public policy so that the SDGs can be attained.

Theater for All

By Dina Amin / Winter 2021

How culturally inclusive theater that bears on both Western and Eastern experiences can produce citizens of the world and more global understanding.

Why the Phrase “Arab Spring” Should be Retired

By Sean David Hobbs / Winter 2021

It’s time to stop using a Western-based concept ten years on from the events that began the Arab Uprisings.

Learning from a Diplomatic Trailblazer to Tackle Global Inequalities

By Sean David Hobbs /

Guest speaker at the 16th Nadia Younes Memorial Lecture, Dutch Minister Sigrid Kaag, presented ideas for geopolitical challenges in the Middle East and North Africa during and after the coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S.–Middle East Future: In the Face of Fatigue

By Sydney Wise / Fall 2020

As the Trump presidency ends and Joe Biden is set to be the next U.S. president, thinkers convene to consider what his administration means for the Middle East.

Enhancing Mediterranean Integration

By Blanca Moreno-Dodson / Summer 2020

Trade liberalization, human capital development, and sectoral reforms can bring Mediterranean countries closer together.

Will the U.S. Evolve its Foreign Policy from Past Mistakes?

By Sean David Hobbs / Fall 2020

Former U.S. Ambassador and American University in Cairo President Francis Ricciardone evaluates how the United States has dealt with global crises in the 21st century.

Embracing Change: U.S. Foreign Policy Shifts

By Sean David Hobbs / Fall 2020

Former U.S. diplomat and American University in Cairo President Francis Ricciardone discusses whether a Biden win will see a return to a rules based international order.

Explaining How Washington and the Election Works

By Sean David Hobbs / Fall 2020

In 2016, all predictions about the U.S. elections were wrong. Will Washington insiders get it right this time?

Resisting the Tide of Bigotry

By Jonathan Weisman / Fall 2020

American Jews are left divided and looking for new directions as Donald Trump embraces the white supremacism of the alt-right and the Zionism of Benjamin Netanyahu

Society 5.0 and the Future Economies

By Hesham Dinana / Spring 2020

We’re better-connected today than ever before—but has modern innovation created a new society altogether?

Life Under Lockdown on a Small Island: a Personal Perspective

By Tim Cullen /

One small state’s ability to weather the coronavirus storm by remaining transparent and drawing upon the population’s sense of community.

Missed Opportunities in Middle Eastern Diplomacy

By Sydney Wise /

Former Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy discusses with renowned scholars the lessons learned from past crises as outlined in his new book to chart a more engaged and multilateral future.

Deconstructing Fukuyama

By Ibrahim Awad / Spring 2020

Taking apart the arguments of division that underscore the populist movements emerging in today’s liberal democracies

COVID-19 Impact on Africa Elections

By Arnaud Oulepo /

The pandemic is forcing African states to choose between holding elections on time and postponing them for safety. The risks run both ways.

Mustafa Amin’s Legacy Revived

By Basant Samhout / Spring 2020

Mustafa Amin was a touchstone for a generation of journalists who valued a freer and more truthful school of journalism. His recently donated private library offers a rare glimpse into his professional life.

America’s Shift to Online

By Sydney Wise / April 11, 2020

COVID-19 has introduced the concept of working from home to many who have never experienced it. But, different industry needs, varying family and gender roles, and a need for interaction may explain why it wasn’t already the norm.

Learning from Mistakes in Pandemic Response

By Sydney Wise / March 20, 2020

As long as humans have interacted with one another, we have assumed the risk of communicating disease; the question is, have we learned from past experiences enough to minimize future risk?

Connecting to the U.S. Electorate

By Sydney Wise / March 9, 2020

Diana Carlin, leader in the field of U.S. political communication, speaks with the Cairo Review’s Assistant Editor Sydney Wise.

Mobilizing Against Trump’s “Vision”

By Sean David Hobbs /

Former Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Alkidwa explains the ways Palestinians are contesting the Trump plan for peace and how the Trump deal caters only to extremists on the Israeli and American right

Meme-ifying “World War III”

By Audrey Lodes and Sydney Wise / February 26, 2020

How the Soleimani assassination has called into question what “war” means today and how the world should respond

Hosni Mubarak: Passing of an Era, or Lingering Legacy?

By Tarek Osman / February 25, 2020

What Mubarak’s legacy reveals about changes in different generations’ relationship to state and society.

New Players Challenge America’s Cultural Dominance

By Sydney Wise /

The United States has been the world’s cultural giant since the twentieth century—but is its supremacy and soft power being challenged by Bollywood, Dizi, and K-Pop?

Heat is on for Brazil’s Bolsonaro

By Patricia Barbeyron / October 15, 2019

Bolsonaro has shifted focus from an economic reforms agenda, which the country sorely needs amid recession fears, to a cultural one, which pleases his supporters.

Reconstruction as a political-economy issue: The case of Syria

By Samir Aita / September 18, 2019

There can be no meaningful separation between state-building, peace-building, and revival at the end of a conflict, especially as post-conflict state institutions are the only apparatus which can be somewhat directly or indirectly accountable toward their populations for the management of the country.

An Iran Strategy Worth Fighting For

By Robert Mason / July 24, 2019

U.S. and Saudi confrontations with Iran are causing proxy-warfare in weak or failing Arab states and escalating tensions in the Gulf, but there might still be a chance for diplomatic progress with the right combination of measures targeting Gulf-specific, regional, and international issues.

Civil Marriage in Limbo

By Sarah El-Richani / June 23, 2019

In Lebanon, the recurring debate around civil marriage highlights the sectarian-patriarchal grip on personal status affairs and the state itself.

The Juggernaut’s Achilles Heel

By Dahlia Scheindlin / June 20, 2019

The US may have recognized Israel’s 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights, but the Golan Druze, like East Jerusalem Palestinians, continue to reject Israeli citizenship and civic participation. If Israel is now empowered to annex parts of the West Bank, will Palestinians there break the pattern and embrace citizenship if offered?