Syria

COMMENTARY

Syria is Trending Toward the Libya Model — Feb 14, 2012

If the Syrian opposition clearly asks for American help, if the rest of the Arab world supports such a military intervention, and if America's European allies prove ready to join in—and indeed lead—such an effort, the United States should contribute those military assets which only it can provide, writes James Dobbins.

• Commentary

COMMENTARY

The Year of the Arab Spring — Dec 20, 2011

The Arab Spring demonstrated that leaderless revolutions are difficult to repress or co-opt. Unfortunately, it is also true that leaderless revolts find it difficult to make transition to authority, writes Charles Ries.

• Commentary

COMMENTARY

Expect Regime Change in Libya, Yemen — Apr 25, 2011

The countries in a possible "second wave" of Arab revolutions have dim prospects for consolidated democracies. Other than tribes, Libya essentially has no civil society, and it has a long-isolated educated class. Yemen has civil society organizations but fewer well-educated individuals, writes Julie Taylor.

• Commentary
• International Affairs Research Area

COMMENTARY

Obama's Turkish Dilemma — Apr 5, 2009

President Obama's visit to Ankara this week highlights Turkey's growing strategic importance to the United States - and a high stakes dilemma for the President and for U.S. strategic interests, writes F. Stephen Larrabee.

• Commentary
• International Affairs Research Area
• National Security Research Area

COMMENTARY

Good Morning, Syria! – Time to Revisit Our Axis of Evil List? — Apr 22, 2008

The time may come to start contemplating whether Syria might follow the example of Libya and make its way off the axis of evil, write Cheryl Benard and Ed O'Connell.

• Commentary
• National Security Research Area

COMMENTARY

Finding Common Ground in an Uncommon Nation — Mar 19, 2008

Cheryl Benard and Ed O'Connell write about their time in Syria discovering creative outlets in media, such as how a director in a country known for defending terrorism could produce "entertainment" that portrayed quite the opposite.

• Commentary
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• International Affairs Research Area

COMMENTARY

Ready for Another Mideast War? — Sep 20, 2007

The Bush administration has acknowledged that Israel attacked Syria last week, but has not given any indication that the United States sought to prevent it, or discourage a repetition, writes James Dobbins.

• Commentary
• National Security Research Area

COMMENTARY

America Needs to Pick Its Fights Carefully — Aug 13, 2006

Published commentary by RAND staff: America Needs to Pick Its Fights Carefully, in International Herald Tribune.

• Commentary

REPORT

The Middle East's Changing Strategic Environment — Jun 15, 2006

A conference held jointly by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy examined the changing strategic environment of the Middle East, with emphasis on the situation in Iraq; Iran's nuclear program; and strategies for countering Islamic terrorism.

• Full Document
• National Security Research Area

COMMENTARY

Unavoidable Clash of Islam and the West? — Jan 23, 2005

Published commentary by RAND staff.

• Commentary

COMMENTARY

Help the PA Push Out Hamas — Jan 16, 2004

Published commentary by RAND staff.

• Commentary

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Poisoned Wells: The Politics of Water in the Middle East — Dec 31, 2003

• Full Document

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Coup-Proofing: Its Practice and Consequeces in the Middle East — Dec 31, 1999

A number of Middle Eastern states — e.g., Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia — seem to be "coup-proof." That is, their regimes have created structures that minimize the possibility that a small group can seize power.

• Full Document

REPORT

New Political Realities and the Gulf: Egypt, Syria, and Jordan — Jan 1, 1993

This report highlights points of vulnerability in Egypt, Syria, and Jordan that could lead to future internal and regional instability.

• Full Document
• Related Report

REPORT

Dividing the Waters: Reaching Equitable Water Solutions in the Middle East — Dec 31, 1992

In the past few years, the many-faceted problem of water in the Middle East has received increasing attention. Issues of scarcity, management, ownership, and use have been discussed in their own right, as well as in relation to the politics of the re...

• Full Document

REPORT

The Price of Middle East Peace — Dec 31, 1992

The September 1993 signing of a Declaration of Principles between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization is likely to affect profoundly the future course of events in the Middle East.

• Full Document

REPORT

NATO Air Power: Organizing for Uncertainty — Dec 31, 1992

In the future, NATO forces must be prepared to respond quickly to events in regions within and beyond its borders. This research addresses how this requirement will affect the organization of NATO forces, particularly airpower, by postulating two scenarios that would stress NATO to the extreme.

• Full Document

REPORT

Prospects for a lasting peace in the Middle East: impressions from a trip to Syria, Jordan, and Egypt — Dec 31, 1991

In the wake of the turbulent events of 1990 and 1991, the states of the Middle East are in the process of redefining their political agendas, their relationships with each other, and their visions of the future. This paper describes the political cli...

• Full Document

REPORT

Transforming Clients into Surrogates: The Soviet Experience — Dec 31, 1984

Examines (1) the incentives for Soviet-client cooperation and the limits to their effectiveness and (2) how the Soviets manage their relationships with their Third World allies, focusing particularly on the Soviet ability to induce ...

• Full Document

REPORT

Soviet strengths and vulnerabilities in the Middle East — Dec 31, 1979

There is a growing awareness that Soviet influences pose a particularly acute problem in the area of the Middle East. In the Middle East the potential freedom of action available to the Soviet Union and its allies to exploit their military advantage...

• Full Document