The RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy (CMEPP) brings together analytic excellence and regional expertise from across the RAND Corporation to address the most critical political, social, and economic challenges facing the Middle East today. Our goal is to inform policy in ways that help improve the security and well-being of people living in the region.
Since 2011, 12 million Syrians have fled their homes, either inside Syria or crossing its borders as refugees. To help shape policy that will improve the lives of refugees and support host communities over the longer term, RAND focuses its work on the greatest challenges related to this crisis: humanitarian assistance, education, jobs, and regional and global security.
Director, Center for Middle East Public Policy; Senior Political Scientist
RAND CMEPP Experts are available to the media on a wide range of topics.
Office of Media Relations
Recent Commentary
Syrian Refugees Won't Be Going Home Any Time Soon
Apr 19, 2019
Shelly Culbertson @SC_Culbertson
Active fighting in Syria is dwindling. But Syria remains divided in a frozen conflict and empty peace, unstable and unlikely to attract the investment in reconstruction, public institutions, job creation, and local reconciliation efforts needed to motivate Syrians in large numbers to return home.
Economic Sanctions and Carpet Bombing Are Similarly Ruinous
Apr 15, 2019
James Dobbins @Jim_Dobbins
For American policymakers, economic sanctions are too often the soft choice between doing nothing and taking effective but risky or expensive action. Yet, before they inflict years, perhaps decades of impoverishment and worse on entire populations, they should ask if their efforts are likely to succeed and are worth punishing an entire people to do so.
The U.S. Designated the Revolutionary Guards as a Terrorist Group. What Happens Next?
Apr 11, 2019
Colin P. Clarke @ColinPClarke, Ariane M. Tabatabai @ArianeTabatabai
The U.S. designation of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization was meant to serve America's interests by isolating Iran. Instead, it may increase the likelihood of a tit-for-tat escalation that will require significant resources to avoid a broader regional conflagration.