This perspective informs the subject of Russia's global ambitions and actions—its key interests and objectives and its foreign policy approaches to pursuing or protecting them. Recognizing Russia's global interests and its opportunistic approach to bilateral relationships can help the United States implement its current global strategy while developing a more holistic global response.
U.S. decisionmakers and a variety of analysts have generally agreed that broad-based, inclusive governance and institutionalized capacity-building consistent with the rule of law are the long-term goals for stabilizing fragile states. How to realize these goals is much more contentious. This report summarizes research on better understanding the use of leverage in nudging partners toward better governance practices after military interventions.
U.S. decisionmakers and a variety of analysts have generally agreed that broad-based, inclusive governance and institutionalized capacity-building consistent with the rule of law are the long-term goals for stabilizing fragile states. How to realize these goals is much more contentious. This report summarizes research on better understanding the use of leverage in nudging partners toward better governance practices after military interventions.
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. This downloadable brochure features links to related publications on the RAND website.
The authors present an inventory of current knowledge on Al Qa'ida and of completed and ongoing research on the Bin Laden Archive, a wide array of original files from devices collected during the 2011 raid on Osama Bin Laden's compound. They also describe their initial assessment and characterisation of the Bin Laden Archive.
The authors focus on the Iran Threat Network (ITN), a loose network of non-Iranian, nonstate groups supported by Tehran that sits at the intersection of two threats—Iran and nonstate actors—highlighted in recent U.S. policy as a priority for the U.S. government to counter. The authors explore Iran's relationship with its nonstate network to better enable the U.S. government to counter Iranian subversion in the region via the ITN.
Terrorism and ideologically inspired violence represent persistent and serious threats to U.S. national security. In this report, the authors aim to characterize why and how 32 individuals joined extremist organizations, as well as how some of them exited these groups. Semistructured interviews were conducted with former extremists and their family members, representing 32 unique stories of 24 white supremacists and eight Islamic extremists.
Provides a brief overview of the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy, including its mission, its staff and leadership, and the role of its advisory board.
The Abraham Accords, a major political breakthrough between Israel and the Muslim nations of the world, could also have wide-reaching economic impacts. Deeper economic integration could create 150,000 new jobs among Israel's current partners in the accords, and these benefits could grow to 4 million new jobs (and $1 trillion in new economic activity) over a decade, if the accords grow to include 11 nations, which some have speculated is possible.
Researchers assess the advantages and trade-offs of a reimagined Middle East strategy where strategic goals link to a broader understanding of stability that prioritizes reduced conflict, better governance, and greater growth and development. They analyze long-standing U.S. interests and relationships with central partners and develop an alternative framework in which the Iranian challenge is one among several factors that should be considered.
In this summary, researchers assess the advantages and trade-offs of a reimagined Middle East strategy where strategic goals link to a broader understanding of stability that prioritizes reduced conflict, better governance, and greater development. They analyze long-standing U.S. interests and relationships with partners and develop an alternative framework in which the challenge of Iran is one among several factors that should be considered.
Yemen's civil war entered its sixth year in 2021. United Nations–led peace talks, which have been ongoing since the very beginning of the crisis, have struggled to gain traction. This report draws on five years of RAND research to describe the challenges facing efforts to achieve an enduring peace in Yemen and outlines constructive steps the international community can take to achieve an enduring peace.
For decades, the two-state solution has dominated efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, as a result of political and structural developments, that solution might no longer be feasible. RAND researchers used a novel focus group approach to assess which, if any, of five possible alternative futures in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be supported by Israelis and Palestinians.
Airpower played a pivotal role in the U.S.-led fight against the Islamic State from 2014 to 2019. This report sheds light on debates about the impact of air operations and how airpower was applied. The authors find that airpower was essential, but it alone would not have been likely to defeat the militant group. Instead, the combination of airpower and partner-led ground forces was needed to destroy the Islamic State as a territorial entity.
Some U.S. policymakers are interested in a new approach to the U.S. role in the world: a realist grand strategy of restraint, under which the United States would cooperate more with other powers, reduce its forward military presence, and end some security commitments. The authors explain how U.S. policies toward key regions would change under such a strategy, identify unanswered questions, and offer next steps for developing policy implications.
