Middle East and North Africa Archives

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AnalysesMiddle East and North Africa

The world seems to have taken notice of Yemen—and of the strategic importance of the Red Sea—only after the outbreak of the Gaza crisis, when the Houthis began targeting commercial shipping transiting the area. Yet the events that have unfolded over the past months show that the Houthis are now a deeply rooted reality in Yemen’s own history: a force that controls roughly a quarter of the country, administers its territory efficiently, extracts resources from available fields, manufactures its own missiles and drones with reduced reliance on Iranian supplies, and continues to indoctrinate and recruit in order to expand its ranks and advance its political vision.

Videos Middle East and North Africa

Ruth Hanau Santini, associate professor of Politics and International relations at the University of Naples L’Orientale, discusses how Tunisia’s democratic backslide stemmed from unimplemented reforms and an elite-driven process that sidelined public trust. These issues ultimately paved the way for populist influence, culminating in Tunisia’s current political crisis.

ConveningMiddle East and North Africa

December

2023

Palermo, Italy

The conference will examine why democracy has struggled to take root in the Arab world: historical factors such as the consequences of oil resources, autocratic regimes, the inability to effectively implement economic reforms, the historical legacy of the alliance with the Soviet Union and the effects of colonialism, and in more recent times the negative parabola of the “Arab Springs” and in particular the failure of the compromise between Islamic and secular political forces that had made possible the beginning of a democratic path for Tunisia, now dominated by an autocratic power that arrests opponents.