Analyses
Protests in Iran: A Reflection of the Islamic Republic’s Institutional Crisis
Nicola Pedde 22 January 2026
The history of the Islamic Republic of Iran—established in 1979 following the revolution that overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi—is marked by a dense sequence of developments that have progressively altered its political and institutional configuration. These changes, however, have only sporadically been recognized by Western analyses, which have instead tended to perpetuate a more functional and instrumental stereotype based on the image of a monolithic, highly verticalized religious autocracy. While such a characterization was broadly accurate during the first decade of the Islamic Republic, it has undergone a profound transformation since 1989.
  • The Price of Partnership: Can South Africa Trust Washington Again?
    Rabia Turnbull 9 September 2025
    On a crisp morning in Citrusdal, trucks brimming with oranges idled under the blazing South African sun, farmers watched helplessly as port authorities halted shipments to the United States. A new 30 percent tariff, one of the highest imposed by the Trump administration, had shut off access to one of South Africa’s largest export markets. For families whose livelihoods depend on agriculture, the shock was immediate, putting an estimated 30,000 jobs at risk.
  • Stephen Hanson: Putin’s Patrimonial Power Under Strain
    Giancarlo Bosetti , Alessandra Tommasi 9 September 2025
    As the war in Ukraine drags on and Vladimir Putin presents himself as the architect of a “new world order” alongside Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un, Reset DOC spoke with Stephen Hanson, a leading American political scientist and expert on Russia and authoritarian regimes. Hanson is Professor of Government at the College of William & Mary and has previously served as director of Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and of the Reves Center for International Studies.
  • Marc Lazar: France on the Brink of a Regime Crisis
    Giancarlo Bosetti , Alessandra Tommasi 5 September 2025
    A historian and political scientist, emeritus professor at Sciences Po, and holder of the BNP-BNL-Paribas Chair in “Italian-French Relations for Europe” at LUISS, Marc Lazar is one of the foremost observers of French and European politics. In his latest book, Pour l’amour du peuple. Histoire du populisme en France, XIXe–XXIe siècle (2025), he traces the roots of French populism. In Left. Crisis and Challenges of the European Left (End of the Twentieth Century–2020s) (2024), he examines the challenges facing the European left. Earlier, together with Ilvo Diamanti in Peuplecratie (2018), he described the rise of the “people” as a new central actor in politics. We meet him on the eve of the confidence vote on September 8, which could bring down the Bayrou government and usher in a new period of political and institutional instability in France.
  • What International Law Says About the Global Sumud Flotilla
    Gaetano Pentassuglia 4 September 2025
    The mission of the Global Sumud Flotilla raises a range of legal issues linked to the likelihood of Israel intervening in international waters to block the vessels and arrest those on board. Any intervention by Israeli authorities on the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters would constitute a breach of international law against the states whose flags the ships fly, as well as those of the foreign nationals on board, should they be arrested.
  • Taybeh: Now, Even Christians in the Holy Land Face Threats from Settlers
    Riccardo Cristiano 1 August 2025
    The upheavals concerning the area we call the Holy Land, where Jesus preached and which today spans Israel and the Palestinian Territories, inevitably involve the Christians living there. To grasp their significance, it’s useful to start with a Franciscan who was a passionate scholar of Judaism, later becoming Custos of the Holy Land and then Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem—the first patriarch to become a cardinal, Pierbattista Pizzaballa. How can we define him? Using the term he chose when elected in 2020: the “patriarch of remaining.”
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    Israel: A “Belligerent Democracy” that Embarrasses the West
    Claudia De Martino 16 July 2025
    Many media outlets highlight how Israel is increasingly isolated in the West regarding Gaza. According to a Pew Research Center survey, the number of pro-Western states—above all Australia, Indonesia, Japan, and Turkey, and in Europe, Spain, Sweden, Greece, Ireland, and the Netherlands—that hold a negative perception of Israel is growing. The Israeli government and army continue to present the current military intervention—Operation “Gideon’s Chariots,” launched last May—as a necessary response to the “existential threat” posed by Hamas, while a growing part of the international community can no longer perceive any danger in the starving masses of Palestinians wandering around food distribution centers in constant danger of being killed.
  • Abraham Accords: Syria and Lebanon Facing the Test of the Arab Concert
    Riccardo Cristiano 11 July 2025
    United by geography and a long history that, since the end of the Ottoman Empire and especially during the long rule of the Assads, has taken on the characteristics of colonialism and occupation in the name of a “Greater Syria,” Lebanese and Syrians today share the same hope: that tomorrow will be different from today, putting an end to conflicts and reducing them to “wars of the past.” Reality demands this. In 2018, Lebanon’s GDP exceeded 55 billion dollars; today, it barely reaches 20 billion. One hundred thousand Lebanese pounds, which were worth 65 dollars at that time, are now worth just one. In Syria, in 2011, when the brutal repression of anti-government protests began, GDP reached 45 billion dollars; today it is only 9 billion.
  • Srebrenica 30 Years On: The Global Politics of Genocide Denial
    Besa Ismaili 11 July 2025
    Three decades have passed since the genocide in Srebrenica, three decades since over 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were systematically executed, while international forces, under a United Nations mandate, stood by, disabled to act.Though long delayed, the 2024 UN General Assembly resolution recognizing July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide marked an important, yet symbolic step toward truth-telling. It seeks to institutionalize memory, counter persistent denial, and affirm the gravity of the atrocity. Yet symbolism alone cannot substitute justice.
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