PUBLICATIONS
The Dubai Initiative publishes the works of its Senior Fellows, Research Fellows, Associates, and others affiliated with the organization. We also offer complimentary hard-copies of our Working Papers and Policy Briefs series. Please contact us at dubai_initiative@hks.harvard.edu for more information.
February, 2006
"Egypt: The Year of the Elections and Elusive Political Reforms"
By Emad Shahin, Former Faculty Affiliate, The Dubai Initiative
The year 2005 was a momentous, yet turbulent one for Egypt. The country witnessed two major elections, presidential
and parliamentary, a vibrant movement towards political reform,
and a remarkable political mobility. All this came against a background of internal domestic pressures on the regime to expand the scope of pluralism,and amidst concerns that President Mubarak would run for office for a fifth term, thus ruling Egypt for 29 years.The increased interest of external actors, particularly the US and the EU, in
political reforms has also prompted the regime to introduce a series of
measures that allowed the country, for the first time since it became a republic, to have a multi-candidate presidential elections and a relativelymore contested legislative elections.
July, 2005
"Egypt's Moments of Reform: A Reality or an Illusion?"
By Emad Shahin, Former Faculty Affiliate, The Dubai Initiative
The movement for democratic reform in Egypt seems to be gathering strength. Some of the factors that would make a good case fordemocratic transformation are rapidly converging: the formation of a wide spectrum of discontented segments in society; the mushrooming of pro-reform grass-roots movements that agree on a clear list of short-term demands; and a sympathetic pro-reform international context. With presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled to take place in September and November respectively, will Egypt finally experience its democratic spring?
February 2005
"Political Islam: Ready for Engagement?"
By Emad Shahin, Former Faculty Affiliate, The Dubai Initiative
This paper explores the possibilities and implications of a European engagement with moderate Islamists on democracy promotion in the region. It argues that the EU approach to political reform in the Middle East region needs to be enhanced and linked to realities on the ground. Political reform cannot be effective without the integration of non-violent Islamic groups in a gradual, multifaceted process.
June 2011
"A New Case for Wastewater Reuse in Saudi Arabia: Bringing Energy into the Water Equation"
By Arani Kajenthira, Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, Laura Diaz Anadon, Associate Director, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program; Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group; Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy and Afreen Siddiqi, Visting Scholar, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program
Industrial and urban water reuse should be considered along with desalination as options for water supply in Saudi Arabia. Although the Saudi Ministry for Water and Electricity (MoWE) has estimated that an investment of $53 billion will be required for water desalination projects over the next 15 years [1], the evolving necessity to conserve fossil resources and mitigate GHG emissions requires Saudi policy makers to weigh in much more heavily the energy and environmental costs of desalination. Increasing water tariffs for groundwater and desalinated water to more adequately represent the costs of water supply could encourage conservation, but also reuse, which may be more appropriate for many inland and high-altitude cities.
August 2011
"The Water–Energy Nexus in Middle East and North Africa"
Energy Policy, issue 6, volume 39
By Afreen Siddiqi, Visting Scholar, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program and Laura Diaz Anadon, Associate Director, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program; Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group; Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy
Extracting, delivering, and disposing water requires energy, and similarly, many processes for extracting and refining various fuel sources and producing electricity use water. This so-called 'water–energy nexus', is important to understand due to increasing energy demands and decreasing freshwater supplies in many areas. This paper performs a country-level quantitative assessment of this nexus in the MENA region.
(Photo by Marcus Halevi)
September 20, 2011
"Arab Uprisings Shift to Political Struggles"
By James F. Smith, Communications Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Many of this year’s Arab uprisings are evolving from angry popular revolts into drawn-out political struggles to build democratic systems that will protect basic civic rights and social justice, analysts told a John F. Kennedy Jr. forum audience at Harvard Kennedy School on Monday, Sept. 19.
September 2010
Climate Change Adaptation in the Middle East and North Africa
By Jeannie Sowers, Former Research Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
This paper argues that in order to mitigate the effects of human-induced climate change, policy makers must actively remove obstacles to local mobilization of resources, allow private sector participation under adequate and transparent regulation, and provide a supportive context for community-level adaptations.
Jeannie Sowers
October 21, 2009
Damietta Mobilizes for Its Environment
Middle East Report Online
By Jeannie Sowers, Former Research Fellow, The Dubai Initiative and Sharif Elmusa
In 2008, Egypt's Mediterranean port city of Damietta saw escalating protest against EAgrium, a Canadian consortium building a large fertilizer complex in Ra's al-Barr. Ra's al-Barr sits at the end of an estuary, where the Damietta branch of the Nile River joins the Mediterranean. It is a prime destination for vacationing Egyptians in the summertime and the location of the year-round residences of the Damiettan elite. Fishermen ply the waters offshore. When plans for the fertilizer complex were announced, a coalition of locals feared that all three sources of income -- tourism, real estate and fishing -- would be jeopardized by emissions into the air and water. As summer temperatures climbed and the protests mounted, the government found itself caught between its contractual obligations to international investors and a well-organized local movement opposed to the project on both environmental and developmental grounds.
January/February 2008
"The Costs of Containing Iran: Washington's Misguided New Middle East Policy"
Foreign Affairs
By Vali Nasr and Ray Takeyh
The Bush administration wants to contain Iran by rallying the support of Sunni Arab states and now sees Iran's containment as the heart of its Middle East policy: a way to stabilize Iraq, declaw Hezbollah, and restart the Arab-Israeli peace process. But the strategy is unsound and impractical, and it will probably further destabilize an already volatile region.
December 6, 2007
"Get Tehran Inside of the Tent"
International Herald Tribune
By Vali Nasr and Ray Takeyh
Dialogue, compromise and commerce, as difficult as they maybe, are a means of providing Tehran with incentives to commit itself to regional stability. Instead of militarizing the Gulf and forming up shaky alliances on Iran's periphery, Washington should move toward a local security system featuring all the regional actors.
