Security Sector Reform
Examining security sector reform in the Arab region to strengthen democratic oversight, public accountability, and human security.
Publications
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Inclusive Governance
ARI’s Inclusive Governance Program examines who gets to take part in political…
Tech & Society
ARI’s Tech & Society Program consolidates our existing body of work on…
Social Protection
The Social Protection Program is the Arab Reform Initiative’s research and advocacy…
Environmental Politics
ARI’s Environmental Politics Program seeks to place the environment at the heart…
Anti-Racism
Anti-Black racism, ethnic exclusion, and the hierarchies embedded in citizenship and labour systems shape daily life across the MENA region, and are rarely named in mainstream political debate. ARI supports the researchers and movements working to document them and to make equality, inclusion, and dignity a matter of policy rather than aspiration.
COVID-19
Documenting the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen social protection, public health, governance, and crisis preparedness across the Arab region.
Diaspora
MENA diasporas are political actors in their own right, organizing across borders on peacebuilding, reconstruction, reconciliation, and democratic change at home. ARI documents how this organizing works, what it achieves, and where diaspora communities are shut out of decisions about their own countries.
Governance
Exploring pathways to more accountable, transparent, and responsive governance that better reflects citizens’ needs and aspirations.
Political Economy
Exploring the political economy of the Arab region to understand the forces shaping development, governance, and social justice.
Security Sector Reform
Examining security sector reform in the Arab region to strengthen democratic oversight, public accountability, and human security.
Syria’s Transition
Tracking Syria’s transition through research and dialogue that advances accountability, inclusive governance, and local empowerment to support a just, resilient, and sustainable future.
Women Political Participation
Women across the MENA region are driving social change, peacebuilding, and inclusive governance by advancing feminist visions of equal citizenship and strengthening their influence in political life. ARI supports this work through research led by women from the region, by convening feminist movements, researchers, and policymakers, and by bringing their analysis into the policy debates where decisions are made.
Child Deprivation in Egypt: Alarming Indicators and a Threat to Human Capital
The development of human capital is a cumulative process that begins in childhood –…
“Post”-Conflict Recovery in Syria: Beyond Decolonial Language
After destruction, recovery sounds like a promise. Yet in contexts marked by war, authoritarianism,…
Nostalgia without Experience: Revolutionary Memory Construction among Egypt’s Gen Z
Introduction “I wish I had been one of them… all my life I have…
Municipalities Under Fire: Local Governance in Israel’s “Security Zones” in Southern Lebanon and Syria
Introduction The phone rang just after dawn.1Interview with the mayor of Abbassiyeh, in person,…
Reflections on an Uncertain Future: Will Feminist Movements Seize This Moment to Rise Anew?
Introduction It is no secret that feminist movements in our region are struggling. We…
Israel’s Techno-Military Complex: A Historical and Political-Economy Analysis
Regional policymakers have long analyzed Israel primarily through the prisms of political ideology or…
Tech, Power, and Conflict in MENA
For decades, the MENA region has served as a testing ground for warfare technologies…
Environmental Struggle and Activism in the Middle East and North Africa
Environmental movements have emerged as critical actors in advocating for equitable resource governance, protesting…
Critical Policy Analysis Training Cohorts 2021-2025
This dossier brings together a series of papers produced under the Fostering Critical Policy…
Confronting the Divide: Bridging Socio-Economic and Personal-Political Rights Struggles
This interview brings together two leading human rights activists from the region who have…
The Credibility Gap in the Arab World’s Democratic Opposition: A Conversation with Activist Hussein Baoumi
Drawing on more than 100 conversations held between January 2025 and May 2026 with…
Interview With Maryam Ben Salem: Tunisia, A Look Back at Parties Without Policies and Political Life Without Parties.
Maryam Ben Salem is an associate professor of political science at the Faculty of…
Cultivating Sovereignty: Struggles for Food Justice in the Middle East and North Africa
Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 01 The State of Food and Food Sovereignty Debates in…
Participatory Approaches to Conflict, Climate Change and Environment: Case Studies from the Middle East and North Africa
Foreword: The MENA countries have been confronting profound and far-reaching climate shocks. Experts widely…
Knowledge as a Public Good: Reconceiving the Purpose and Methods of Knowledge Production
Table of Contents “Introduction: Taking Stock, Setting the Agenda” by Dina El Khawaga, Andrew…