A major new history of Saudi Arabia, from its eighteenth-century origins to the present day
Saudi Arabia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, a major player on the international stage and the site of Islam’s two holiest cities. It is also one of the world’s only absolute monarchies. How did Saudi Arabia get to where it is today?
In Saudi Ar ... Show More
Yesterday
Lucia Sorbera, "Biography of a Revolution: The Feminist Roots of Human Rights in Egypt" (U of California Press, 2025)
It is not Egypt's 2011 revolution that opened a space for women's and feminist activism, but—as Biography of a Revolution: The Feminist Roots of Human Rights in Egypt (U of California Press, 2025) shows—the long history of women's activism that created the intellectual and politi ... Show More
43m 18s
Aug 19
Steve L. Monroe, "Mirages of Reform: The Politics of Elite Protectionism in the Arab World" (Cornell UP, 2025)
In Mirages of Reform: The Politics of Elite Protectionism in the Arab World (Cornell UP, 2025), Steve L. Monroe argues that geopolitics and social connections between state and capital underpin the Arab world's uneven trade policies. Despite decades of international pressure, ne ... Show More
24 m
Aug 16
Nicholas P. Roberts, "A Sea of Wealth: The Omani Empire and the Making of an Oceanic Marketplace" (U California Press, 2025)
A Sea of Wealth: The Omani Empire and the Making of an Oceanic Marketplace (U California Press, 2025) is a sweeping retelling of the Omani position in the Indian Ocean. Here the reign of Oman’s longest-serving ruler, Saʿid bin Sultan, offers a keyhole through which we can peer to ... Show More
53m 14s
Dec 2024
Conflicted Community: Aaron Zelin – Assad’s Fall and the Future of Syria
ANOTHER EMERGENCY EPISODE Things are, as ever, moving at lightning speed in the Middle East, as last weekend on December 8th, Bashar al-Assad and his Syrian regime fell. After 13 years of civil war, and more than 50 years of his family’s rule, in an extraordinary turn of events r ... Show More
41m 18s
Jun 9
Samer Abboud | Syria's Political History From 1946
Professor Samer Abboud from Villanova University is an expert on Syrian politics. He joins us to discuss the intricacies of Syria's political history from 1946 to the present, including the impact of French colonial rule, frequent coups, the United Arab Republic, the rise and gov ... Show More
1h 4m
Dec 2024
The End of Assad and a New Era for Syria — with Kareem Shaheen, Rasha Elass and Faisal Al Yafai
In a momentous week in the history of Syria, New Lines’ Middle East Editor Kareem Shaheen and Editorial Director Rasha Elass join Faisal Al Yafai on The Lede to discuss how the Assad regime’s collapse happened so quickly, the terrible symbolism of the Sednaya prison complex and w ... Show More
51m 30s
Dec 2024
The Syrian Civil War Reignites
EMERGENCY EPISODE In another hugely dramatic turn in the Middle East, the Syrian civil war has reignited. On November 27th 2024, Abu Mohammad al-Julani’s HTS reconquered huge swathes of the North West of the country, including the key city of Aleppo. Conflicted is here with an em ... Show More
1h 31m
Dec 2024
QUE S’EST-IL RÉELLEMENT PASSÉ EN SYRIE ? | HAFSA KARA-MUSTAPHA | GPTV
Le 16 décembre 2024, Hafsa Kara-Mustapha, François Martin, Claude Janvier et Yanis Dalouche étaient les invités de Mike Borowski sur Géopolitique Profonde !Hafsa Kara-Mustapha est une journaliste et analyste politique spécialisée dans les relations internationales, notamment au M ... Show More
1h 31m
Apr 2018
The Syria Disaster, Seven Years In
Long the crossroads of civilizations, Syria has now spent seven years as the proxy warzone of great powers. With over half a million dead and millions more displaced, the conflict is now “arguably the world’s largest humanitarian disaster since World War II,” writes Andrew Tabler ... Show More
50m 2s