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If you went back in time for about three decades, any talk of Africa as an investment destination would have earned you mocking laughter and a raft of dismissals even in the highest levels of political and economic thought. After decades of European colonialism and independence struggles, African nations still had to contend with the birthing pains of new socio-political orders that arrived in the wake of newly installed regimes which remained deeply tied to their former colo

Before the 2011 revolution that deposed Hosni Mubarak, Egypt had undergone a few reform periods between 1991 and 2007 in an effort to reduce external debt and expand the role of the private sector. As a result of those reforms, Egypt was able to relax some price controls, tackle double-digit inflation, reduce subsidies and cut taxes. The government also liberalized trade and reduced barriers to investment, resulting in a reduced public sector footprint in the heavy industries

Relations between China and the Arab world are as simple as 1+2+3. That’s the formulation conceived by Beijing two years ago in an official policy paper, with each number representing a different aspect of the relationship. The number 1 refers to the energy relationship, seen as a “core” aspect, while the number 2 refers to the two “wings” of infrastructure investment and the facilitation of trade, and the number 3 is a tripartite wish-list of “breakthroughs” of cooperation i

When Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser cut the ceremonial ribbon in New Delhi to inaugurate the state-owned global energy giant’s newest office last year, the event captured only a smattering of headlines. That launch, however, should be seen as a defining moment in a relationship accelerating at dizzying speed, leading one Indian columnist to describe Saudi-India ties as “one of the most happening bilateral relationships of 2018.” The feeling seems to be mutual in Riyadh.

It can be difficult to recall, in chronological order, the social and political developments in Iraq since the government’s success in pushing back Daesh, quelling Kurdish secession and consolidating its security and military forces. Iraq’s recent parliamentary election was comprehensively won by the popular cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, who immediately met Prime Minister Haider Abadi to form a government after years of war, internal turmoil, insurgency and calls for Kurdish indepe

Beginning a few decades ago, world politics started to experience a dramatic transformation. From the early 1970s to the first decade of this century, the number of electoral democracies increased from about 35 to more than 110. Over the same period, the world’s output of goods and services quadrupled, and growth extended to virtually every region of the world. The proportion of people living in extreme poverty plummeted, dropping from 42 percent of the global population in 1

On August 6, Donald Trump’s administration reimposed economic sanctions on Iran that Barack Obama’s administration had lifted when it signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015, the anticipated next step following Trump’s decision to leave the deal in May. Since then, the Trump administration has talked about bringing more economic pressure on Tehran not only to end its nuclear ambitions, but also to curb its regional influence and even weaken the Islamic R

The Rohingya refugee crisis stunned the world when the first reports emerged of widespread ethnic cleansing in Rakhine state in Myanmar. Each new report was more alarming than the last, with stories of property seizures, arson, rape and murder of the Rohingya people, a Sunni-Muslim minority group in a country where about 80 percent of the people identify as Buddhists. Read more.

FPI Director Carla Freeman recently authored a chapter in The SAGE Handbook of Contemporary China, edited by Weiping Wu and Mark Frazier. Her chapter, "China's Relations with the Korean Peninsula," "looks across nearly four decades of Chinese and international academic and think tank publications on China’s relations with the Korean peninsula to identify patterns, areas of focus, key methodological approaches, and analytical perspectives." Read more.

A new reality has emerged on the world stage, and at the heart of it is Donald Trump’s leadership of the world’s largest economy and most powerful military. Before Trump’s ascent, most of the world had settled into a peculiar cycle every four to eight years, depending on which Republican or Democrat occupied the White House. While there were some policy differences, American presidents inherited a world order created by generations of Americans before them. US leaders knew th