There will be no intervention in Syria until the crisis explodes. Sadly, the country is already imploding under the unbearable pressure of a civil war that has already cost over 70,000 lives, driven millions from their homes, and destroyed countless dollars worth of infrastructure. But Syrian President Bashar...

This post first appeared in OpenCanada.org.

At the IMF-World Bank meetings this past week, there were plenty of assessments of the state of the global economy that described the post-2008 recovery as anemic. Only a few went so far as to claim that the global economy is comatose....

This post first appeared in the CIGI blog, Wealth and International Politics.

At the IMF World Bank Spring meetings, there are plenty of concerned faces in the rooms of policymakers, analysts and global economic experts.

It is usually hard to find a happy smiling bunch...

This post first appeared in the CIGI blog, Wealth and International Politics.

If you have been reading The Economist, Financial Times and other financial papers, you'll notice an odd conundrum that to me, as a political economist, does not add up.

On the one hand, we are told...

This article first appeared on OpenCanada.org.

I had the opportunity to attend the annual conference of the Economic Research Forum in Kuwait City, hosted by the Arab Fund for Economic Development in early March. The forum brings together leading economists and analysts to discuss the Middle...

In the 10 years that have passed since the invasion of Iraq, an endless number of lessons have been drawn by military strategists, diplomats, politicians, and public relations analysts from what was, at almost every stage, a complete and utter fiasco. The continuing debates over what Iraq has taught us...

This article first appeared in OpenCanada.org.

As Egypt's democratically elected president, one would hope that Mohamed Morsi would have a finger on the pulse of the Egyptian people. Unfortunately, he's looking more and more out of touch. An online campaign has begun, with typical good Egyptian humour, to...

This article was first published at OpenCanada.org.

As we mark the two-year anniversary of the Arab uprisings, we see plenty of figurative post-mortems on the Arab leaders, or strongmen, that have been usurped by the masses. But what can we learn from these revolutions about the Arab people...

As a political analyst, I can comprehend the plausible geo-strategic and political reasons to explain why, despite international recognition for the Syrian National Coalition, the reality on the ground will change little. And why, despite the over 60,000 Syrians killed, the red line for the international community remains...

Since Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi announced his constitutional decree on Nov. 22, there has been dramatic unrest in Cairo. Morsi's supporters and opponents have been staging their own demonstrations and clashing violently in the streets.

Morsi's decree gave him sweeping powers and was meant to stop the judiciary from disbanding...

This post was first published on OpenCanada.org.

Well before Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi issued his presidential decree to override the judiciary, Egypt was polarized between (albeit a generalization) lslamists and liberals/secularists. Although the president won through a free and fair electoral process back in June, this president already had a...

Mark Carney has accepted a position as the Governor of the Bank of England effective next July. The move had been rumoured in the Financial Times in April this year, and many commentators had thought it was perhaps far-fetched, considering the fact that Carney is not a citizen...

Analysts and pundits will be all over themselves trying to find a "winner" in this conflict between Gaza and Israel. Admitting that those who have been killed and maimed from this conflict find this discussion wholly insensitive, I have to say that it is neither Hamas, Netanyahu, nor Morsi who...

There is a conflict brewing today in Egypt. It will shape the country's future and the writing of the Egyptian constitution that is generally taking place between secularists and Islamists. But fret not, because at least there is a civil discussion that is transparent and being debated publicly. That is...

This article first appeared on OpenCanada.org.

By Bessma Momani and Kevin English

At the IMF-World Bank Annual meetings in Tokyo, Japan this month, participants from the private and public financial sector gathered to assess the state of the world economy. With the Great Recession still fresh on everyone's minds and...

At the IMF and World Bank Group annual meetings in Tokyo, the European economic crisis was never off the agenda and often took centre stage in panel discussions. Now adding this issue to another IMF report on how much fiscal adjustment is too much, we saw a very...

Driving without a driver's licence? How about management consultants without certification advising your government?

Just like you wouldn't want unlicensed drivers on the road, a doctor operating without a licence or for that matter an engineer building bridges without professional certification, there is a public good in having professional bodies...

This piece first appeared in The National.

Structural arguments have been convenient frameworks for understanding many aspects of Middle East politics and history, but they don't work as interpretations for the Arab Spring. Neo-Ottomanism, neoliberalism, Zionism, neo-imperialism, neo-colonialism, Americanism, globalisation and Islamism -- all of these...

The international community hoped that it would not come to this, but the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has proven that it is unreformable, unbendable and unrelenting in its desire to kill all civilians to ensure survival.

The international community has run out of adjectives to describe its disappointment,...

Last year, President Bashar al-Assad postponed Syria's parliamentary elections. This was an opportunity for him to take into account his proposed constitutional reforms that will allow political parties, other than his own Baath Party, to compete for votes.

Today is election day in Syria and...