In the early weeks after the US-Iran escalation around the Strait of Hormuz, the crisis was narrated through a familiar vocabulary of oil flows, gas markets, tanker movements, price volatility, and insurance risk. The language was immediate, recognizable, and not wrong. Energy is the first lens through which the world understands the Gulf. Yet the region’s modern resource system […]
Fiker Institute, in collaboration with the Climate Governance Commission, co-hosted a public symposium convening leading experts and policymakers to examine the urgent need for a renewed global governance architecture capable of addressing the climate crisis.
In November 2025, Brazil will host COP30, the annual UN climate conference. International climate governance has witnessed uneven progress in recent years, with North-South tensions and geopolitical instability threatening vital action against deteriorating climate conditions. What can we expect from Brazil’s COP and how does the summit highlight deeper problems in global climate governance?
Cuba has faced severe power outages since President Donald Trump imposed a de facto oil blockade on the Caribbean island earlier this year. With his executive order on January 29, 2026, he declared Cuba “an unusual and extraordinary threat” to the US and authorized extensive tariffs against any country that directly or indirectly provides Cuba with oil. On May […]
Rather than solely a cessation of hostilities between Iran and the United States (US), the two-week ceasefire between the two parties, brokered by Pakistan, is an attempt to establish a framework for mediating a wide range of issues in the Middle East. Since its declaration, however, it has been extended, continuously contested, and brought close to collapse. Tehran and […]
With the paralysis of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), stakeholders in the international community are increasingly looking to economic, legal, and coalition-based alternatives. As the current global order undergoes a major transition, substantial UNSC reforms are necessary to remain relevant and to avoid further fragmentation in the international system.
Libyan artist Asmahan Elfergani’s work is largely absent from the formal record of art history, but she is remembered in oral histories and private collections. This Essay seeks to establish a preliminary biography of the artist and her work as it endures through homes, conversations, and the quiet persistence of remembrance.
Afaf Zurayk is one of the last figures of a generation of prominent Lebanese women artists who emerged in the 1960s–70s, when Beirut was an epicenter of art and creativity. Zurayk’s work and the artist’s life is a testament to resilience and the power of art in the face of adversity.
Since the second half of the 20th century, the Arab region has witnessed pivotal and transformative political events that have shaped its modern history. Arab(ic) autobiographical literature has flourished in these contexts. A plethora of these texts have been written by women. This Essay aims to present a brief history of Arab women writing about their experiences of war and political upheavals in autobiographical texts.
