A New Middle East Regional Order?

Dr. Ibrahim Fraihat

Associate professor in international conflict resolution at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies

This talk examines whether the Middle East is entering a new regional order - and what that order may look like. It revisits the political architecture that has structured the region, centred on the Iran-led “Axis of Resistance” versus U.S.-allied “moderate Arab states,” and asks whether this framework still explains regional politics today. Beyond state alignments, the talk explores the fate of other social and political forces that once shaped the region’s political landscape, from popular movements to non-state actors and ideological currents. It then outlines the emerging characteristics of a new regional order, probing its sources of power, patterns of alignment, and modes of governance. Finally, the talk assesses how stable this new order is - and what factors may sustain it, challenge it, or ultimately transform it.

Dr. Ibrahim Fraihat

Dr. Fraihat is an associate professor in international conflict resolution at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies and non-resident fellow at Deakin University's Middle East Studies Forum in Australia. He previously served as senior foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, and taught conflict resolution at Georgetown University and George Washington University. His latest book publications include: Conflict Mediation in the Arab World (Syracuse University Press 2023), Rebel Governance in the Middle East (Palgrave 2023), Iran and Saudi Arabia: Taming a Chaotic Conflict (Edinburgh University Press, 2020), Unfinished Revolutions: Yemen, Libya, and Tunisia after the Arab Spring (Yale University Press, 2016).Dr. Fraihat has published extensively on Middle East politics, with articles appearing in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Huffington Post, Al Jazeera websites, and elsewhere. Fraihat received a doctorate in conflict analysis and resolution from George Mason University in 2006. He is the recipient of George Mason University's Distinguished Alumni Award (2014) for his achievements in the field of conflict resolution.He consulted for international organizations on subjects of his research interest such as conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction in the Arab world, with a particular emphasis on conflict management and mediation, transitions, national reconciliation, national dialogue, and institutional reform.