For more than a generation, no region has drawn as much national security attention and angst than has the Middle East. Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen, and operations throughout the region raise thorny questions of domestic and international law. Numerous regional conflicts inevitably raise concerns about compliance with the law of armed conflict, and debates over policy have become inextricably linked with debates over the law.
Latest in Middle East and North Africa
Two years into President Biden’s term—and 20 years since the mission to topple Saddam Hussein began—there’s no driver behind the wheel of the United States’s Iraq policy.
The deterioration of human rights in Tunisia long precedes the country’s current instability and democratic backsliding.
As the first draft laws making up the new Israeli government’s judicial reform start passing preliminary votes in the Knesset, Israel moves toward a constitutional showdown, in which the Supreme Court might have to strike down new laws that seek to remove its power to strike down unconstitutional legislation.
Under current Israeli administrative law, the Supreme Court may strike down patently unreasonable decisions of the executive branch that run contrary to human rights or good governance. The new government’s legal reforms seek to eliminate this legal doctrine or exclude from it elected officials
Government legal advisers play an important role in upholding the rule of law in Israel. Planned legal reforms, however, seek to allow the government to ignore their legal opinions and replace senior advisers with political appointees.
Part three in a series examining the sweeping legal and judicial reforms proposed by Israel's new government.
How did the Israeli Supreme Court use its authority after the constitutional revolution of the 1990s and what do current proposals to limit the power of the court to exercise judicial review over Knesset legislation look like?
With the swearing in of Israel’s new government, Israel’s legal system is facing proposals for sweeping reform that would change fundamental aspects of the courts’ ability to check and balance the Knesset’s legislative powers.
In committing to developing a new multilateral framework for the region, Washington has the chance to write a smaller, more effective, and more efficient role for the U.S. military in the Middle East.
As it currently stands, the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit is poised to put justice for victims and accountability for atrocity crimes on the backburner and perpetuate trends that stagnate progress on the continent.