On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime in Syria was overthrown by a rebel alliance led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The collapse of the family dictatorship was made possible by shifts in regional and international power dynamics. Key factors included Turkish support for the rebels, the...

Für Saudi-Arabien ist die anstehende erneute Präsidentschaft Donald Trumps mit zwiespältigen Erwartungen verknüpft: Einerseits pflegt das Königshaus enge Geschäftsbeziehungen zum designierten Präsidenten und dessen Umfeld, was einen privilegierten Zugang zum Weißen Haus eröffnen...

Saudi Arabia has mixed expectations ahead of Donald Trump’s imminent second presidency. On the one hand, the royal family maintains close business relations with the president-elect and his entourage, which could lead to privileged access to the White House. On the other hand, Trump’s Middle...

Am 8. Dezember 2024 wurde in Syrien das Assad-Regime durch eine von Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) angeführte Rebellenallianz gestürzt. Dabei haben Veränderungen in den regionalen und internationalen Kräfteverhältnissen den Zusammenbruch der Familiendiktatur erst ermöglicht. Entscheidende...

On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime in Syria was overthrown by a rebel alliance led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The transitional government under Ahmad al-Sharaa now faces enormous economic, social and political challenges. It has yet to establish control over the country as a whole; and...

This study examines the effect of the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests in Iran during the last quarter of 2022 on individual life satisfaction. To assess this impact, we use two original representative surveys conducted before and after the protests in 2022. The repeated cross-sectional dataset...

New ODI research underscores how women's movements are leading the push for democratic governance and inclusion, particularly in contexts of eroding civic space or where democracies are increasingly authoritarian. Yet, they face growing backlash from a rising tide of politicised religion. Based...

Am 8. Dezember 2024 wurde in Syrien das Assad-Regime durch eine von Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) angeführte Rebellenallianz gestürzt. Die Übergangsregierung unter Ahmad al-Sharaa steht nun vor immensen Herausforderungen - wirtschaftlich, gesellschaftlich und politisch. Noch hat sie auch nicht...

Am 8. Dezember 2024 wurde in Syrien das Assad-Regime durch eine von Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) angeführte Rebellenallianz gestürzt. Dabei haben Veränderungen in den regionalen und internationalen Kräfteverhältnissen den Zusammenbruch der Familiendiktatur erst ermöglicht. Entscheidende...

On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime in Syria was overthrown by a rebel alliance led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The collapse of the family dictatorship was made possible by shifts in regional and international power dynamics. Key factors included Turkish support for the rebels, the...

Saudi Arabia has mixed expectations ahead of Donald Trump's imminent second presidency. On the one hand, the royal family maintains close business relations with the president-elect and his entourage, which could lead to privileged access to the White House. On the other hand, Trump's Middle...

Für Saudi-Arabien ist die anstehende erneute Präsidentschaft Donald Trumps mit zwiespältigen Erwartungen verknüpft: Einerseits pflegt das Königshaus enge Geschäftsbeziehungen zum designierten Präsidenten und dessen Umfeld, was einen privilegierten Zugang zum Weißen Haus eröffnen...

On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime in Syria was overthrown by a rebel alliance led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The transitional government under Ahmad al-Sharaa now faces enormous economic, social and political challenges. It has yet to establish control over the country as a whole; and...

Seit 2023 verhandeln die USA mit Saudi-Arabien über ein Bündel an Abkommen, das auch einen Friedensschluss zwischen dem Königreich und Israel umfassen soll. Die beiden Staaten - einer wie der andere mit Washington verbündet - hatten angesichts iranischer Expansionsbestrebungen schon 2015...

Seit 2023 verhandeln die USA mit Saudi-Arabien über ein Bündel an Abkommen, das auch einen Friedensschluss zwischen dem Königreich und Israel umfassen soll. Die beiden Staaten - einer wie der andere mit Washington verbündet - hatten angesichts iranischer Expansionsbestrebungen schon 2015...

Am 8. Dezember 2024 wurde in Syrien das Assad-Regime durch eine von Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) angeführte Rebellenallianz gestürzt. Die Übergangsregierung unter Ahmad al-Sharaa steht nun vor immensen Herausforderungen - wirtschaftlich, gesellschaftlich und politisch. Noch hat sie auch...

This study examines the effect of the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests in Iran during the last quarter of 2022 on individual life satisfaction. To assess this impact, we use two original representative surveys conducted before and after the protests in 2022. The repeated cross-sectional dataset...

New ODI research underscores how women's movements are leading the push for democratic governance and inclusion, particularly in contexts of eroding civic space or where democracies are increasingly authoritarian. Yet, they face growing backlash from a rising tide of politicised religion. Based...

This research delves into the complexities of assessing polycentric development, focusing on Tehran's city-region. Using a systematic analytical approach, we examine geographical boundaries, center thresholds, and measurement indicators over time. Our findings highlight the crucial role of...

This study investigates the impact of US political sanctions on the earnings management practices of Iranian listed firms. Employing a difference-in-differences methodology and utilizing empirical data from 2013 to 2022, the study demonstrates that sanctions do not significantly influence...

Das iranische Atomprogramm ist wieder Gegenstand internationaler Verhandlungen. Sowohl die E3 (Deutschland, Frankreich, Großbritannien) als auch die USA haben Gespräche mit Teheran aufgenommen, die zu einer neuen politischen Verständigung führen sollen. Eine solche ist dringlich, denn die...

This study investigates the case of Iran to evaluate how changes in the intensity of international sanctions affect internal conflict in the target country. Estimating a vector autoregressive model for the period between 2001q2 and 2020q3 with quarterly data on internal conflict and its three...

Improving energy efficiency is vital for curtailing energy consumption and can have substantial impacts on alleviating carbon emissions. This study investigates the impact of sanctions on Iran's energy efficiency across different industrial sub-sectors from 2015 to 2019. We compute a sanctions...

Nach dem Angriff der Hamas auf Israel am 7. Oktober 2023 erklärte al-Qaida ihre Solidarität mit den Muslimen in Palästina und rief zu Anschlägen auf israelische und jüdische Ziele weltweit auf. Doch kann dies nicht darüber hinwegtäuschen, dass al-Qaida eine anhaltende Schwächephase...

Die Mitgliedstaaten der Europäischen Union (EU) haben am 16. Januar 2024 beschlossen, im Rahmen der Gemeinsamen Sicherheits- und Verteidigungspolitik (GSVP) einen Beitrag zur Sicherstellung der Freiheit der Schifffahrt im Roten Meer zu leisten. Seit November 2023 greifen dort jemenitische...

Entscheidungsträger im Maghreb bedienen seit Jahrzehnten Freund- und Feindbilder mit Blick auf zwei regionale Akteure, die in der MENA-Region am meisten umstritten sind: Israel und Iran. Offizielle Beziehungen zu Israel hat nur Marokko, zu Iran pflegen nur Algerien und Tunesien Beziehungen. Die...

While female labor force participation (LFP) in Iran is among the lowest in the world, there is hardly any study on the COVID-19 pandemic effects on the country's female LFP. We find that female LFP decreased during the pandemic years by around 1 percentage point in 2021 and 2022. When...

For decades, Maghrebi decision-makers have instrumentalised friend and foe narratives with regard to Israel and Iran, two of the most controversial regional actors in the MENA region. Only Morocco has official relations with Israel, only Algeria and Tunisia with Iran. A systematic analysis of...

Feminist foreign policy (FFP) provides a policy framework for government action and for processes and structures within ministries. The introduction of such a framework is linked to a change in policy that is intended to help reduce discriminatory asymmetric relations of power. FFP is a new...

While female labor force participation (LFP) in Iran is among the lowest in the world, there is hardly any study on the COVID-19 pandemic effects on the country's female LFP. We find that female LFP decreased during the pandemic years by around 1 percentage point in 2021 and 2022. When...

Sanctions have severe adverse effects on societies. Even though sanctions are used against governments, the population is punished for its government's behavior. Sanctions can create problems due to international migration. Iran is an unique case study because it faced the most and hardest...

This study examines the impact of international economic sanctions, imposed on Iran due to its nuclear program, on the development of the middle class. Specifically, it investigates how the middle class in Iran would have developed in the absence of these sanctions post-2012. To address this...

Die Idee, dass US-amerikanische Macht internationale Sicherheit schafft, ist in der politischen Elite der USA bis heute tief verankert. Sie liegt letztendlich auch den von den USA geführten Bündnissen, einschließlich der Nato, zugrunde. Doch tatsächlich erodieren die drei Säulen der Pax...

At least since Russia deployed North Korean artillery and ballistic missiles against Ukraine, it is obvious that Pyongyang fuels conflicts far beyond North-East Asia. Yet, the indirect threats that North Korea poses to Europe's security and stability have developed a new quality: Pyongyang is...

Spätestens seitdem Russland nordkoreanische Artillerie und ballistische Raketen gegen die Ukraine eingesetzt hat, ist offensichtlich, dass Pjöngjang weit über Nordostasien hinaus Konflikte schürt. Die Qualität, mit der Nordkorea Europas Sicherheit und Stabilität mittelbar bedroht, ist...

While there is increasing consensus in the academic debate on the regressive nature of energy subsidies and the necessity to reduce them, this is much less so for food subsidy reforms - not least because of the positive impact of food subsidies for food security. They make food affordable even...

This study investigates the case of Iran to evaluate how changes in the intensity of international sanctions affect internal conflict in the target country. Estimating a vector autoregressive model for the period between 2001q2 and 2020q3 with quarterly data on internal conflict and its three...

Sanctions have a long history dating several centuries. There has been a significant increase of sanctions after World War II. Those against Iran and Russia are at present in focus for the discussion of sanctions, but also other countries as Cuba and North Korea are sanctioned. There are several...

The study evaluates the effectiveness of Iranian government subsidies for households by comparing the welfare impact of food price shocks with the subsidy payments they receive. This helps us assess the government's efforts to reduce poverty in Iran. The household income and expenditure survey...

Globally, there is a constant growth in digitalisation and e-services. Their main benefits include higher transparency, reliability and accountability of service providers while strengthening fair competition and collaboration. This article improves upon previous literature by adding a new...

This paper aims to design the optimal structure of an innovation intermediary organization and its open innovation platform to facilitate the process of commercialization of inventions as well as establish efective communications between industrialists and researchers and inventors. Even though...

This study investigates the case of Iran to evaluate how changes in the intensity of international sanctions affect internal conflict in the target country. Estimating a vector autoregressive model for the period between 2001q2 and 2020q3 with quarterly data on internal conflict and its three...

This study addresses the critical challenge of predicting liquidity risk in the banking sector, as emphasized by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Liquidity risk serves as a key metric for evaluating a bank's short-term resilience to liquidity shocks. Despite limited prior research,...