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Projects

MERI provides expert analysis on major issues related to the Middle East through independent and rigorous research. A number of diverse projects have been initiated under MERI’s research programs. The projects are managed by dedicated fellows and currently include:

Liberating Mosul: Pre and Post Factors for Consideration

The aim of this project is to develop recommendations for the various actors involved in the liberation of Mosul. The key point being that the structural and political issues need to be addressed alongside the military plan for Mosul and before any military engagement. Additionally, this project places importance on the development of a detailed post-conflict reconstruction plan.

Relevant publications:
Private: The Future of Mosul: Before, During, and After the Liberation
Governing Nineveh After the Islamic State: A Solution for All Components
Roundtable on “The Future of Mosul: Before, During, and After the Liberation”
And the Marginalisation goes on: Iraq and the Politics of Domination
The Battle for Mosul: Pre and Post ‘Liberation’ Planning
Liberating Mosul and the Future of Ninewa
Defeating the Islamic State will take more than Gunpowder

Perceptions of Reconciliation and Conflict Among Iraqi Minority Groups

This research aims at understanding perceptions of reconciliation and conflict among five minority groups in the North of Iraq. Those groups include Christians, Yazidis, Shabaks, Turkmen, and Sabean-Mandaeans. The Islamic State’s advances in 2014, paired with the political and economic crises that have bedevilled Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government, exacerbated communal relationships among the communities who have been living in the North of Iraq and may incite new tensions if left unchecked. The Middle East Research Institute (MERI), in conjunction with the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) seeks to examine intra- and inter- relationships among those minority groups as well as their relations with both The Central Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government.