The General National Congress (GNC) on April 10 finally issued a constitutional amendment declaring that Libya’s constitution-drafting committee would be elected directly, rather than appointed by the GNC. While this puts to rest a longstanding debate that has held up much of the assembly’s—and the country’s—other work, the GNC has now officially set the stage for a protracted constitution-writing process of such complexity that it raises serious questions about the government’s ability to maintain stability in the interim period.

Please join the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security and Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East on April 19 for the release of their new report, A New Deal: Reforming US Defense Cooperation with Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia. The event will feature a discussion with the North Africa Task Force co-chairs, General George Casey and former Congressman Jim Kolbe.

With a number of political systems in the Middle East upended by the Arab Spring and increasing concerns about military-to-military relationships with transitioning countries, the United States has a unique opportunity to reexamine and reform its defense cooperation with Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia in particular.

Former US Army Chief George Casey and Congressman Jim Kolbe argue that the transitions in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia will be reversible unless and until their security agencies are better equipped to carry out their functions without abusing citizen rights or interfering in politics.

The Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East hosted a visiting economic delegation from Libya on Thursday, April 18 for a roundtable discussion on the economic challenges the country faces during its transition process.

Without foreign military intervention or a substantial boost in military support for the rebels, the civil war in Syria will probably destroy its state and economy. This has spurred much discussion in policy circles about Syria’s postwar reconstruction and economic recovery, which could cost an estimated $80 billion. Much of it has rightly focused on reestablishing and strengthening trade, investment, and monetary stability. But focusing solely on key sectors and best practices of development neglects the role of wartime elites in postwar economies.

Michele Dunne, director of the Hariri Middle East Center, joins Washington correspondent Pierre Ghanem for a discussion at the International Monetary Fund on the economic reforms needed to meet the challenges emerging out of complex political and social transformations in the Arab countries in transition.

Hariri Center Senior Fellow Frederic C. Hof was featured in an interview on Lebanon's daily Annahar discussing the Lebanese-Israeli maritime dispute.

Despite the grim realities we face on so many fronts in the Middle East today, there is reason to be optimistic about the long-term political trajectory of the Arab world. Arabs—especially young Arabs—are finally beginning to answer, on their own and from the ground up, the key question of the past century: what will follow the Ottoman system as the true source of political legitimacy? The emerging answer is that for governments to be legitimate, they must ultimately derive their powers from the consent of the governed. This, in my view, is the meaning of the Arab Spring.