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161. Fascism in Football: How the Beautiful Game Turned Ugly

Author:
Gabriele Cosentino
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Institution:
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
Abstract:
December 26, 2018 was supposed to be an exciting day for Italian football fans: it was the first time matches of the top national league, Serie A, were scheduled during the Christmas holidays, to add some sports fun to the festive season. The big match of the day was Inter Milan vs Napoli, a classic face-off between two of the most prominent teams in Italy. The post-match TV coverage, however, did not dwell on scored goals or athletic feats, but rather on the violent riots among Inter and Napoli fans that left one man dead. During the riots, Daniele Belardinelli, a supporter of the Italian team Varese, was mowed down by an SUV driven by a Napoli fan. Belardinelli was an ultrà, a slang term used to identify hardcore football fans, in Italy and across Europe. Ultras are a fixture of Italian football, well known for expressing their diehard fandom through colorful, sometimes scurrilous chants and highly choreographic banners. Unfortunately, they are also notorious for their racist and violent behavior and, increasingly, engagement in political extremism and illegal activities. While some ultras groups subscribe to progressive or leftist ideology, the great majority lean to the far-right. Often, groups supporting different teams form bonds along ideological lines. Ultras of Varese and Inter are both far-right oriented and have a long history of political alignment and mutual support. Belardinelli had joined fans of Inter Milan in an ambush against a busload of Napoli fans. Despite the attack’s careful planning—which managed to defy the police intervention—he was caught off guard by the car that rammed into the crowd of Inter fans and took his life.
Topic:
Politics, Fascism, Far Right, and Football
Political Geography:
Europe

162. Critical Education in the Age of Trump’s Fascist Politics

Author:
Henry A. Giroux
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Institution:
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
Abstract:
We live in a dangerous historical moment when fascist politics no longer lurk on the margins but occupy the centers of power. Across the globe—from the United States to Hungary, Chile, India, and Argentina, and elsewhere—authoritarian regimes are hollowing out democracy, merging violence with spectacle, and transforming education into a battlefield over truth itself. Journalists increasingly describe this shift as a “campaign of annihilation”. What is under assault is not simply the university or the classroom, but the capacity to think, remember, and act collectively. The struggle over education is therefore the struggle over democracy’s very promise. To reclaim education as a public good is, therefore, to reclaim the means through which consciousness becomes political, and politics becomes collective. The question before us is not merely whether education matters, but whether it can still awaken a public imagination capable of turning thought into resistance, and resistance into mass action. In such times, the issue is also whether education can survive as a democratic force in an age of emerging fascism across the globe.
Topic:
Education, Democracy, Fascism, and Donald Trump
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

163. Urbicide and the Brutal Unmaking of the City in Gaza

Author:
Muhammad Alaraby
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Institution:
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
Abstract:
The war in Gaza speaks volumes about the future of warfare—privatized by mercenaries, automated by the large-scale deployment of AI-enabled weaponry, mediated by the live transmission of atrocities, and totally urbanized as they erase life in city centres. Although the human losses in Gaza are staggering—killing 70 thousand people, amounting to outright ‘genocide’—the war has also resulted in large-scale ‘urbicide’ through the annihilation of Gaza’s city spaces. Yet, this aspect of war will not end as the dust of destruction settles; it may resume with a new peace plan that opens Gaza to global capital to reshape its future, as envisioned by Trump.
Topic:
Genocide, Artificial Intelligence, 2023 Gaza War, Urbicide, and Urban Warfare
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza

164. When European Semi-Fascism and Israeli Occupation Converge

Author:
Erwin van Veen
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Institution:
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
Abstract:
Semi-fascist parties in Europe support the exclusionary politics of Israel’s ultra-nationalists and ultra-religionists, raising concerns about their own plans once in office.
Topic:
Nationalism, Politics, Occupation, Fascism, Far Right, and Political Extremism
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

165. Using Sex to Sell Racism: How AfD Policies Defy Logic

Author:
Dagmar Herzog
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Institution:
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
Abstract:
The sexual politics of the new far-right parties like the Alternative für Deutschland are full of deliberate contradictions and obvious echoes of Nazism.
Topic:
Far Right, Sexuality, Alternative for Germany (AfD), and Nazism
Political Geography:
Europe and Germany

166. Lebanon and the Regional Conflict

Author:
Arab Barometer
Publication Date:
04-2026
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Barometer
Abstract:
Before Israel’s recent airstrikes and ground invasion in southern Lebanon as part of the widening regional war centered on Iran and its proxies, Lebanon was already in a condition of profound structural weakness. A recent survey of 1,200 randomly selected Lebanese citizens conducted by Arab Barometer in partnership with the Middle East Consultation Group of the Munich Security Conference provides key insights into conditions shortly before these recent events. The November 2025 survey presents a picture of a country that remained deeply pessimistic about the economy, distrustful of political institutions, and frustrated by corruption and state failure. Yet it also revealed a limited but important shift: for the first time in many years, Lebanese citizens exhibited greater hope. Compared with a survey conducted in spring of 2024, which was conducted before Israel’s major military campaign that severely weakened Hezbollah, the 2025 survey finds Lebanese were willing to place some confidence in state institutions and the future of their country. The Israeli attacks and ground incursions into Lebanon in March 2026 have displaced hundreds of thousands and turned a substantial share of the country into an active evacuation zone come within this framework. Depending on the exact extent of the current conflict, it is possible that these minor gains will face a major setback. Beyond Israel’s incursions, Lebanon has faced a number of other recent crises. In 2019, Lebanon faced one of the worst economic collapses in modern history. Political stagnation and the entrenched sectarian system resulted in a period where Lebanon lacked a president for more than two years from October 2022 to January 2025. At the same time, Lebanon faced significant challenges from the Syrian crisis next door with well over a million refugees being hosted in the country
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Corruption, Education, Health, Governance, Democracy, Refugees, Economy, Institutions, Armed Conflict, Labor Market, and Political System
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

167. Palestine 2025: Views on Domestic Challenges and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

Author:
Khalil Shikaki
Publication Date:
03-2026
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Barometer
Abstract:
This report is the second in a series covering the results of the ninth Arab Barometer (AB9) survey in Palestine. It presents findings related to three main issues: perceptions of the challenges confronting Palestinians two years after the Gaza war, attitudes toward the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and perceptions of regional and international actors. AB9 was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) in the West Bank and Gaza Strip between 8 and 26 October 2025. The period preceding the survey witnessed several important developments, including the continuation of the war in the Gaza Strip until a ceasefire was reached two days after fieldwork began. In the West Bank, settler violence and attacks continued against vulnerable and unprotected Palestinian communities, often without intervention by either Palestinian or Israeli police. In some cases, these assaults occurred with complicity or even encouragement from the Israeli government, while the Israeli army provided protection primarily to settlers. The army also imposed closures on Palestinian areas and restricted access to main roads throughout the West Bank. The ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was part of what became known as the 20-point Trump Plan, which made no reference to the situation in the West Bank. The period prior to fieldwork also witnessed a sharp decline in government services due to Israeli punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority (PA), including the seizure of clearance revenues. These measures forced the PA to pay only a portion of public sector salaries and curtailed its ability to provide basic services. Israel also imposed stringent conditions, demanding “reforms” that were widely rejected by Palestinian public opinion, such as changes to school curricula and the halting of payments to the families of prisoners and martyrs.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Public Opinion, Economy, Survey, and Israeli–Palestinian Conflict
Political Geography:
Middle East, Palestine, and Gaza

168. Palestine 2025: Views on Governance and Domestic Power Balance

Author:
Khalil Shikaki
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Barometer
Abstract:
Gaza War reshaped Palestinian society: priorities shifted from growth to basic services; trust mixed but satisfaction fell; civil liberties eroded. Public still values democracy yet increasingly favors a strong leader who can deliver stability. Politically, Fatah's support has collapsed, while Hamas has maintained its base, but the largest group is the politically alienated. Social norms grew more conservative. This landscape signals a deep crisis of governance and a public desire for new leadership. These are summary findings from the latest round of the Arab Barometer survey in Palestine, the ninth since these surveys began in the Arab world nearly twenty years ago. The survey was conducted by the institute for Polling and Survey Research West Bank and Gaza Strip during 8–26 October 2025. The period preceding the survey witnessed several important developments, including the continuation of the war on the Gaza Strip until a ceasefire was reached two days after fieldwork began. In the West Bank, settler violence and terror continued against vulnerable, unprotected Palestinian towns without intervention by either the Palestinian or Israeli police to stop these assaults—indeed with complicity and even encouragement in some cases from the Israeli government and with the army providing protection to settlers only. The Israeli army enforced closures on Palestinian areas and restricted Palestinians’ access to main roads in the West Bank.
Topic:
Corruption, Education, Migration, Governance, Democracy, Economy, Survey, Freedom, Political Participation, Palestinians, and 2023 Gaza War
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza

169. Where is AI in GDP statistics? Subtitle Filling the measurement gap

Author:
Anton Korinek
Publication Date:
05-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
Quality-adjusted AI production in the United States grew at over 2,000 percent per year in 2024 and 2025, driven by three compounding forces: expanding data-center capacity, hardware efficiency gains, and—the largest of the three—algorithmic progress. Treating the AI sector as a coherent economic entity yields preliminary estimates of nominal AI GDP at approximately $250 billion in 2025, growing at roughly 2,600 percent per year in quality-adjusted real terms. National economic statistics accounts were not designed to track this kind of activity. Statistics agencies should begin developing AI-focused satellite accounts now, before the measurement gap becomes a policy gap. Body The AI economy in the United States has been growing at an unprecedented rate, but this extraordinary growth is largely invisible in conventional GDP statistics. The authors propose developing an “AI GDP” framework to better measure AI’s growing role in the economy.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Economic Growth, Artificial Intelligence, and Productivity
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

170. Taking geopolitically motivated US swap lines too far would harm the dollar and Fed independence

Author:
Adnan Mazarei and Maurice Obstfeld
Publication Date:
06-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
Over the past century, the United States has provided dollar liquidity abroad through both the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve, but the appropriate mode of liquidity injection depends on the economic, financial, and geopolitical contexts. The Treasury is the more appropriate lending conduit when geopolitical concerns dominate, while Fed dollar provision should primarily be targeted toward global stability objectives and be more insulated from short-term foreign policy motives. Up to now, political abuses of these foreign lending channels have been constrained to some degree by laws, norms, and intergovernmental understandings, but adherence can no longer be assumed, so more formal guardrails are needed.
Topic:
Financial Crisis, Federal Reserve, Geopolitics, and Central Bank
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America