George Joffe

Joffe

George Joffe is a research fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge and visiting Professor of Geography at Kings College, London University, specializing in the Middle East.

Signs of hope in Libya

Analysis: After a year impasse, Tobruk and Tripoli look close to ending fighting militias as extremist groups threaten the country.

03 April, 2015

Ali Haddad and Algeria’s ‘economic barons’

Analysis: A new force – in the guise of Algeria’s leading businessmen and industrialists – is emerging to replace the gerontocratic military and security elite

27 March, 2015

Ennahdha bids for the long term

Comment: The Islamist party is looking to its long-term future within a democratic Tunisia, for which it believes it is crucial. Hence its move to bolster Nidaa Tounes, writes George Joffe.

20 March, 2015

Fracking won't fix Algeria's oil woes

Analysis: With a fast-growing population and depleting oil and gas reserves, Algiers believes fracking will save the day. But protests against the controversial extraction method have proven them wrong.

13 March, 2015

Derna: the Libyan breeding ground for IS

Analysis: Derna's reputation for extremism gave the Islamic State group its opportunity to establish in Libya, from where it has spread violence across the war-torn country, says George Joffe.

20 February, 2015

Paris soothes Rabat's ruffled feathers

Analysis: Since decolonisation, France and Morocco have been close allies. In recent years, the relationship has strained owing to Morocco's prickliness over Western Sahara, and undiplomatic language by a French ambassador.

13 February, 2015

Libya’s black hole sucks in the neighbours

Comment: Libya’s descent into full-blown civil war – again – seems inevitable. The country has, to all intents and purposes split into two. Surrounding states are slowly being sucked in.

06 February, 2015

The rise and rise of Slim Riahi

Tunisia's neo-liberal media and sports tycoon was offered a place at the top table of government - a deal that many in parliament, including Ennahdha, opposed.

31 January, 2015

Je ne suis pas Charlie! North Africa reacts

Reactions across the Muslim world to the first issue of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo published after the massacre have been uniformly negative, but in Algeria anti-Charlie demonstrations summoned the spectre of the civil war.

26 January, 2015

A rocky transition but Tunisia turned away from violence

The Ben Ali regime never succeeded in eliminating the Tunisian trade union movement or movements articulating popular protest over human rights and abuse of power. It was these very organisations that organised the demonstrations which destroyed the regime.

13 January, 2015