Mofeed Digest (January – March 2022)

The following digest summarizes the most important scholarly and policy publications, reports, and articles covering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the politics, economies, and societies of the Arab world. Mofeed Digest is produced by Mofeed Project Coordinator Serage Amatory.

[MENA | Algeria | Bahrain | Comoros | Djibouti | Egypt| Iraq| Jordan| Kuwait| Lebanon| Libya| Mauritania| Morocco| Oman| Palestine| Qatar| Saudi Arabia| Somalia| Sudan| Syria| Tunisia| UAE| Yemen]

MENA

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Exploration of Early COVID-19 Pandemic Health Care and Public Health Responses in Select Middle East Nations
Rand Corporation, Date Unspecified
This report analyzes the results of a quick turn study evaluating the anti-COVID-19 strategies adopted by Middle Eastern governments, including Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, and Tunisia.

Impact of COVID-19 on Women in Iraq and Yemen
UN ESCWA, Date Unspecified
Published and compiled by UN ESCWA, these studies assess the impact of COVID-19 on the economic, social, and political participation of women in Iraq and Yemen.

In the MENA Region, Building Back Does Not Need to Cost Much
World Bank, 18 January 2022
This blog-post examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on earnings, poverty, and inequality in the MENA region. It builds on several WB reports, most notably “Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa Region” (available in ARABIC).

What Arabs Think About Education During The COVID-19 Pandemic
Arab Barometer, 21 January 2022
This Arab Barometer article summarizes MENA citizens’ attitudes toward education in their countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. This data was collected through surveys held in seven Arab countries during the pandemic.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Gender Equality and Food Security in the Arab Region with a Focus on the Sudan and Iraq
Care Evaluations, 7 February 2022
This analysis explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender equality and food security in the Arab region with a focus on findings from Iraq and Sudan. It is the product of joint collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and CARE International (CARE). 

Assessing Vaccine Hesitancy in Arab Countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region: A Scoping Review Protocol 
BMJ Open, 11 February 2022
This article reviews the determinants of vaccine hesitancy in the MENA region, highlighting the importance of geographic, cultural and religious factors.

Egypt and Tunisia Get Covid-19 Vaccine-Making Know-How
The National News, 18 February 2022
The World Health Organization announced Egypt, Tunisia, and four other African states as participants in a program poised to provide countries with training and gear required to produce mRNA vaccines. 

Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health and Quality of Life: Is There Any Effect? A Cross-Sectional Study of the MENA Region
PLoS ONE, 1 March 2022
This study assesses the effect of the pandemic on mental health and quality of life in the MENA region, based on an online survey covering 6,142 adults from eighteen different countries.

Tracing Cultural Relations Through The COVID-19 Crisis
Arab Media & Society, 1 March 2022
This article reviews cultural relations trends during the COVID-19 crisis in the MENA region.

UNHCR MENA COVID-19 Response Factsheet (January 2022)
Relief Web, 10 March 2022
This article reviews the pandemic in the MENA region from the lens of IDPs, refugees, asylum seekers, and stateless persons. It shows that nineteen MENA countries have included refugees in their local vaccination programs.

Introduction to COVID-19 MELG Special Issue
Middle East Law and Governance Journal, 30 March 2022
The Middle East Law and Governance Journal launched a special edition titled “MENA and COVID19: State and Societal Responses.” This introductory article  summarizes the content of the special issue, which addresses how various political actors appropriated pandemic responses to reassert their power.

Dyadic Analysis of Fragile Middle Eastern States and Humanitarian Implications of Restrictive covid-19 Policies
Middle East Law and Governance Journal, 30 March 2022 
This article compares the policies implemented by various Middle Eastern countries to contain the spread of the coronavirus.  Authors found that fragile states tended to be characterized by a higher proportion of restrictive policies, lower government stringency, and lower compliance. The results identify sectors that would benefit most from humanitarian aid and raise the issue of whether restrictions are disproportionately implemented due to covert political agendas or lack of political and economic power.

Defiant Worship: Religious Liberty Talk and Rights in COVID-19 Pandemic Times
Journal of Church & State, 31 March 2022
This assesses religious liberty claims during the COVID-19 pandemic times. Specifically, the authors draw on interactive social media content collected from Facebook and Twitter during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to examine responses to the public health measures that restricted indoor forms of religious assembly. 

Algeria

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COVID-19 and Algeria’s Labor Movement
The Project on Middle East Political Science, Date Unspecified 
This article discusses the effects of COVID-19 on labor mobilization in Algeria through displaying the challenges that COVID-19 restrictions have created. The article is part POMEPS Studies #45 entitled, “Labor and Politics in the Middle East and North Africa.”

The Natural Resource Curse Unmasked: The Economy and Trade Finance in Algeria in the Shadow of COVID-19
UN ESCWA, February 2022
According to this ESCWA working paper, Algeria’s reliance on oil and gas exports  is limiting the country’s economic growth, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The economy is in serious need of more diversification away from the oil sector

Spatial Diffusion of COVID-19 in Algeria during the Third Wave
GeoJournal, 3 March 2022
This article analyzes the spatiotemporal variations of reported coronavirus and death cases in Algeria to identify the differential geographic impact of the third wave of the virus.

Diversity Impact on Vaccine Equity in Algeria
Minority Rights Group, 4 March 2022
This report analyzes social media discourse around COVID-19 vaccination in Algeria, including knowledge of, access to, and confidence in the vaccine among the population with a special emphasis on the Amazigh community. 

Bahrain

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Does Influenza Vaccination Help Reduce Incidence of COVID-19 Infection Among Hospital Employees?
Medicine (Baltimore), 14 January 2022 
This study investigates the effect of influenza vaccination on the incidence and severity of COVID-19 among members of staff working in the Bahrain Defense Force Hospital.

COVID-19 Recovery Patterns Across Alpha (B.1.1.7) and Delta (B.1.617.2) Variants of SARS-CoV-2
Frontiers in Immunology, 14 February 2022
This research studies the length of stay of alpha and delta variants of COVID-19 in both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. The study covered patients admitted to COVID-19 treatment facilities under the Bahrain Ministry of Health between 1 January 2021 and 30 May 2021.

Bahrain Approves Valneva’s COVID-19 Vaccine for Emergency Use
Alarabiya News, 1 March 2022
France's Valneva vaccine has been granted emergency use authorization in Bahrain. 

Comoros

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The Impact of Covid-19 on Household Welfare in the Comoros
World Bank, March 2022
This World Bank working paper shows the impact of COVID-19 lockdown measures on the Comoros’s household welfare, poverty and labor market outcomes. 

Djibouti

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Djibouti Shows Signs of Recovery but Challenges Remain
The World Bank, 7 March 2022
This World Bank blog-post builds on a WB Report titled “Navigating Through the Pandemic and Regional Tensions,” which provides an update on the country’s recent economic developments and its macroeconomic outlook.

Egypt

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Egypt: The Resilience of the Egypt Economy in the face of COVID-19 Shocks and High Commodity Prices
Frontiers in Public Health, 17 January 2022
This article analyzes the dynamics of the utilization of healthcare services in Egypt. Teaching hospitals have demonstrated preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic by maintaining an inpatient bed occupancy rate of 70% or less and ventilator utilization at <40% of confirmed cases. However, the ICU bed occupancy rate was more than 90% indicating a shortage of resources. In addition, there is variance across hospitals regarding caseload for resource reallocation decisions.

COVID-19 Related States’ Obligations under International Human Rights Law: An Assessment of Egypt’s COVID-19 Response through a Gender Lens
Australian Journal of Human Rights, 20 January 2022
This article assesses Egypt's Covid-19 response to the international obligation to adopt restrictive and mitigation measures aiming to limit the spread of COVID-19, while limiting disproportionate effects on women's health, exposure to domestic violence, and girls’ education rates.

Egypt Approves Merck COVID-19 Pill, Says to Be Produced Locally
Arab News, 24 January 2022
Egyptian authorities have approved Merck & Co's COVID-19 pill Molnupiravir for emergency use. The drug will be produced locally by five Egyptian companies. 

World Bank’s Covid-19 Emergency Response in Egypt
Arab Watch Coalition, 1 February 2022
This report reviews the implementation of two World Bank programs, namely “Transforming Egypt's Healthcare System” and “Covid 19 Emergency Response.”

Scaling up Egyptian Community Action for Health towards COVID-19 (Multicenter Study)
The Egyptian Journal of Community Medicine, 5 February 2022
This study examines Egyptian citizens’ behavioral changes in response to COVID-19 and evaluates their perceptions of the government’s handling of the pandemic. 

Adherence to COVID-19 Preventive Measures Among Male Medical Students, Egypt
Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association, 17 February 2022
This is a study identifying the adherence to Covid-19 preventive measures among 537 male medical students of Al-Azhar University in Cairo. The prevalence of adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures among studied students was 28.1%. Wearing a face mask outside the house was practiced by 58% of students, avoiding hugging or kissing others by 41.3%, and keeping a distance from others by 20.7%.

Egypt: The Resilience of the Egypt Economy in the face of COVID-19 Shocks and High Commodity Prices
Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S Department of Agriculture, 24 February 2022
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise in commodity prices globally, Egypt succeeded in maintaining inflation rates within the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE’s) target range at a time when many countries of the world are witnessing a wave of high inflation.

Egyptian Consumers Are Becoming More Digital as COVID-19 Accelerates Digital Transformation
PwC Middle East, 15 March 2022
A survey results from Egypt showed that 72% of respondents had become 
“more digital’ over the span of the last 6 months, especially with mobile shopping. 

Domestic Violence Against Married Women during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Egypt
BMC Women's Health, 27 March 2022
A cross-sectional study examined the effect of the pandemic on violence against married women in Egypt, and its effect on mental health. It shows that the overall prevalence of economic and some types of physical and emotionally abusive behaviors have been increased after the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic.

Iraq

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Comparing COVID-19 Control Model Between Iraq and Iran
UKH Journal of Social Sciences, 1 January 2022
This article analyzes the response strategies utilized by Iraq and Iran, with comparison of the impacts and outcomes of each strategy used for controlling the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The results show that travel ban, restrictive containment, and support from the international community in controlling the spread of the virus had a more positive impact in Iraq compared to Iran.

Pediatric COVID-19 Infection in Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq
American Journal of Otolaryngology, January-February 2022
This study assesses the demographic and clinical presentations and symptoms of COVID-19 and its variants.  

COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance, Hesitancy and Refusal Among Iraqi Kurdish Population
International Journal of Health Sciences, January-February 2022
Based on a cross-sectional online survey conducted between April and May this study analyzes the determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and hesitancy in Kurdistan, Iraq. 

Child Protection and COVID-19: Iraq Case Study
World Vision, 16 February 2022
This World Vision publication summarizes the measures taken by the organization’s staff in Iraq to ensure child protection systems in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes the establishment of child protection committees and raising awareness among parents. 

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Towards COVID-19 Among Healthcare Workers in Iraq
Journal of Ideas in Health, 21 March 2022
This article reports the findings from an online cross-sectional study held in Iraq’s Anbar province in October 2020. The article examines and assesses the knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare workers.

Jordan

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The Threat of the COVID-19 Pandemic to Human Rights: Jordan as a Model
Journal of Human Rights and Social Studies, 17 January 2022
This article studies the impact of the pandemic on human rights in Jordan. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country suffered from weakness in its labor market, lack of public safety tools, and other social impacts on human rights and freedom of media and expression. 

Physicians’ Health-Related Quality of Life and Its Associated Factors During COVID-19 Pandemic in Jordan: A Cross-Sectional Study
Evaluations and the Health Professions Journal, 18 January 2022
This study investigates the health and occupational determinants of health-related quality of life levels among Jordanian physicians during COVID-19 pandemic. 

Women’s Labor Force Participation and COVID-19 in Jordan
Middle East Institute, 1 February 2022
This article showcases the inequitable participation of women in the labor force in Jordan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jordan has the lowest rate of women’s economic participation of any country not at war. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the kingdom’s female labor force participation rate is below 15%, while that of men is about 60%. 

Compounding Inequalities: Adolescent Psychosocial Wellbeing and Resilience Among Refugee and Host Communities in Jordan during the COVID-19 Pandemic
PLoS One, 2 February 2022
This article sheds light on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on displaced populations and refugees. 

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Healthcare Workers in Jordan towards the COVID-19 Vaccination
Vaccines Journal, 9 February 2022
This article studies the knowledge and perception of Jordan’s healthcare workers of the COVID-19 vaccine. Findings show that physicians were more likely to take the vaccine due to their higher knowledge of its components, side effects, and other aspects. 

Predictors of Social Response to COVID-19 Among Health Care Workers Caring for Individuals with Confirmed COVID-19 in Jordan
F1000 Research, 14 March 2022
This article analyzes the perception of social discrimination and coping strategies among healthcare workers caring for individuals suffering from COVID-19 in Jordan. 

Impact of Coronavirus 19 Pandemic on Contraception in Jordan
Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 15 March 2022
This cross sectional study examines t the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on family planning in Jordan. 

Stigma toward Healthcare Providers from Patients during COVID-19 Era in Jordan
Public Health Nursing, 25 March 2022
This study explores health care workers’ stigmatization from patients during the pandemic's outbreak in Jordan. Results showed that a wide group of people show high stigma towards health care providers, in correlation with various factors, including constant exposure to news, having children, and smoking.

Kuwait

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Using a Stochastic Continuous-Time Markov Chain Model to Examine Alternative Timing and Duration of the COVID-19 Lockdown in Kuwait: What Can Be Done Now?
Archives of Public Health, 8 January 2022
This article studies the optimal timing and duration of a full lockdown in Kuwait that would result in controlling new infections and lead to a substantial reduction in case hospitalizations. The model shows that a 90-day lockdown that commences 10 days before the epidemic peak is optimal. A more realistic duration of 45 days can achieve about a 45% reduction in both new infections and case hospitalizations.

Risk Factors for Mortality in Patients with COVID-19: The Kuwait Experience
Medical Principles and Practices, 26 January 2022
This article studies the baseline characteristics and evaluates the risk factors for in-hospital mortality in patients admitted to hospitals with COVID-19 in Kuwait.

COVID-19 (2020) Impact on Air Quality of the State of Kuwait
Preprints, 18 February 2022
This article investigates the impact of COVID-19 on seven air pollutants from the period January 2020 to December 2020 in the State of Kuwait. Authors found that concentrations for the pollutants decreased during the pandemic due to the decrease of anthropogenic sources including such as traffic and petroleum activities, but the concentration for PM2.5 increased, mostly because of the transported dust coming with the northwest winds prevailing in Kuwait from the Arabian deserts and Iraq.

COVID-19 and Threats to Irregular Migrants in Kuwait and the Gulf
International Migration, 28 February 2022
This article investigates lived experiences of 26 irregular migrants residing in Kuwait when the pandemic occurred. It finds that network support continued to provide an essential element in enabling migrants’ survival. Intermediaries such as kafeels (sponsors) were often unavailable or unwilling to provide assistance. Authors conclude that the health and welfare of irregular migrants require special policy attention since they now face an enhanced risk of being apprehended and deported.

Lebanon

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The Impact of Lockdown and Other Stressors during the COVID-19 Pandemic on Depression and Anxiety in a Lebanese Opportunistic Sample: An Online Cross-Sectional Survey
Current Psychology, 5 January 2022
This article evaluates the psychological impact of the lockdown in Lebanon. A cross-sectional, online survey was conducted during the lockdown period in order to punctually assess depression, anxiety symptoms as well as eating and substance use disorders while identifying factors that might affect those outcomes.

Assessment of COVID-19 Vaccines Acceptance in the Lebanese Population: A National Cross-Sectional Study
Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice, 11 January 2022
This article assesses COVID-19 vaccines’ acceptance and its related determinants in the Lebanese population. Around 63.4% if respondents have reported their acceptance for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Analysis showed that a higher knowledge scale, living in an urban residential area, having hypertension, not having a food allergy, reporting a higher fear to experience COVID-19 infection, and receiving or wanting to receive influenza vaccine, were positive predictors of COVID-19 vaccines acceptance.

Epidemics and Local Governments in Struggling Nations: COVID-19 in Lebanon
PLoS ONE, 27 January 2022
This article documents the range of preparedness/reactivity of Lebanon’s municipalities as COVID-19 swept through the country. It explores municipal response to control the epidemic, using in-depth semi-structured interviews with stakeholders across all governorates in Lebanon.

Covid-19 in Outpatient and Inpatient Asthmatics in Lebanon: Real-Life Experience
The Journal of Allergy And Clinical Immunology, 1 February 2022
This article finds an asthma point prevalence of 6.41% among Lebanese patients hospitalized for COVID-19 infection. Preliminary results showed a mild to moderate outcome in most COVID-19 asthmatic outpatients followed in a specialty clinic, with complications not greater than the normal population.

COVID-19 Contact Tracing during First Delta Wave, Lebanon, 2021
MedRxiv, 1 February 2022
Theis article describes the close tracing approach and profile of close contacts identified during the first delta wave. It highlights a need to adapt the quarantine measures to close contacts based on their profile, and to ensure easy access to free testing.

Hesitancy to COVID-19 Vaccines among University Students in Lebanon
International Journal of Infectious Diseases, March 2022
This article assesses the readiness and behavioral intentions of students enrolled at the American University of Beirut (AUB) to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine. Results showed a low hesitancy rate among students enrolled at AUB.

Learning & E-Learning Loss: Syrian Children Refugees Between The Brusqueness Of Covid -19 And The Slackness Of Lebanese Authorities
Human Rights Pulse, 1 March 2022
The initial educational crisis facing refugees was exacerbated by the economic free fall of Lebanon, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the learning and e-learning obstacles caused by the discriminatory laws of the Lebanese authorities. This article endeavors to identify the dominant causes of learning loss in this case, the positive aspects of e-learning as well as the obstacles, and to analyze the result of the Lebanese authority’s disregard vis-à-vis the Syrian students.

The Politics of COVID-19 Vaccine Equity among Refugee Populations in Lebanon
Journal of Global Health Economics and Policy, 4 March 2022
This article explores Lebanon’s COVID-19 responses, as vaccine equity in the country.

Libya

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The Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Their Families in Tripoli, Libya
IberoAmerican Journal of Medicine, 2 February 2022
This article investigates the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on children with ASD and their families in Tripoli, Libya.

Evaluate the Extent of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) Of Protection and Prevention of COVID-19 in Libya: A Nationwide Online Cross-Sectional Survey
Healthcare Review, 5 February 2022
This article evaluates the extent of knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards protection and preventive measures of the COVID-19 outbreak in Libya. 

Mauritania

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Mauritania: Fighting the Pandemic One Jab at a Time
World Bank, 21 January 2022
This World Bank feature acknowledges that Mauritania has been one of the leading countries in Africa in championing COVID-19 vaccination with more than 40% of the adult population being fully vaccinated. It also lists the key drivers for the success of Mauritania’s vaccine roll-out.

Morocco 

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The Unexpected Transition to Distance Learning at Moroccan Universities amid COVID-19: A Qualitative Study on Faculty Experience
Social Sciences and Humanities Open, Date Unspecified
This study examines the faculty experience of online distance learning/teaching amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Morocco.

Are Moroccan Free School Support Websites Effective for Learners During the Covid-19 Pandemic?: A Study Based on an Evaluation Grid
International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education, Date Unspecified 
This article assesses some Moroccan free school support websites and their effectiveness for learning. 

Machine Learning Approaches in Covid-19 Severity Risk Prediction in Morocco
Journal Of Big Data, 6 January 2022
This study aims to estimate COVID-19 illness severity based on data rom Morocco. This Machine Learning approach will help determine which cases should have the priority in receiving medical care and hospital admission. 

Forecasting Covid-19 Transmission with ARIMA and LSTM Techniques in Morocco
SN Computer Science Journal, 14 January 2022
This article predicts the outbreak of COVID-19 in Morocco based on Regressive Integrated Moving Average(ARIMA) and Long short-term memory(LSTM) models. 

Distance Learning Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: Moroccan University Students’ Perceptions
The Teacher Educator, 1 February 2022
This article sheds light on the online-learning experience of 113 Moroccan students in an English department amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mental Health Profiles in a Sample of Moroccan High School Students: Comparison Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic 
Frontiers in Psychiatry, 21 February 2022
This study assesses the impact of COVID-related restrictive measures on the mental health of Moroccan youth. 

MSME Resilience in Morocco in the Face of COVID-19
Relief web, 30 March 2022
This repost analyzes the risks faced by Moroccan enterprises of micro, small and medium sizes in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oman

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Corporate social responsibility budgeting and spending during COVID-19 in Credibility in Risk Communication: Oman’s Official Arabic COVID-19 Risk Communication and Its English Translation
Finance Research Letters, 11 January 2022 
COVID-19 is causing economic panic among people, governments, and businesses, requiring greater corporate social responsibility (CSR). Using a sample of Omani-listed firms, this article shows that CSR budgeting and spending have increased considerably during the pandemic. It also shows that CSR budgeting is positively affected by the increase in COVID-19 deaths. CSR spending increases with the number of COVID-19 confirmed and fatal cases. These findings suggest that firms resort to CSR to reduce the negative consequences of the pandemic.

Observations on Food Consumption Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Oman
Frontiers in Public Health, 25 January 2022
This article studies the perceptions of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on behaviors related to diet and food shopping on a sample of 356 adults in Oman.

Palestine

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Forgotten Behind Bars: COVID-19 and Palestinian Prisoners Detained in Israel
Health and Human Rights Journal, 2 February 2022
This article reviews Israeli policies toward Palestinian detainees amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It argues that Israel has done little to protect the approximately 4,500 Palestinian detainees and prisoners held in Israeli facilities, including 700 detainees with pre-existing medical conditions.

Impact of COVID-19 on the Contracting & Engineering Companies in Gaza Strip
Open Journal of Civil Engineering, March 2022
This study assesses the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on construction and engineering companies in Gaza. 

Public knowledge, Attitude, and Acceptance toward COVID-19 Vaccines in Palestine: A Cross-Sectional Study
BMC Public Health, 17 March 2022
Based on cross-sectional study held across Palestinian regions, this article identifies Palestinians’ knowledge of and attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Unwillingness or Reluctance of Palestinians to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine: The Reasons Behind It and How to Persuade Them
International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 25 March 2022
This article analyzes the factors behind low COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among Palestinians, attributing it to false rumors, misinformation, and conspiracy theories circulated on social media.

Qatar

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The Impact of Changes in Work Arrangements During COVID-19 Pandemic on the Lifestyle of Qatar's Working Population
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, February 2022
This article uses a web-based survey to explore the impact of changing work arrangements in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic on diet, physical activity, body weight, and sleep of Qatar's working population. 

Epidemiological and Outcome Analysis of COVID-19-Associated Pneumothorax: Multicentre Retrospective Critical Care Experience from Qatar
BMJ Open, 21 February 2022
This article assesses the characteristics, treatment, associated risk factors and outcome of COVID-19-associated pneumothorax in intensive care units (ICU) in Qatar. 

Post-COVID-19 Stroke Rehabilitation in Qatar: A Retrospective, Observational Pilot Study
Qatar Medical Journal, 28 February 2022
This article analyzes the relation between COVID-19 and strokes in Qatar to understand the possible predictors of functional gain. It explores the functional gain in post-COVID-19 patients with stroke following active rehabilitation services in Qatar to understand the possible predictors of functional gain. Findings suggest that active rehabilitation services and immediate intervention will be required to rehabilitate post-COVID-19 patients with stroke, a vulnerable population, to achieve adequate functional improvement.

Saudi Arabia

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Post-Acute COVID-19 Condition in Saudi Arabia: A National Representative Study
Journal of Infection and Public Health, May 2022
This article characterizes the symptoms that appear after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has been eradicated and to determine their relationship with COVID-19 severity. The loss of smell, the loss of taste, shortness of breath, and fatigue were the main persistent symptoms.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Psychological Health of a Sample of the Health Care Workers in the Western Region of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Middle East Current Psychology, 19 January 2022
This article evaluates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological health of health care workers in Saudi Arabia.

Adverse Drug Reactions from Two COVID-19 Vaccines Reported in Saudi Arabia
Drugs and Therapy Perspectives, 22 January 2022
This article reveals the nature and classification of reported adverse drug reactions of the two COVID-19 vaccines (tozinameran and ChAdOx1) among citizens and residents living in Saudi Arabia. It shows possible differences between the two vaccines. The study found that the frequencies of most listed ADRs were statistically different when seven batches of tozinameran vaccine were compared.

COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia: An Overview
Frontiers in Public Health, 2 February 2022
This analysis of COVID-19 cases in Saudi Arabia attempts to assess the situation, explore its global percentage share, percentage of population affected, and local distribution from the beginning of infection until recently, tracing historical developments and changes.

The Prevalence of Depression and Related Factors During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among the General Population of the Jazan Region of Saudi Arabia
Cureus, 6 February 2022
This article investigates the rates of depression associated with the COVID-19 pandemic along with mitigation measures such as lockdown in the population of the Jazan region in Saudi Arabia. It assesses the psychological impacts of the pandemic on this culturally unique region to see if it affected as many as other reported places in the world.

COVID-19 Cases and Deaths After Implementation of Prevention Strategies, Saudi Arabia
Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, 27 February 2022
This article studies the incidence of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia during different phases of prevention strategies and explores their effects on controlling the spread of the disease. It concludes that the health system of Saudi Arabia efficiently used lockdown and curfew periods to prepare for management of confirmed cases of COVID-19, reflected by the decreased incidence and mortality rates in phase 5.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Quarantine on Physical, Nutritional, Psychosocial Life and Work Aspects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, March 2022
This article examines the impact of COVID-19 quarantine on physical, nutritional, psychosocial life, and work aspects on the population of Saudi Arabia. COVID-19 quarantine was negatively correlated with the physical, nutritional, psychosocial life and work aspects of Saudi Arabia’s population. 

Impact of COVID-19 on Mutual Fund Performance in Saudi Arabia
Cogent Economics & Finance, 31 March 2022
This article assesses the performance of actively managed Saudi Arabia mutual funds during the COVID-19 outbreak and investigates the potential impact of COVID-19 growth on the measured performance.

Somalia

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Survival Analysis of All Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19 Admitted to the Main Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, 30 March–12 June 2020: Which Interventions Are Proving Effective in Fragile States?
International Journal of Infectious Diseases, January 2022
Authors conducted a survival analysis for 131 patients with coronavirus disease 2019 in Somalia and examined interventions to improve outcomes in this low-resource and fragile setting. The paper shows that risk factors for deaths included age ≥60 years, cardiovascular disease and use of non-invasive ventilation and that patients who received oxygen alone were more likely to survive than patients who were ventilated.

Child Protection and COVID-19: Somalia Case Study
WorldVision, 16 February 2022
This report from World Vision studies children’s rights and wellbeing in Somalia during the pandemic. It shows how decades of armed conflict, climate-induced disasters, weak protective structures, disease outbreak, and poverty have left children and their families struggling to meet their basic needs and access essential services. The report analyzes the impact of three new shocks from 2020: COVID-19, significant flooding, and the Desert Locust invasion.

Evaluating COVID-19 Decision-Making in a Humanitarian Setting: The Case Study of Somalia
PLOS Global Public Health, 16 March 2022
This article evaluates the process of policy and operational decision-making in relation to the COVID-19 response in Somalia, a chronically fragile country, focusing particularly on the use of information and the role of transparency. 

Monitoring COVID-19 Impact on Households in Somalia
The World Bank, 16 March 2022
The World Bank builds on a 2020 Somali High Frequency Phone Survey and augments it with a new Somali COVID-19 Household Monitoring Dashboard. The dashboard includes four key findings areas: knowledge of COVID-19 and preventive behaviors, access to basic needs, employment and income, and shocks; users can analyze the data across time, gender, and location.

Sudan

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The Socioeconomic Impacts and Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Omicron Variant: The Case of Sudan
International Journal of Development and Economic Sustainability, 4 January 2022
This article assesses the socio-economic effects and implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Omicron variant in Sudan. The study shows that Sudan's economy was already stressed before the COVID-19 pandemic, due to currency crises, high inflation rates, and the inability of the authorities to provide subsidies. It found that the outbreak of coronavirus and subsequent lockdown in the 1st wave had further worsened the socio-economic situation due to a sharp downfall in productivity, supply, and demand.

Oral Health in Sudan: The Current Situation during COVID-19 Pandemic
Pan-African Medical Journal, 8 February 2022
This article sought to investigate the various challenges involved in the provision, access, and utilization of oral healthcare services in Sudan, as well as to describe the current situation in the context of COVID-19.

COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance among Healthcare Staff in Sudan, 2021
Journal of Immunology Research, 9 February 2022
This article assesses healthcare staff's knowledge, perception, and acceptability of various types of COVID-19 vaccination. It reveals the presence of good knowledge and acceptability among medical staff towards COVID-19 vaccinations in Sudan.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy among Indigenous People in Sudan: An Incipient Crisis
Annals of Medicine & Surgery, 15 February 2022
Despite numerous interventions planned and implemented by the Federal Ministry of Health, with assistance from State Ministries of Health and partners such as UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Bank, a few localities in Sudan continue to have low vaccine uptake compared to target populations, particularly among the elderly and those with illnesses.

The Distribution and Determinants of COVID-19 in Sudan, 2020/2021: Analysis of Surveillance Data
ResearchSquare, 17 March 2022
This study uses surveillance data to better understand the distribution and determinants of COVID-19 in Sudan and to construct a threshold level beyond which a dramatic surge may occur. 

Syria

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From Preparedness to Vaccination : WHO Syria - Special COVID-19 Report
ReliefWeb, 16 January 2022
ReliefWeb reports on the World Health Organization’s work in Syria in this special report. Syria's healthcare sector was already falling apart due to war, where less than 50% of hospitals were fully functioning.  

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among People in Syria: An Incipient Crisis
Annals of Medicine and Surgery, 1 February 2022
This study examines reasons behind vaccine hesitation among Syrians. It shows that citizens especially in rural areas are reluctant to receive the vaccine due to countless factors including the vaccine's side effects, the country's conflict, and displacement.  

Mental Health Impacts of Humanitarian Crisis on HCWs in Syria Amidst COVID-19
Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 10 February 2022
This article studies the impact of the humanitarian crisis in Syria as well as the pandemic on healthcare workers’ mental health. With the rise of violence and attacks against HCWs and healthcare facilities in Syria, around 70% of the health workforce have left the country. The estimated number of citizens with mild to moderate mental health disorders has also increased. 

COVID-19 Disease in Syrian Patients With Cancer: Clinical Manifestations, Laboratory Findings, Treatment, and Outcomes
JCO Global Oncology, 1 March 2022
This article aims to examine the clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, recovery, and outcomes of cancer patients with COVID-19 infections in Syria. 

Shattered Lives: Understanding the Mental Health and Psychosocial Needs of Women and Children in Northwest Syria
World Vision International, 28 March 2022
Interviews held by World Vision's Syria Response team with mental health and psycho-social support staff have shown that mental health needs in Syria are intensifying especially among women and children. 

COVID-19 Infected Patients’ Experiences in Syria, and the Role of the Pharmacists during Their Infection
Pharmacy Practice, 29 March 2022
This article assesses the experience and symptoms of COVI-19 patients in Syria, and the means pharmacists used to contribute to their recovery.

Tunisia

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COVID-19 in Tunisia (North Africa): Seroprevalence of SARS-COV-2 in the General Population of the Capital City Tunis
Research Square, 4 February 2022
This cross-sectional survey among households living in two areas of Tunis shows that more than one third of the citizens got antibodies to SARS-COV-2 by the end of the second epidemic wave. 

Molecular Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Tunisia (North Africa) through Several Successive Waves of COVID-19
Vaccines MDPI, 17 March 2022
This study provides genetic information on SARS-COV-2 that has been circulating around Tunisia for over 17 months, causing a significant number of infections and death.

UAE

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Prevalence, Knowledge and Potential Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptability Among University Students in the United Arab Emirates: Findings and Implications
Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 11 January 2022
This article assesses the prevalence, knowledge, and acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine among university students in the UAE. 

Global Healthcare Transactions Series: Impact of COVID-19 Healthcare Mergers and Acquisitions in UAE
Morgan Lewis, 2 March 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic created many uncertainties and challenges for investors and operators alike across the Middle East, including in the United Arab Emirates, which is often considered a regional healthcare and business hub. As a result, 2020 saw many transactions in the healthcare sector either abandoned or put on hold, but the region has since demonstrated signs of a strong recovery in the transactional space in general and particularly in the healthcare industry.

Ethnicity-Specific Features of COVID-19 Among Arabs, Africans, South Asians, East Asians, and Caucasians in the United Arab Emirates
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 16 March 2022
This study used a retrospective chart review of 560 laboratory confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to urgent care, aiming to stratify the risk factors for the multinational society of the UAE. 

Motivational Factors to Receive the COVID-19 Vaccine in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study
Journal of Community Health, 24 March 2022
The UAE has witnessed one of the best vaccination campaigns globally. The motivation of residents in UAE to receive the vaccine varied, where most were health related and others non health related. Nationality was also a relevant factor.

Yemen

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Impact of Falling Remittances Amid COVID-19 on Yemen’s War-Torn Economy
International Food Policy Research Institute, Date Unspecified
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic battered economies across the world, Yemen had already experienced a half decade of civil war, resulting in a loss of approximately 45 percent of its real GDP by the end of 2019, according to the Yemeni Ministry of Planning. As the conflict continued, remittances from Yemenis working outside the country kept many households afloat and became an increasingly important source of income, estimated at $3.77 billion in 2019 — around 13 percent of GDP.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Utilization of Health Services at Public Hospitals in Yemen: A Retrospective Comparative Study 
BMJ open, 3 January 2022
This study examines health services in Yemen both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in public hospitals, aiming to assess the effect of the pandemic on the utilization of health services.

ACAPS Thematic Report: COVID-19: Current Situation and Reasons for Vaccine Hesitancy
Relief Web, 11 January 2022
This article presents data related to COVID-19 infections and explores factors behind vaccine hesitancy. 

Great Disaster: The Impact of COVID-19 on Yemen
Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship and Public Policy, February 2022
This study explains how the civil war in Yemen and the COVID-19 pandemic affect the healthcare sector, as well as the pandemic's effect on the economy.

While China now innovates in many of these technologies, it also continues to acquire Western intellectual property through a coordinated assault that represents what former NSA Director General Keith Alexander calls “the greatest transfer of wealth in human history.” And every technological innovation that China can possibly militarize it does, through a strategy of “civil-military fusion.” With this accumulated power, Beijing plans to force Asia’s most vibrant liberal democracy, Taiwan, to “reunify with the motherland.” It also seeks to establish unilateral Chinese control over the resources and sea lanes of the South China Sea, and then gradually to push the United States out of Asia.

Russia’s aggression must be understood in this broader context of authoritarian coordination and ambition, challenging the values and norms of the liberal international order, compromising the societal (and where possible, governmental) institutions of rival political systems, and portraying Western democracies — and therefore, really, democracy itself — as weak, decadent, ineffectual, and irresolute. In this telling, the democracies of Europe, Asia, and North America — especially the United States — are too commercially driven, too culturally fractured, too riven by internal and alliance divisions, too weak and effeminate, to put up much of a fight.

At the same time, China, Russia, and other autocracies have been denouncing the geopolitical arrogance of the world’s democracies and confidently declaring an end to the era in which democracies could “intervene in the internal affairs of other countries” by raising uncomfortable questions about human rights. 

On the eve of the Beijing Winter Olympics on February 4, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping issued a joint statement denouncing Western alliances and declaring that there were no limits to the strategic partnership between their two countries. Many analysts believe Putin told Xi then that he was about to invade Ukraine and that Xi probably said, okay, just wait till the Olympics are over and make it quick. 

Four days after Xi’s closing Olympics fireworks display, Putin launched his own fireworks by invading Ukraine. It has been anything but successful or quick. Xi cannot possibly be pleased by the bloody mess that Putin has made of this, which helps to explain why China twice abstained in crucial UN votes condemning the Russian invasion, rather than join the short list of countries that stood squarely with Russia in voting no: Belarus, Eritrea, Syria, and North Korea. Xi must think that Putin’s shockingly inept and wantonly cruel invasion is giving authoritarianism a bad name.

It is also costing China a lot of money in global trade at a time when China’s economic growth rate has slowed dramatically. And it’s undermining the narrative China was trying to push that the autocracies know what they are doing and represent the wave of the future. Moreover, this is coming at a moment when one of China’s two most important cities, Shanghai, is gripped by panic and a substantial lockdown over the Covid-19 virus, which Xi’s regime has no other means to control except lockdown, because it has refused to admit that the vaccines it developed are largely ineffective against the current strains of Covid, and instead import the vaccines that work.

All of this explains why this moment could represent a possible hinge in history as significant as the 1989-91 period that ended the Cold War. 2021 marked the fifteenth consecutive year of a deepening democratic recession. In both the older democracies of the West and the newer ones of the global South and East, the reputation of democracy has taken a beating. A narrative has been gathering that democracies are corrupt and worn out, lacking in energy, purpose, capacity, and self-confidence. And this has been fed by real-world developments, including the reckless and incompetent US invasion of Iraq, the 2008 financial crisis, steadily rising levels of economic inequality, widespread job losses, economic insecurity and status anxiety due to globalization and technological change, and the challenges of managing cultural diversity amid expanding immigration. These factors have fed or at least facilitated the rise of populist challengers to liberal democracy and the decay of democratic norms and institutions across many democracies — rich, poor, and middle-income. 

The Germans have a word for these trends in the global narrative:  “zeitgeist” — the spirit of the times, or the dominant mood and beliefs of a historical era. In the roughly 75 years since WWII, we have seen five historical periods, each with their own dominant mood. From the mid-1940s to the early 60s, the mood had a strong pro-democracy flavor that went with decolonization. It gave way in the mid-1960s to post-colonial military and executive coups, the polarization and waste of the Vietnam War, and a swing back to realism, with its readiness to embrace dictatorships that took “our side” in the Cold War. Then, third, came a swing back to democracy in southern Europe, Latin America, and East Asia, and a new wave of democracy, from the mid-1970s to around 1990. That period of expanding democracy was then supercharged by a decisively pro-democratic zeitgeist from 1990 to 2005, the so-called unipolar moment in which one liberal democracy, the U.S., predominated. That period ended in the Iraq debacle, and for the last 15 years, we have been in the tightening grip of a democratic recession and a nascent authoritarian zeitgeist. 

Could Russia’s criminal, blundering invasion of Ukraine launch a new wave of democratic progress and a liberal and anti-authoritarian zeitgeist? It could, but it will require the following things.

First, Russia must fail in its bid to conquer and extinguish Ukraine. The United States and NATO must do everything possible, and much more than we are doing now, to arm and assist Ukraine militarily, and to punish Russia financially and economically.

Second, we must wage a more effective and comprehensive battle of information and ideas to expose Russia’s mendacity and criminality and to document its war crimes, not only before the court of public opinion, but in ways that reach individual Russians directly and creatively. We need an intense campaign of technological innovation to circumvent authoritarian censorship and empower Russian, Chinese, and other sources that are trying to report the truth about what is happening and to promote critical thinking and the values of the open society. In general, we need to promote democratic narratives and values much more imaginatively and resourcefully. The message of the Russian debacle in Ukraine is an old one and should not be difficult to tell: autocracies are corrupt and prone to massive policy failures precisely because they suppress scrutiny, independent information, and policy debate. Democracies may not be the swiftest decision makers, but they are over time the most reliable and resilient performers.

Third, we must ensure that we perform more effectively as democracies, and with greater coordination among democracies, to meet the challenges of developing and harnessing new technologies, creating new jobs, and reducing social and economic inequalities.

Fourth, to win the technological race, for example in semiconductors, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, and many other fields of science, engineering, and production, we must open our doors more widely to the best talent from all over, including China. We URGENTLY need immigration reform to facilitate this. As our late colleague George Shultz said:  Admit the best talent from all over the world to our graduate programs in science and engineering, and then staple green cards to their diplomas.

Finally, we have to reform and defend our democracy in the United States so that it can function effectively to address our major domestic and international challenges, and so that American democracy can once again be seen as a model worth emulating. We cannot do this without reforming the current electoral system of "first-past-the-post" voting and low-turnout party primaries, which has become a kind of death spiral of political polarization, distrust, and defection from democratic norms.

I believe we entered a new historical era on Feb 24. What the Ukrainian people have suffered already in these seven weeks has been horrific, and it will get worse. But the courage and tenacity of their struggle should renew our commitment not only to them but also to ourselves—that freedom is worth fighting for, and that democracy, with all its faults, remains the best form of government.

FSI scholars are now engaged with their network of Ukrainian alums, checking in on their safety and plans, while also advocating on behalf of a democratic Ukraine in major media outlets. McFaul has given Congressional testimony, written op-eds, been involved in back-channel discussions with senior administration officials, and even appeared on the Stephen Colbert show to discuss the issue. He is the co-editor of "Revolution in Orange," a 2006 book that examines Ukraine’s democratic breakthroughs.

Francis Fukuyama, the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow and former director of FSI’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), has recently published articles on the strategic situation in Ukraine while sharing everyone’s deep concerns for Ukrainians under assault.

“We’ve been trying to help them in any way we can,” he said.

To deepen FSI’s expertise on Ukraine, the institute has established a Director’s Fund for Ukraine Initiatives, which will provide discretionary support for research, teaching, and policy outreach on Ukraine.

From Activism to Political Leadership

Well before the Russian invasion, FSI was already helping Ukraine cultivate its democracy.

“Our theory of change,” Fukuyama said, “is that we understand we can’t do things like provide policy advice very well to a country that’s so far away from us. But what we can do is try to help train a new generation of leaders who will inherit power, and in the near future, hopefully lead the country to a better outcome as we keep in touch with and support them.”

Toward this, the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program provides a 10-month academic training fellowship in support of three mid-career practitioners working actively as policy-makers, legal professionals, entrepreneurs and leaders of civil society organizations in Ukraine.
 

Alums of this and other programs include Artem Romaniukov, a civil society activist now in Ukraine who trained in the Emerging Leaders Program during 2019-20; the former Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, a visiting scholar in 2021; and Nataliya Gumenyuk, a Draper Hills alum from 2018 and Ukrainian journalist who’s now writing about the war, including social media posts in real-time – “I’m reporting on the ground in Kyiv on what I see with my own eyes,” she wrote.

Oleksandra “Sasha” Ustinova, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and alum of the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program (2018-19), is lobbying members of Congress. “We are still negotiating for help. And I tell them that every day of negotiations is thousands of lives,” Ustinova told the Washington Post. She was in Washington, D.C., when Russia invaded Ukraine, and has been unable to return.

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, a Ukrainian rock musician who also holds a degree in theoretical physics, was a visiting scholar in 2017-18. After his time at Stanford he created a new political party, Holos, in his country. More recently, after the Russians bombed a children’s and maternity ward in Mariupol, he posted a video on Twitter on his observations while assisting on the scene there. In another video, Vakarchuk is seen singing to Ukrainians who are sheltering in the subways. He has traveled to major cities during the conflict — including badly targeted ones such as Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhzhya — raising morale among troops and civilians.

Changes may be afoot for the Emerging Leaders Program. Fukuyama said it may not be viable for next year, because Ukrainian men are currently not allowed to leave the country. “One thing we’ve been thinking of is possibly converting that program into a more research-oriented program on Ukraine,” he said.

Fukuyama said that for the Leadership Academy for Development, rather than bringing people to campus, FSI sends faculty to countries like Ukraine to deliver one-week intensive training sessions to classes of 25. He says the academy has been held in Ukraine a half dozen or so times, including in its capital of Kyiv, with an estimated 150-200 participants.

Making the transition from civil society into actual politics is one of the key messages in the 17-year-old Draper Hills Summer Fellows program, Fukuyama noted. An alumna, Svitlana Zalishchuk (’11), won a seat in Ukraine’s parliament, along with alumni Serhiy Leshchenko (’13) and Mustafa Nayyem (’14). Before joining government, Zalishchuk led a Ukrainian NGO focused on freedom of speech. After serving in parliament, all three of these alums are now working directly to defeat Putin’s invading army: Leshchenko is an aide to Zelenskyy’s chief of staff; Nayyem is the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, and Zalishchuk works for Ukraine’s state-owned gas company, Naftogaz.

In a recent BBC interview, Zalishchuk said, “I think the Ukrainian president made it very clear — he will not surrender, the Ukrainian army is backing him, the Ukrainian people are backing him, and the international community also demonstrated an incredible unity to stand up to Putin.”

Long before the Russian invasion, FSI’s special relationship with Ukraine attracted prominent coverage. In 2016, The New Yorker article, “Reforming Ukraine After the Revolutions,” described how the Draper Hills Summer Fellows program helped Ukrainian journalists Leshchenko and Nayyem rise to political leadership around the time of Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution in 2014.
 

Fukuyama explained how the program works: “We teach them about the structures of democracy as if they were Stanford undergraduates – this is what different political systems look like, here is how you can effect political change.”

Another on-campus program designed to offer research and teaching opportunities to former senior government officials is the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Visiting Fellow program, which brought the former prime minister of Ukraine, Oleksiy Honcharuk, to FSI in 2021. Honcharuk said then, “Stanford is the best place to rethink Ukraine’s past and plan the future, and that’s why I am especially happy to be here and add my expertise and experience to this important process.”

Alum Perspective from the Frontlines

Artem Romaniukov ('20), is now in Ukraine fighting the Russians with a rifle in hand and his family nearby.

“I was with my wife and six-year-old daughter in Kyiv when Putin’s invasion of Ukraine began. I grabbed my family and brought them to a place I thought they would be safer. Then I immediately volunteered to join the Ukrainian Defense Force. I have already seen active fire, which has resulted in a dreadful number of casualties, both for Ukrainians and Russians,” he wrote in an article for FSI. He is currently in Western Ukraine awaiting a new deployment.

An entrepreneur with his own start-up company, Mriya, Romaniukov worries about the consequences the war is having on Ukraine's economy. 'For my own company, and with many Ukrainian businesses, we have managed to move our operations to safe places and are ready to export services. But international companies are concerned about the security situation and whether it is viable to place orders with Ukrainian firms. But it is crucial to keep the Ukrainian economy working right now.”

Ukrainian Student Perspectives

In a time of great uncertainty and anxiety, Ukrainian and other students on campus have found solace and solidarity at teach-ins and events hosted by FSI scholars, sharing what they’re doing to help family and friends back home and to raise awareness on campus.

Writing in the Stanford Magazine, Anastasiia Malenko, a junior studying economics and political science, described an online chat she was participating in with friends back home when the first Russian bombs began hitting Ukrainian cities. On the day after the invasion, Malenko organized a protest with a Stanford Ukrainian student group, urging immediate sanctions on Russia as well as military and humanitarian aid to the country. She also helped create a website, standwithukraine.how, and joined in the writing of a Stanford Ukrainian Community Joint Statement on Russia’s War Against Ukraine.

She later wrote in an email, “My family and friends are now demonstrating continued resilience in their fight for freedom against the Russian invaders. From coordinating humanitarian aid to managing local volunteer networks, they are writing the history of an independent democratic Ukraine.”

Malenko, who will join the CDDRL honors program as a senior, considers herself fortunate be in touch with friends and family back home. “As the rest of the world, I am hearing their stories of resilience, perseverance, pain, and calls for help … One of the bright moments is telling them about the support I’ve been witnessing on the Stanford campus and beyond — it makes them feel seen.”

She said FSI’s programs fully demonstrate the institute’s commitment to Ukraine. “Through my undergraduate career, these programs have been invaluable as they provided room for Ukrainian perspective in a field of Eastern European studies, usually dominated by the focus on Russian colonial history.”

Stanford’s Unwavering Support

FSI’s support of Ukrainian democracy reflects what Stanford stands for as a university dedicated to research, teaching and engagement – its slogan is “the winds of freedom blow.” When President Marc Tessier-Lavigne addressed the Faculty Senate on Feb. 24 shortly after the Russian invasion, he said, “There are scholars within our community who bring experience and deep insight to this range of issues, and who will help policymakers as they navigate this situation.”

He added, “It is important to remember that an international conflict of this scale will have effects and consequences for many members of our community, in many different ways. This is a difficult moment, and my thoughts are with all who are affected.”

A few days earlier, as Russian forces massed and an attack loomed, Tessier-Lavigne had joined McFaul to meet with Ukrainian students and scholars who had assembled for a dinner gathering at the latter’s home. The Stanford president was also instrumental in lighting up the iconic Hoover Tower on March 11 in the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag as a show of solidarity with the country and its people.

Policy, Research and Discovery

Steve Pifer, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and William J. Perry Research Fellow at FSI’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), said the Ukrainians have resisted the Russian invasion with courage, tenacity and determination, surprising many, particularly in the Kremlin, which significantly underestimated the resistance that the Russian military would encounter.

“For many Ukrainians, this is an existential fight.  If they lose, they lose their democracy, however imperfect it might be.  And they also lose the vision that many, particularly the young, hold for Ukraine: to become a normal European state, such as the Czech Republic or Slovenia” he said.

Pifer has worked with CDDRL on conferences and panels on Ukraine and has many relationships with fellows from the Emerging Leaders Program. “That is a great project that gives young, rising Ukrainians the chance to study and think at Stanford about how best they can develop a modern Ukrainian state. And they have gone back to do some remarkable things.”

He says CDDRL maintains an active network of Ukrainian alumni of its programs:  “It has been interesting to keep up with some of them, both via Zooms and in person when I have visited Kyiv.”

FSI scholars like Pifer have long studied Ukraine, Russia and post-Soviet bloc nations in the context of emerging democracies. In 2002, McFaul wrote about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the prospects for democracy in Eastern European countries like Ukraine.
 

In his article “The Fourth Wave of Democracy and Dictatorship: Noncooperative Transitions in the Postcommunist World,” McFaul noted that “the balance of power and ideologies at the time of transition had path dependent consequences for subsequent regime emergence,” whether democratic, partially democratic or autocratic.

In another essay, “Indifferent to Democracy” prescient of FSI’s future Ukrainian efforts, he argued for boosting democratic aspirations in those countries by “empowering human rights activists through high-level meetings with U.S. officials” and launching “assistance programs designed to strengthen the independent media, trade unions, political parties, civil society and the rule of law.”

In February of this year, as Russia built up its forces near Ukraine, McFaul wrote about Russian president Putin’s greatest fear: “To Putin, the Orange Revolution undermined a core objective of his grand strategy: to establish a privileged and exclusive sphere of influence across the territory that once comprised the Soviet Union.”

Rose Gottemoeller, the former Deputy Secretary General of NATO and Steven C. Házy Lecturer at CISAC, has written that, “In some ways, the simplest solution for NATO and the United States would be for Ukraine to decide that it didn’t want to join NATO, take it out of the constitution, and reinsert a provision about nonalignment.” However, she notes that the U.S. should make it clear that Ukraine won’t be ready for this for decades, and that a “moratorium is the best way of doing this at this point.”

On Russia’s misinformation efforts, Kathryn Stoner, the Mosbacher Director at CDDRL and an expert on Russian politics, told the Los Angeles Times that Russian outlets like RT harbor Russian propaganda.

“It is definitely the mouthpiece of the Russian government,” said Stoner, author of the 2021 book, "Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order."

Fukuyama makes an optimistic case for what the post-invasion world might look like: “A Russian defeat will make possible a ‘new birth of freedom,’ and get us out of our funk about the declining state of global democracy. The spirit of 1989 will live on, thanks to a bunch of brave Ukrainians.”