• Historical perspectives
• Current Political and Socio-Economic Development of the Regions
• Gender issues from legal aspects to education and participation in different economic sectors as well as their rapid increasing role in the society
• The Background, Rights and Socio-Economic Role of different Ethnic and Religious Minorities in the MENA region

• Economic Perspectives, including:

  • Financial Perspective in general as well as the Islamic Financial Sector and the role of Islamic Banking,

  • Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), Customs Unions (CUs) as well as other Preferential Arrangements (GSPs),

  • Energy Policy, including Oil- and Gas issues, Wind-, Solar- and Nuclear projects,

  • Water Resources and Climate Perspective

Historical Perspectives such as 

• Economic and Trade Perspectives during the Colonial Eras including Protectorates and Mandates.
• Myths and Realities in an Algerian - Moroccan contexts; National History Writing, related to their respectively territorial definition.
• Sunni-Shia conflicts and rivalries in the Middle East and Noth Africa during the centuries
• Jews living in North Africa during the last 2000 years.
• Historical perspectives of the Kurds and Berbers/Imazighen
  

Current Political and Socio-Economic Development of the Regions

• Recurring updating of analyses on the Political and Socio-Economic Development of the Regions and Individual States to highlight new Tendencies and Possibilities.
• The Impact of Current Conflicts and Shortcomings for individual states
  

Gender issues from legal aspects to education and participation in different economic sectors as well as their rapid increasing role in the society

• The growing influence of Saudi Women - a silent and remarkable innovation?
• Is the Development of Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Nordic States an Inspiration for Women in North Africa
• Comparison of Women political and economic positions in Morocco and Tunisia
• The women in the states of the Arab Gulf, progress and strength
• Experiences of Women in Oman
  

The Background, Rights and Socio-Economic Role of different Ethnic and Religious Minorities in the MENA region

• Legitimacy and National Identification; Berbers’ Reactions to their Socio-Economic Conditions in Maghreb
• The Alevies in Turkey and the Alewites in Syria, a Comparative Approach
• Ibadi in Maghreb, Its roots, development and The Ibadis policies during the last decades, and participation in the Arab Spring

Economic Perspectives in General, including Islamic Finance, Energy

• Economic Aspects of the Gulf Wars,
• Turkey’s foreign policy strategy and foreign trade policy under the rule of the AKP,
• Investigation of possibilities to promote regional economic development and growth in the MENA region - With focus on development of institutional capacity.
• Central Asia, Energy, and Trade Policies from the SCO’s Perspectives.
• Turkey and its economic policy towards Asia and its new formal relationship with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
• The basic rules of Islamic Finance and development in the Arab Gulf States
• Islamic Finance in the Arab Gulf States - of Rapid Growing Importance
• The extensive investments in new Energy Alternatives; Wind, Solar and Nuclear projects in the Arab Gulf States and in Morocco
• Increasing need for handling the scarce water resources in the MENA region

Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)

• The Barcelona process; the EURO-MED trade policy
• The future of the WTO – three scenarios
• The Least Developed Countries (many in sub-Saharan Africa) and World Trade
• Possibilities and Problems Related to Free Trade and Economic Co-operation with the EU: A Maghreb Perspective
• The Complicated Relationship Between the EU and the Arab Gulf States Members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - Broken negotiations and disappointments
• Africa in the global trading system. International trade relations and agreements
• Climate Change and Conflicts in West Africa; How to develop more regional strength through improved FTAs, including agricultural policy, and fishery agreements.
• Comparison of the EU’s FTAs with those of the US’ Towards Countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
• Case studies: Jordan, Bahrain, Morocco and Oman