What do we mean when we talk about MENA?
hosted by Professor
Nathalie Tocci
Issandr El Amrani
Managing Director of Programs at Open Society Foundations
In recent years ways to describe what has since the 1970s been called "Middle East and North Africa" or MENA have evolved. Terms like "West Asia" or "Southwest Asia and North Africa" (SWANA) have become more common. This shift tells us something about the geopolitical convulsions of the region and the way power is being reconfigured across it over the last 25 years of upheaval. The reality is not so much a single region but overlapping and sometimes competing ways of imagining ideas of regional order that embody geopolitical, ideological and economic priorities.
ISSANDR EL AMRANI
Issandr Amrani has worked on politics and international affairs in journalism, think tanks and foundations since 2000. He founded The Arabist blog in 2003, developing it into an influential platform for analysis and commentary on MENA politics and culture. His reporting and essays have appeared in The Economist, London Review of Books, Financial Times, The Guardian, The National, Foreign Policy, Middle East Report and other leading outlets.
Issandr has held senior leadership roles in major institutions shaping international policy and in philanthropy. Between 2013 and 2019, he was North Africa Project Director at International Crisis Group, directing research and advocacy on conflict prevention. Between 2019 and 2026, he served successively as Executive Director of the MENA Program and Managing Director of Programs at Open Society Foundations, managing diverse portfolios in the Middle East, Europe and Latin America on issues including human rights, governance, civil society, economic justice, democracy, conflict resolution and technology.
His career began in journalism, starting with local publications in Egypt. His first job was as reporter for the Cairo Times, a feisty newsweekly where his interest in Arab politics and culture developed alongside his political engagement for human rights and democratic change in the region. He later was a co-founder of another magazine, Cairo.
Born in Morocco and raised across the U.S., Europe and the Middle East, he has lived and worked in Egypt, Morocco and Jordan for over 25 years. He is currently based in Brussels with his family.
