Francis Ghiles

Francis Ghiles is an associate fellow at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs.

Author Articles

A man sits at a bus station decorated with the national flag in Algiers. (Reuters)
Foreign interference sparks heightened concern in Algeria
May 18, 2019
Algerian students demand the overthrow of the "system" during protests in the capital Algiers, May 7. (AFP)
Can Algeria’s army lead the quest for a modern state?
May 11, 2019
False pretenses. Former Sonatrach CEO Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour (L) during a meeting with executives and employees at Hassi R’mel gas field, last October. (Reuters)
Sonatrach’s skeletons coming out of the closet
May 04, 2019
Police officers wait near a prisoner transport vehicle by the gate of a court, after businessmen suspected of corruption were driven into the building in Algiers, Algeria April 23, 2019. (Reuters)
A wave of arrests amid Algeria’s game of thrones
April 27, 2019
Patience running thin. Algerian Army Chief of Staff Ahmed Gaid Salah. (AFP)
Mediene’s rearguard wars in Algeria
April 20, 2019
Expecting turbulence. Abdelkader Bensalah after being appointed as interim president by Algeria’s parliament, April 9. (Reuters)
Algeria has an interim president, so what’s next?
April 13, 2019
Catalan Regional President Quim Torra (C) speaks in Barcelona, February 1, hours after pro-independence leaders were transferred to Madrid ahead of the start of their trial. (AFP)
Political earthquake likely after Spain’s snap elections
March 30, 2019
Extraordinarily resilient. Algerians take part in a demonstration against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algiers, March 15. (DPA)
The two Algerian generals’ war of shadows
March 30, 2019
Algerian demonstrators take part in a protest calling on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to quit, March 22. (Reuters)
The Algerian Army has fateful decisions to make
March 23, 2019
Identity issue. During a protest in Algiers, March 15, the Algerian flag is hoisted below the Berber banner. (AP)
The key lessons of Algeria’s protests
March 16, 2019
Algerian riot police clashes with protestors (not pictured) demonstrating in Algiers against Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, on March 8. (DPA)
Algeria has turned a page in its modern history
March 09, 2019
The Algerian flag with the words written on it that read, “System get out, free Algeria” is held as protesters rally in Paris against the Algerian president’s bid for a fifth term in office, February 24. (AFP)
Events in Algeria surprise the French
March 02, 2019
A view of a large structure with flags of five Maghreb countries in the Moroccan city of Oujda. (Wikipedia)
A united Maghreb could play greater role on the world stage
February 23, 2019
Showing the way. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (L) and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, last September. (Reuters)
China’s deep pockets in Egypt
February 16, 2019
People pray at the Grand Mosque of Saint-Denis near Paris. (AFP)
France’s Muslim paradox
February 09, 2019
A migrant walks past an inscription reading, in French, “Neither Salvini, nor Macron” in the Alpine border town of Claviere, some 100km west of Turin. (AFP)
Migration at the heart of French-Italian crisis
February 02, 2019
Uphill battle. A Muslim woman holds posters as she protests against ‘hate and islamophobia’ in Brussels, last September 9. (AFP)
Misinterpreting Islam in the West
January 26, 2019
Cover of Andrew Bacevich's “America’s War for the Greater Middle East,” 2016.
The disaster of US democratic imperialism
January 19, 2019
Political tremors. French president Emmanuel Macron attends a meeting, December 22. (AFP)
A weaker Macron is good news to European populists
January 12, 2019
Cover of Sumantra Bose’s “Secular States, Religious Politics: India, Turkey and the Future of Secularism.”
Why Turkey’s authoritarian drift is unlikely in India
January 05, 2019