Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies (ACPSS) was established in 1968 as an independent research unit functioning within the framework of Al-Ahram Foundation.
The Center has evolved over the times, especially in 1972, where its research scope did not halt at studying Zionism and the Israeli society, but expanded to incorporate the inclusive studies of international and strategic Issues, with a special focus on developmental issues of the international system, interactive trends between Arab countries and the international system, the regional framework surrounding them, and amongst one another. The Center devotes a large part of its activities to studying the Egyptian society from its various political, economical, military and social viewpoints. The center maintains complete independence in directing its research activities, and is keen on pertaining a philosophy of criticism; and is concerned in proposing an intellectual, investigative vision for the issues at hand. It also provides for the freedom of speech of its scholars and researchers in accordance to the guidelines of subjectivity and scientific research.
The programs of the center are the result of collective efforts built on a framework of democratic scientific research planning.
ACTIVITIES
The ACPSS tries to co-operate with different organisations and research institutions in the world, through the exchange of publications and information on topics of mutual interests. In addition, the Centre receives a number of visitors from abroad, including academic staff, prominent scholars, representatives of press and publishing agencies and the media, as well as members of diplomatic missions in Cairo.
The research carried out in the Institute focus mainly on issues of international politics which have a bearing on the Middle East in general, and the Arab-Israeli conflict in particular. The research is organised in program units and the audience envisaged are political leaders, policy makers, legislators, political organisations, political parties, national government, international community, military, policy analysts and researchers, academia, media and journalists, and the general public.
PUBLICATIONS
The Centre publishes three different monthly series of papers, both in Arabic and English, on various issues related to its areas of research:Israeli Digest Al-Ahram Strategic File, Strategic Papers, and the Strategic ReadingsThe ACPSS is also responsible for the publication each year of The Arab Strategic Report, a report issued by the ACPSS since 1985 that is considered a qualitative breakthrough in the academic activities of the Centre, and a turning point in Arab strategic thinking.
The Centre has published various books in 1996, among them The Limits of Power: The Use of Israeli Nuclear Weapons by Mohammed Abdel Salam; The Political Role of Interest Groups in Egypt, by Amany Kandeel; The Technological Revolution by Mohammed El Sayed Said.
Another initiative was the publishing of and a comprehensive report on religious Israel, where the roots of the continuing misconceptions on the religious sphere in Egypt since the 1970s are assessed.
