In this MEI Policy Paper, Thomas Juneau examines Iran’s role in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and the Arab-Israeli conflict to explain why Iran is not a “rising regional hegemon” but rather a “mid-sized regional power frustrated at not reaching its ambitions.”
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Power Politics, Nuclear Power, and Geopolitics
Political Geography:
Iraq, Iran, Middle East, Israel, Yemen, Palestine, and Syria
In this MEI Policy Paper, Ross Harrison asserts that a new regional order is emerging out of the conflicts of the Middle East. The relationships among the pillars of this order--Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran--are crucial, as they will largely determine "whether the future of the Middle East will be a continuation of the current chaos and destruction or a more positive transition toward stability and prosperity." Harrison argues that global powers must concentrate on creating conditions conducive to cooperation among the pillars.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Geopolitics, and Political stability
Political Geography:
Iran, Turkey, Middle East, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt
Proliferation and intensification of coercive force in the Arab world since 2011, combined with apparent decay of Arab states, seems at first glance to run counter to the implicit predictions of two relevant bodies of literature. The modernization school, which emerged as Arab states were becoming independent in the 1950s, held that Arab militaries were state builders—mobilizing, integrating, and organizing their societies to face development challenges, including that of inter-state war. More or less simultaneously, European-focused historical sociology, led by Charles Tilly, made the case that war making, requiring as it does increased domestic extraction coupled with subordination to central authority of internal rivals, was the engine of state making. And indeed, the historical trajectory of the Arab world for some half a century up until 2011 seemed to substantiate both views, as militaries and states grew in tandem under the ever present threat of war.
Topic:
Armed Forces, Military Affairs, Democracy, State, and Monarchy
This is a capstone paper for a series of MEI scholar articles titled “The Middle East and the 2016 Presidential Elections."
Will the 2016 vote for president be a foreign policy election? How will the Middle East figure in the campaign as it gains momentum? The accepted wisdom is that domestic issues, especially economic matters, will be decisive in voters’ minds. A year away from the election, it is unclear whether foreign policy issues will figure in a major way but the portent is there. The turbulent Middle East could easily burst into election politics as it has several times in the past.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Politics, and Elections
Political Geography:
Middle East, North America, and United States of America
Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
Abstract:
The report’s purpose is to equip City of Toronto decision makers with the information they need to identify and evaluate short and medium term policy, planning, and investment options that pertain to the onset of self-driving cars. The report provides independent analysis of statistical and qualitative information, drawing on literature reviews by the author and by UTTRI.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Infrastructure, Green Technology, and Urban
Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO)
Abstract:
The article ‘The Future of NATO in the New Security Environment. A Former Newcomer’s View’, analyses the role of NATO alliance in the contemporary security environment within the context of its priorities defined by new Strategic Concept 2010, having special attention on potential role of former newcomers and potential new members.
Topic:
Security, NATO, Diplomacy, International Cooperation, Military Strategy, and Deterrence
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, North Atlantic, North America, and United States of America
AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:
Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:
This article investigates some of the reasons behind the events that led to a recent shift in international relations towards the global geopolitical and a renewed competition between the great powers. The aim is to point out important ideas of authors and put them to dialogue between each other. It calls attention to the possibility of an alternative political and economic bloc being built around China against a decline of US power. These points are deepened when it is identified other key features of the current system that involves the discussion about classes. The current configuration of class alliances and states involves the complex dynamics of the working classes in the Global South, the use of debt as a means of domination by the economic and financial world, as well as the new professional middle class - that give values to knowledge, technology and democracy. It is these relationships and their interface with the existing political power that permeate the revival of the global geopolitics, influencing not only current events, but also any possibility of thinking an alternative for governance and international framework - or even the failure of this and a consequent and possible new conflict worldwide.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Democracy, Geopolitics, Class, and Strategic Competition
AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:
Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:
This article aims to analyze the case of the acquisition of Vosper frigates by the Brazilian Navy, which took place in early 1970. Besides being an illustrative case of foreign policy disputes, it demonstrates how economic interests can define the foreign policy of nations. The business of frigates is considered strategic for the relationship between Brazil and the United Kingdom.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Navy, Maritime, and Economic Cooperation
AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:
Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:
This study will first present a series of striking similarities between the imperial Japanese predicament in China and the contemporary U.S. quagmire in post-Saddam Iraq. Second, the study will provide a theoretical perspective on why the two cases share such commonalities. Third, the study will explore the implications of the perspective to international politics, with a focus on the future of the U.S. hegemony. The study is based on the basic understanding that the developing world across regions today has continued to suffer the ongoing single macro-historical process consequent upon the breakdowns of empires as the once-predominant organizational mode of human societies. The analysis argues for the central importance of a stable national identity for modernization and development as well as freedom and democracy.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Imperialism, Nationalism, Military Intervention, and Modernization
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, China, Iraq, Middle East, and Asia
AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:
Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:
The article addresses Angola’s foreign policy towards Southern Africa (1975–2010) and assesses its posture facing the changing order of the regional system and explanations for such behavior, linked to the process of construction of the State and the interests and security of the elites that define foreign policy.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Regional Cooperation, and Military Strategy