The impact of intelligence on decision-making: the EU and the Arab Spring

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 737-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubén Arcos ◽  
José-Miguel Palacios
2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 431-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aylin Güney ◽  
Nazif Mandacı

This article critically analyses Turkish security discourses connected to the meta-geography of the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) before and after the developments of the Arab Spring. A critical geopolitics approach and critical security theories in international relations provide the theoretical framework, as security discourses are considered to be a product of geopolitical imaginations and codes that, in turn, shape the making of foreign and security policies. First, the article examines the invention of BMENA as a meta-geography within Turkey’s new geopolitical imagination, as well as the new geopolitical codes underlying the new security discourses. Then, the article assesses the impact of the Arab Spring, which led to major changes in Turkey’s newly established geopolitical codes, formulated in the pre-Arab Spring period, and analyses the ruptures and continuities in Turkey’s security discourses in the light of those developments. Finally, the article concludes that the Arab Spring, especially the Syrian crisis, shifted the focus of Turkey’s foreign policy in BMENA from cooperation to conflict. This has led to a resecuritization of Turkey’s geopolitical codes, discourses and security practices in the region, revealing the limitation of Turkey’s current geopolitical imagination.


Author(s):  
Yu. Zinin

The article considers a place and influence of Berber-speaking communities in each of five countries of the North Africa: Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Mauritania and Tunis.After gaining the independence, demands are growing in all these states to recognize cultural, regional, and sometimes political peculiarities of Berbers.The situation in every country is different due to local conditions and background of interactions of Amazigs (self-designation of Berber) with the Arab speaking majority, as well as their participation in political processes.The author investigates and discuss the impact of the Arab Spring on the rise of self-consciousness, solidarity and consolidation of Amazig minority. It is Berber, often European educated elite which usually expresses and propagates such conceptions and trends.


Women Rising ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 149-160

The Arab Women Solidarity Association United (AWSA United) emerged as an outlet for Arab women in the diaspora to express solidarity and support for women in the Arab world. It pioneered transnational Arab women’s groups that connected Arab women in all six continents. In this chapter, Rita Stephan explores the impact of AWSA United on Arab women activists who, between 1999 and 2011, used cyberfeminism to share their ideological and political marginalization, and how AWSA United helped them foster their collective identity, strengthen their connectivity, and increase their activism.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Jeroen Klomp

Abstract The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of the political violence during the Arab Spring on the stock market return of international defense firms. The direction of this impact is not directly straightforward as the civil unrests influence the expectations of investors in two opposite ways. On the one hand, investors might expect that when the peaceful demonstrations were turned into violent events, the Arab governments involved will start acquiring more military-strategic goods to repress the protests or send a strong signal of power to ensure their stay in office. However, on the other hand, when the popular protests escalated, investors, perhaps, became more concerned about the possible imposition of international military sanctions against the Arab Spring countries to restore peace and protect human rights. The main empirical findings of a dynamic panel model clearly confirm this pattern and point out that when the Arab Spring originated, the abnormal return of international defense stocks starts to rise immediately. However, in the course of time, the concerns of the introduction of arms embargoes become stronger and eventually start to dominate, causing the abnormal return to fall again, while the idiosyncratic risk began to fall due to enhanced diversification. It turns out that firm-specific factors can explain a substantial part of the effect found. For instance, the reaction of investors to the Arab Spring is significantly larger for firms that produce predominantly military goods.


2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Mohammad Abdalla Abu Olaim ◽  
Aspalella A. Rahman

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the Jordanian anti-money laundering law and its instructions on the Jordanian banking industry. The anti-money laundering law in Jordan is newly enacted, but there are new developments not covered by the law. For instance, the revolutionary wave known as the Arab Spring surrounding Jordan has increased the crime rates in Jordan, and it has also reduced international coordination and cooperation to encounter money laundering operations. The emergence of new means for money transfer is affecting the efficiency and speed of bank transfers. Subsequently, the impact of the law on Jordanian banks is unknown. Design/methodology/approach – This paper relies on the Jordanian Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Law 2007 as a primary source of information. The relevant Jordanian anti-money laundering instructions that have directly been affecting banks include the Jordanian Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Instructions Number (51) 2010. These instructions were considered the most important legislation for the purpose of this paper. Findings – While the Jordanian anti-money laundering law is based on certain principles, the effectiveness of the law is unknown. The Arab Spring, particularly the Syrian revolution, has negatively increased the crime rates and money laundering activities in Jordan. To make matters worse, the international cooperation and coordination between countries in combating money laundering are not at the required level, and this has encouraged money laundering groups to exploit the situation. Only time will tell whether the banks will be able to cope sufficiently with the increased anti-money laundering obligations. Obviously, it is critical at this stage to establish effective coordination between legislators, regulators and the banking industry to minimize problems encountered by the banks, thereby to ensure effective implementation of the law. Originality/value – This paper provides an examination of the impact of the Jordanian anti-money laundering law that has directly affected banks. It is hoped that this paper would provide some insight into this particular area for academics, practitioners, the legal advisers, banks and policy-makers not only in Jordan but also elsewhere. In view of the international nature of money laundering and banking, there will be significant interest in how the anti-money laundering law affects banks operation in Jordan.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Albrecht ◽  
Dorothy Ohl

A few years into the most recent wave of popular uprisings—the Arab Spring—studying regime trajectories in countries such as Syria, Egypt, and Yemen still seems like shooting at a moving target. Yet what has not escaped notice is the central role military actors have played during these uprisings. We describe how soldiers have three options when ordered to suppress mass unrest. They mayexitthe regime by remaining in the barracks or going into exile,resistby fighting for the challenger or initiating a coup d’état, or remainloyaland use force to defend the regime. We argue that existing accounts of civil-military relations are ill equipped to explain the diverse patterns in exit, resistance, and loyalty during unrest because they often ignore the effects of military hierarchy. Disaggregating the military and parsing the interests and constraints of different agents in that apparatus is crucial for explaining military cohesion during such crises. Drawing on extensive fieldwork we apply our principal-agent framework to explain varying degrees and types of military cohesion in three Arab Spring cases: Bahrain, Yemen, and Syria. Studying military hierarchy elucidates decision-making within authoritarian regimes amid mass mobilization and allows us to better explain regime re-stabilization, civil war onset, or swift regime change in the wake of domestic unrest.


2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-70
Author(s):  
Mouin Rabbani

Khalid al-Batsh, a senior official of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Gaza chair of the “Freedom Committee,” established under the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation agreement of May 2011, was interviewed in Cairo by Mouin Rabbani on 11 July 2012. The interview from which the following excerpts were taken covered a range of issues, including the impact of the “Arab Spring” on the Palestinians, the situations in Egypt and Syria, Islamic Jihad’s relations with Fatah and Hamas, and prospects for reform of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The excerpts below directly concern Islamic Jihad and Palestine. The complete interview in Arabic was published by JPS’s sister journal, Majallat al-Dirasat al-Filastiniyya, no. 93 (Winter 2013), pp. 122–37.


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