The New Old Imperialism in the Arabian Peninsula

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-116
Author(s):  
Steven C. Caton

Abstract This essay argues that the horrific war in Yemen (2015–present) waged by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against the Houthis who control the northern part of the country is not really a Sunni-Schi’a conflict or a proxy war against Iran or a replay of the Cold War—all of which have been put forward to explain it—but rather is better understood as the actions of belligerent imperialist powers located in the Arabian Peninsula, acting in their own right (rather than as puppets of Western powers). Such an explanation, however, flies in the face of what we have understood imperialism to be historically. This essay looks at two understandings of imperialism, one coming out of Marxist theory and another out of a Foucauldian understanding of power as developed by Hardt and Negri in their book Empire (2000), and then goes on to show that both are helpful, though in different ways, in explaining the Yemen war as an imperialist intervention.

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-132
Author(s):  
Bartosz Wróblewski ◽  

The Arabian Peninsula is the last place on Earth dominated by absolutist monarchies or systems that are, in fact, similar. There evolved a political system dominated by Saudi Arabia and in the shadow of that kingdom there are monarchies in Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is a federation of several smaller monarchies. In the Cold War, all these states were forced to act jointly to assuage the threat posed by the post-Soviet Arab republics, such as Egypt. However, select common goals notwithstanding, the houses exercising the power in these states have for centuries been involved in conflicts and disputes. Even nowadays it is possible for these conflicts to revive. The article discusses two such disputes, the first one being the rivalry between the Saudis and the Hashemites. In 1990–1991, it resulted in the abrupt severance of all collaboration between Saudi Arabia and Jordan. A similar dispute concerns the House of Saud and the House of Al-Thani, the result of which was a severe political conflict of Riyadh with Qatar in 2014–2020. These two conflicts reflect sudden variability of relations between Arab monarchies: as such, they indicate hegemonic ambitions of Riyadh, but also strong resistance of some of the royal families against these claims, and the potentiality of destabilisation inherent in these relations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 32-62
Author(s):  
Toby Matthiesen

The Communist Party of Saudi Arabia was a pro-Soviet Marxist-Leninist party that existed from 1975 until the early 1990s. Its roots lay in the labor movement of the 1950s in the oil-producing Eastern Province. The history of this province is a hitherto almost unknown aspect of modern Saudi history, Arab Marxism, and the broader Cold War. The Saudi Communist Party helped to launch an uprising in 1979 in the Eastern Province and was particularly active in propagating its ideas throughout the 1980s as the Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia fought a proxy war in Afghanistan. Despite opposing the monarchy's use of Islam as a tool of legitimacy and a propaganda instrument against Communism in the Cold War, the party called for a common front with Islamic groups opposed to the monarchy at home. After the dissolution of the party in 1991, former party members became key actors in the reformist petitions of 1990–1991, 2003, and 2011. This article is based on fieldwork in Saudi Arabia, interviews with veteran leftists from the region, and hitherto unexamined primary sources in Arabic, German, and English, including party publications and archival sources.


Author(s):  
William D. James

Abstract Why did Britain withdraw from its military bases in the Arabian Peninsula and Southeast Asia midway through the Cold War? Existing accounts tend to focus on Britain's weak economic position, as well as the domestic political incentives of retrenchment for the ruling Labour Party. This article offers an alternative explanation: the strategic rationale for retaining a permanent presence East of Suez dissolved during the 1960s, as policymakers realised that these military bases were consuming more security than they could generate. These findings have resonance for British officials charting a return East of Suez today under the banner of ‘Global Britain’.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard Rinke

This study examines the fundamental new direction in German theological peace ethics since the end of the East–West conflict. It guides the reader through the thought processes and discoveries of leading Catholic and Protestant peace ethicists and, in doing so, through the significant developments in theological peace ethics in Germany amid the tough new realities that have emerged since the end of the Cold War. In addition, the book discusses the normative premises for conduct conducive to peace which German theological peace ethics has devised in order to fulfil its responsibility to the world in the face of today’s new, violent conflicts.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Raul Ludovic Bereczki

The Westernization of Islam, which began at least two hundred years ago, has two major consequences: a positive one, meaning the enlightenment of the elites which tried to reform Islam; and a negative one, "the perverse effect of contact with the West", as the experts often call it, which consists of the development of religious sects within the Muslim societies. The direct and striking conclusion, upon first analysis, is that Islamic fundamentalism is the product of Western modernity. Of course, the line of explanation has its origin in colonial times, seen as a major disappointment by those Muslims who believed in the benefits of a European-style modernity, and continues with the Cold War period, with the examples of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the mobilization of Islamist elements was beneficial in the fight against the Soviet enemy and the active proselytism practiced by the latter.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
James A. Thomson

Abstract: Against the backdrop of an international system becoming more confrontational in nature, the subject of deterrence is back again. This article provides an overview of the nature of the deterrence problem during the Cold War period and today. While the broader circumstances have changed markedly, today, the central issue of deterrence remains the same as in the Cold War: how to maintain the credibility of the American threat to employ nuclear weapons in the defense of allies in the face of adversaries that can retaliate with devastating nuclear attacks against the US itself. There is little doubt about the threat of the US or other nuclear powers to retaliate in the event of a nuclear attack against their own homelands, so long as those retaliatory forces can survive the initial attack. The problem is the credibility of US extended deterrence.


Zootaxa ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 1157 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
FABIO PENATI ◽  
PIERPAOLO VIENNA

The histerid fauna of the Arabian Peninsula is evaluated. As a result of the study of specimens recently collected in Oman by the scientific expeditions of the Museum of Natural History and Territory of Calci (University of Pisa, Italy), and compiling new data from 15 public and private collections, and literature records, the total number of Histeridae known from the Arabian Peninsula now stands at 67 species, without taking into account dubious species and undetermined taxa (9).Of these 67 species, in total 18 are reported for the first time: 4 for the Arabian Peninsula [Teretrius (Neotepetrius) parasita Marseul, Saprinus (Saprinus) flexuosofasciatus Motschulsky, Chalcionellus hauseri (Schmidt), Hypocacculus (Nessus) hosseinius (Théry)], 9 for Oman [Pachylister luctuosus (Marseul), Hister castus Lewis, Atholus bimaculatus Linnaeus, Atholus scutellaris (Erichson), Saprinus (Saprinus) splendens (Paykull), Hypocacculus (Colpellus) praecox (Erichson), Hypocacculus (Hypocacculus) harmonicus (Marseul), Hypocacculus (Hypocacculus) metallescens (Erichson), Hypocaccus (Hypocaccus) fochi (Auzat)], 2 for Yemen [Saprinus (Saprinus) tenuistrius tenuistrius Marseul, Chalcionellus tunisius (Marseul)] and 3 for Kuwait [Saprinus (Saprinus) moyses Marseul, Pholioxenus mesopotamicus Olexa, Paravolvulus syphax (Reitter)].Histeridae are now known for four national states (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and Kuwait), while there are no records for Qatar or United Arab Emirates. An updated comprehensive catalogue of the histerid fauna of the Arabian Peninsula is provided.Analysis of faunal affinities shows that it mostly consists of Palearctic species (24 species, equal to 35.9%), followed by Afrotropical and Afrotropico-Mediterranean species (22 species, 32.8%), and cosmopolitan/subcosmopolitan species (7 species, 10.4%); endemics stand at 5 species (7.5%), while species of undefined chorology at 9 (13.4%). On the whole these numbers fit well the largely accepted biogeographical assumption that indicates the Arabian Peninsula as a transitional zone between the Regions Palearctic, Afrotropic and, to a lesser degree, Indo-Malay (e.g., Büttiker 1979). Moreover, a distinctive distributional pattern has been recognised: “Afrotropical” Histeridae are almost exclusively present in the southern and south-western parts of the peninsula, while “Palearctic” Histeridae are mostly present in the inner central and south-eastern parts of the peninsula.Finally, the synonymy Saprinus (Saprinus) osiris Marseul, 1862 = Saprinus (Saprinus) ornatus Erichson, 1834 stated by Müller (1933), but neglected by Mazur (1976, 1984, 1994, 1997), is considered valid.


2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-100
Author(s):  
RHODRI JEFFREYS-JONES

A frequency survey of Google Books and other digital sources indicates that in political terminology the use of the phrase “American socialism” yielded to “American left” in the course of the twentieth century. Reasons for this include the tactical and personal ambitions of reformers who saw advantage in dropping the socialist tag in the face of domestic antisocialism. In mid-century, domestic antisocialism revived both in extremist rhetoric and in mainstream Republican charges of “creeping socialism.” The Cold War also played a role in changing the nomenclature balance, as it led to the identification of American socialism with the creed of the Soviet adversary. At the same time, a broadening in the left's agenda beyond the election platforms of the Socialist Party of America contributed to the change. The nomenclative “-ism” failure is significant as an indicator of left tendencies because it relates to perceptions of the failure of socialism itself.


Author(s):  
Piotr Daniszewski

Terrorism is defined as use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to indulge fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, social or religious. Bioterrorism is terrorism by intentional release or dissemination of biological agents, mainly bacteria or viruses. Use of biological weapons is attractive from the terrorists’ point of view because of low production costs, major range and easiness of transmission. The first mention of the use of primitive biological weapons date back to the 6th century. Use of plague-infested corpses as offensive means in the 14th century caused a spread of bubonic plague through the whole Europe. The biggest development of biological weapons took place in the interwar period and in the cold war era. Biological weapon trails and research were conducted by super powers such as USSR, UK, USA and Japan. At the beginning of the 20th century a new form of bioterrorism occurred, which put humanity in the face of a terrifying threat.


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