scholarly journals The United States in the Middle East (2001–2014): from intervention to retrenchment/Os EUA no Oriente Médio (2001–2014): da intervenção ao cerceamento

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 442-475
Author(s):  
Peter R. Demant ◽  
Ariel Finguerut
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Us ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact

The main purpose of this paper is to discuss the paradoxical consequences the so-called “Arab Spring”, from 2011 to 2014/15, which has led in various countries of the Arab world and beyond to different outcomes, but nowhere to stable democracy. We intend to discuss the outcomes of those political mobilizations and revolts, paying special attention to (a) the role of Islamist movements and (b) U.S reactions to the recent Mideast upheavals. We start with a general analysis and go to a few case studies (e.g. Egypt, Syria, and Turkey). In discussing the impact of Islamism, we attempt a classification of currents along two coordinates, one parameter contrasting Sunni and Shiite movements, the other laying out the continuum from pacific-modernist to violent jihadist. We defend that the dynamics of intra-Islamist tensions (such as Sunni jihadist against the Shiite Hizbullah-Syria-Iran axis) are no less crucial than the religious-secularist divide for understanding recent developments. Regarding US policies, we emphasize the dilemmas and contradictions within U.S government. We investigate the hypothesis that the US was caught largely unaware by the Arab Spring, and that its reactions suffered from the amorphousness of prior positions of the Obama administration, combined with leftovers from the Bush period. Internal contradictions of Obama’s Middle East doctrine coupled with a general isolationist trend have precluded the US from assuming more forceful policies, creating frustrations on all sides, and enflaming rather than dousing the fires of anti-Westernism in the Islamic world.Keywords: Arab Spring ; U.S policies ; Syria; jihadist.  Resumo: O principal objetivo deste artigo é discutir as consequências paradoxais da chamada "Primavera Árabe", que a partir de 2011 aos nossos dias produziu em vários países do mundo árabe diferentes resultados, mas em nenhum lugar chegou-se à democracia estável. Temos a intenção de discutir os resultados dessas mobilizações políticas e revoltas, com especial atenção para (a) o papel dos movimentos islâmicos e (b) as reações e posturas dos EUA ante os recentes levantes no Oriente Médio. De uma análise geral partiremos para estudos de caso (como Egito, Síria e Turquia). Ao discutir o impacto do islamismo, tentamos uma classificação das correntes ao longo de duas coordenadas, um deles contrastando movimentos sunitas e xiitas, e outro que define o continuum de pacifista - modernista para jihadista –violento. Postulamos que a dinâmica das tensões intra- islâmicos (como a de jihadistas sunitas contra o eixo Hezbollah -Síria- Irã xiita) não são menos importantes do que a divisão religiosa - secular para compreender os desdobramentos recentes. No que diz respeito aos EUA, destacamos os dilemas e contradições dentro do governo dos EUA. Nós investigamos a hipótese de que os EUA foi pego de surpresa em grande parte pela Primavera Árabe, e que as reações do governo Obama traduzem mais um recolhimento do que um novo engajamento.Palavras-chave: Primavera Árabe; Políticas dos EUA; Síria; jihadismo.   DOI: 10.20424/2237-7743/bjir.v4n3p442-475

Arab Awakening and Its Impact on Bangladesh

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 119-134
Author(s):  
Imtiaz Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Social Discourses ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Way ◽  
At Home

Arab Awakening or Arab Spring has caught the imagination of many and has been a subject of intense discussions both at home and abroad. But then what impact did it have outside the Arab world, indeed, in places which remains related to it theologically, economically, socially, gastronomically, through ideas and dogmas such as Bangladesh? Will the impact be limited to politics or will it include the religious discourses as well? Will it boost the economy or see a decline? What about the Bangladeshi diaspora in the Middle East-will it play a different role and contribute to the economic and social discourses back home now that the Arab world is on the way of experiencing greater freedom? Will it transform the religious discourses that have lately infected Bangladesh? Or, will the spirit of the Arab spring be used for narrow political goals? Answers, however, may not be as easy as the queries. The article will try to explain as to why that is the case.

scholarly journals Stosunki rosyjsko-irańskie w latach 2011–2019. Pragmatyczny sojusz czy trwałe partnerstwo?

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-59
Author(s):  
Andrzej Purat ◽  
Paweł Bielicki
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Religious Leader ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact

The main goal of our considerations is to analyse the most important conditions and dependencies that characterise Russian-Iranian relations from the beginning of the Arab Spring to the present day. We pay special attention to the infl uence of the United States on the development of diplomatic contacts between Moscow and Tehran and the conflict in Syria.Firstly, we describe the history of relations between the two countries after 1979 and the takeover of power by the religious leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, who, despite adopting an anti-Western course in international politics, did not show a desire to get closer to the Soviet neighbour. Secondly, we describe the relations of both countries from the collapse of the USSR to 2011, focusing on Iran’s role in influencing political processes in the post-Soviet area. Thirdly, we present the position of Russia and the Middle East about the war in Syria and the role of the Kurds. We also examine the impact of US policy on establishing links between Russia and Iran. Moreover, we raise economic issues and Moscow’s growing desire to dominate the Iranian economy and army.In the summary, we try to answer the question of what Russian-Iranian relations will look like in the future, especially in the era of the gradually ending war in Syria. Importantly, we refer to the issue of the US anti-Iranian rhetoric reinforced by Donald Trump and how it can influence the further strengthening of the Russia-Iran alliance.

scholarly journals The Arab Spring: The Hope and Reality of the Uprisings, 2nd ed. (Mark L. Haas and David W. Lesch (eds.))

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-101
Author(s):  
Nazar Ul Islam Wani
Keyword(s):  
United States Of America ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The United States ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Political Justice ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Multiple Actors

The Arab Spring was a series of protests which took place in Arab countries against longstanding dictatorial regimes, because of the latter’s inability or refusal to deliver socio-economic and political justice to the common 99 masses. Protests spread like fire and made an impact not only on the governance of the Arab world but also internationally, by involving big players like Russia and the United States of America. Yet these events were intensely complicated, with multiple actors and layers of history involved in each country. The book under review here is one prodigious effort to understand the Arab Spring, considering causes and effects of the uprisings. Structurally, the book is divided into two parts. The first part, consisting of seven chapters, deals with the uprisings in Arab countries; part two, consisting of six chapters, discusses the impact of the Arab Spring on the non-Arab world and their core interests related to the uprisings. 

scholarly journals The Arab Spring

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-101
Author(s):  
Nazar Ul Islam Wani
Keyword(s):  
United States Of America ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The United States ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Political Justice ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Multiple Actors

The Arab Spring was a series of protests which took place in Arab countries against longstanding dictatorial regimes, because of the latter’s inability or refusal to deliver socio-economic and political justice to the common 99 masses. Protests spread like fire and made an impact not only on the governance of the Arab world but also internationally, by involving big players like Russia and the United States of America. Yet these events were intensely complicated, with multiple actors and layers of history involved in each country. The book under review here is one prodigious effort to understand the Arab Spring, considering causes and effects of the uprisings. Structurally, the book is divided into two parts. The first part, consisting of seven chapters, deals with the uprisings in Arab countries; part two, consisting of six chapters, discusses the impact of the Arab Spring on the non-Arab world and their core interests related to the uprisings. 

scholarly journals A New Perspective on Middle-East Democracy

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Elfan Kaukab
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
The United States ◽  
Authoritarian Regime ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
National Interests ◽  
The Us ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Arab Spring

Spring 2011 was a historic year in the Middle East and was momentum for the rise of people power to overthrow the long-reigning authoritarian regime. This event is known as The Arab Spring. However, on the way, the Arab dream did not come easy. This book tries to capture the opportunities and challenges of democratization in Arab countries after the Arab Spring. There are three countries, namely Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria, which are the focus of this book's study. The interests of the United States (US) emerged as the trigger for democratization efforts. The US does not hesitate to hinder democratization in a country with leaders who are not pro-Western. It is not surprising that democratization in Arab countries is only seen as a US political project to safeguard its national interests. From this book, we can reflect on the situation in Indonesia. Does that also happen?

scholarly journals Mapping the Obama administration's response to the Arab Spring

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria do Céu de Pinho Ferreira Pinto
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
The United States ◽  
Moral Obligations ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Arab Spring

When the Arab Spring broke out, the United States was in a quandary over how to handle the crisis in its attempt to balance its moral obligations and ideals without undercutting its strategic interests and those of its close allies. Flaws in US diplomatic approach have contributed to one of the most serious foreign policy crisis for a US administration to date with consequential upheaval and erosion of the US-built balance of power. The reactions and policy responses of the Obama administration highlight the difficulties in grasping with the new reality in the Middle East and in enunciating a policy platform that could combine American interests and values.

The Middle East and Peaceful Change

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arie M. Kacowicz ◽  
Galia Press-Barnathan
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
War Zone ◽  
Arab League ◽  
Arab Israeli Conflict ◽  
Kurdish Question ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Level Of Analysis

The Middle East is often considered a war zone, and it rarely comes to mind as a region that includes cases of peaceful change. Yet several examples of peaceful change can be identified at different levels of analysis: international, regional, interactive, and domestic. This chapter first critically examines the impact of the broader global/systemic level of analysis on the prospects for peaceful change. It then moves to examine the regional level of analysis, exploring the Kurdish question and the Arab-Israeli conflict as a central axis of change, the role of the Arab League, and the case of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The chapter then examines the interactive, bilateral level of analysis, exploring peaceful territorial change in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict, with reference to the successful Israeli-Egyptian negotiations of 1977–1979 and the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process since 1993. Next, it explores the domestic level of analysis, focusing on domestic politics, the nature of ruling coalitions, and the implications of the domestic turmoil of the Arab Spring. The last section draws conclusions from each level of analysis, with implications about the prospects for peaceful change in the region.

«Arab Spring»: Transformation of Political Paradigm in Context of International Relations

2012 ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
L. Fituni
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
World Economic ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Relationship

The author presents his own original conception of the 2011 Arab upheavals. First, he tries to find parallels between the Arab Spring and the 19th century European Spring of Peoples. Second, he dwells on the idea of three types of transition in the Arab World: economic, demographic, and ideological. Third, he reflects on the issues of democracy and autocracy in the Arab countries emphasizing the role of youth. Fourth, he puts forward some new ideas as regards the relationship between Europe and the Arab World, offering such terms as “democratic internationalism” and “young democratic safety belt” in the Mediterranean region.

The meta-geography of the Middle East and North Africa in Turkey’s new geopolitical imagination

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 431-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aylin Güney ◽  
Nazif Mandacı
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Critical Geopolitics ◽  
Syrian Crisis ◽  
Security Practices ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Geopolitical Imaginations

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.

In the name of the national interests: Foreign policy of Saudi Arabia after the Arab Spring

2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 131-161
Author(s):  
G. G. Kosach
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The United States ◽  
Strategic Partnership ◽  
National Interests ◽  
The One ◽  
The Arab Spring

The paper examines the evolution of Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy in the context of wider changes in the Middle East and in the Arab world triggered by the Arab Spring. The author argues that during this decade the Kingdom’s foreign policy has witnessed a fundamental transformation: the very essence of the Saudi foreign policy course has changed signifi cantly as the political es-tablishment has substantially revised its approaches to the country’s role in the region and in the world. Before 2011, Saudi Arabia — the land of the ‘Two Holy Mosques’ — positioned itself as a representative of the international Muslim community and in pursuing its foreign policy relied primarily on the religious authority and fi nancial capabilities. However, according to Saudi Arabia’s leaders, the Arab Spring has plunged the region into chaos and has bolstered the infl uence of various extremist groups and movements, which required a signifi cant adjustment of traditional political approaches. Saudi Arabia, more explicit than ever before, has declared itself as a nation state, as a regional leader possessing its own interests beyond the abstract ‘Muslim Ummah’. However, the author stresses that these new political ambitions do not imply a complete break with the previous practice. For example, the containment of Iran not only remains the cornerstone of Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy, but has become even more severe. The paper shows that it is this opposition to Iran, which is now justifi ed on the basis of protecting the national interests, that predetermines the nature and the specifi c content of contemporary Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy including interaction with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), approaches towards the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian confl ict, combating terrorism, and relations with the United States. In that regard, the transformation of Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy has, on the one hand, opened up new opportunities for strengthening the Kingdom’s interaction with Israel, but, at the same time, has increased tensions within the framework of strategic partnership with the United States. The author concludes that currently Saudi Arabia is facing a challenge of diversifying its foreign policy in order to increase its international profi le and political subjectivity.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document