scholarly journals On the Cusp of Water War: A Diagnostic Account of the Volatile Geopolitics of the Middle East

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Abukhater
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Water Allocation ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Water Conflict ◽  
Palestinian Territories ◽  
Universal Principles ◽  
The Status ◽  
Occupied Territories

This paper provides a diagnostic account of the nature and severity of the trans-boundary water resources conflict in the Middle East and how it is intertwined with issues of high politics. The concepts and analytical framework provided in this paper represent universal principles that, while applying to the Middle East water conflict, are also reflective of and applicable to many other disputes over natural resources around the world. This aspect about the research is particularly of great interest to the quest and scope of many other researches, considering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is regarded as the sine qua non from which many troubling aspects emanate in different part of the Middle East and beyond. By outlining the problem and the root causes and nature of the water crisis in arid regions, this paper seeks to provide evidence of lack of equitable water sharing in the status quo water allocation and ample justification for the need to apply equitable principles to promote cooperation and peace. More precisely, this research will reflect on the way in which conflicting representations of hydrological resources have created tension, conflict, and injustice in general, with particular emphasis on the Middle East water conflict issues of the occupied territories, namely the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights.

Critical International Relations Theories and the Study of Arab Uprisings: A Critique

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-150
Author(s):  
Ahmed M. Abozaid
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Other ◽  
Arab Uprisings ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Western Perspective

This study articulates that most of the critical theorists are still strikingly neglecting the study of the Arab Uprising(s) adequately. After almost a decade of the eruption of the so-called Arab Uprisings, the study claims that the volume of scholarly engaging of dominate Western International Relations (IR) theories with such unprecedented events is still substantially unpretentious. Likewise, and most importantly, the study also indicates that most of these theories, including the critical theory of IR (both Frankfurt and Habermasian versions), have discussed, engaged, analysed, and interpreted the Arab Spring (a term usually perceived to be orientalist, troubling, totally inappropriate and passive phenomenon) indicate a strong and durable egoistic Western perspective that emphasis on the preservation of the status quo and ensure the interests of Western and neoliberal elites, and the robustness of counter-revolutionary regimes. On the other hand, the writings and scholarships that reflexively engaged and represent the authentic Arab views, interests, and prospects were clearly demonstrating a strong and durable scarce, if not entirely missing. Keywords: International Relations, Critical Theory, Postcolonial, Arab Uprising(s), Middle East, Revolutions.

The transnational policy process for REDD+ and domestic policy entrepreneurship in developing countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (8) ◽  
pp. 1418-1436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sébastien Jodoin
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Policy Reform ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Domestic Policy ◽  
Governance Arrangement ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurship ◽  
The Status ◽  
Domestic Level

This article aims to understand the complex relationship between transnational pathways of policy influence and strategies of domestic policy entrepreneurship in the pursuit of REDD+ in developing countries. Since 2007, a complex governance arrangement exerting influence through the provision of international rules, norms, markets, knowledge, and material assistance has supported the diffusion of REDD+ policies around the world. These transnational pathways of influence have played an important role in the launch of REDD+ policy-making processes at the domestic level. Indeed, over 60 developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have initiated multi-year programmes of policy reform, research, and capacity-building that aim to lay the groundwork for the implementation of REDD+. However, there is emerging evidence that the nature of policy change associated with these REDD+ policy efforts ultimately depends on the mediating influence of domestic factors. This article offers an analytical framework that focuses on whether and how domestic policy actors can seize the opportunities provided by transnational policy pathways for REDD+ to challenge or reinforce the status quo in the governance of forests and related sectors.

scholarly journals Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Arab World

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-136
Author(s):  
Magnus T. Bernhardsson
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Arab Nationalism ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Important Study ◽  
The Status ◽  
Advantageous Position ◽  
Muslim Majority

1n this interesting and well-researched book, Bruce Masters analyses the historyof Chris tian and Jewish communities in the Ottoman Empire's Arabprovinces and how they fared within a Muslim majority and hierarchy. Byand large, this important study is a story of modernization, identity, and ecclesiasticalpolitics that focuses primarily on Christian communities in Aleppo,Syria. The book's main themes are somewhat familiar: How Christian andJewish communities were in an advantageous position to benefit fromincreasing European influence in the Middle East, and how a secular politicalidentity (Arab nationalism) emerged in the Levant. The book's value liesnot in its overarching thesis, but rather in the details of the story and theimpressive research upon which this well-crafted narrative is based.Masters chronicles how the identities of Christians and Jews evolveddue to their increasing contact with western influences, or, as Masters labelsit, "intrusion." The status quo was forever transformed because manyChristians began to distance themselves, economically and socially, fromtheir Muslim neighbors. Masters, a historian who teaches at Connecticut'sWesleyan University, contends that the western intrusion altered Muslimattitudes toward native Christians. In the nineteenth century, local Christianswould serve for some Muslims as "convenient surrogates for the anger thatcould only rarely be expressed directly against the Europeans."Although the Arab provinces experienced serious sectarian strife in thenineteenth century, these antagonisms were, by and large, absent in the ...

scholarly journals The International Criminal Court and Israel’s Acts in the Occupied Territories: Progress and Prospects

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (Summer 2021) ◽  
pp. 69-92
Author(s):  
Yücel Acer
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Trial Chamber ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
The State ◽  
Palestinian Territories ◽  
The Status ◽  
Occupied Territories ◽  
Party State

Following the request of Palestine as a Party-State to the Status of the International Criminal Court, the Prosecutor decided to start a preliminary investigation into the situation of Palestine. The preliminary investigation resulted in a request from the Prosecutor to the Pre-Trial Chamber I for clarification of the Court’s jurisdiction in relation to the occupied territories of Palestine. Many significant issues concerning the status of Palestine as a State and its legal borders were raised during the preliminary investigation, both by the Prosecutor and during the examination of the Chamber. Although both the Prosecutor and the Chamber have approved that the Court has jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories, including those occupied by Israel, the prospect for the success of the trials by the Court depends on the cooperation of the international community as a whole and the State-parties to the ICC Status.

scholarly journals Alternative governance arrangements for modular water infrastructure: An exploratory review

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 53-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrin Pakizer ◽  
Eva Lieberherr
Keyword(s):  
Water Governance ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Modular Systems ◽  
The Status ◽  
Formal Policy ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Governance Arrangements

This article presents an exploratory review of alternative governance arrangements for modular systems in the urban water sector in terms of policy instruments, organizational structure, and underlying mechanisms. We develop an analytical framework to review the literature on alternative arrangements for innovative technologies. The preliminary results highlight the importance of governmental involvement and formal policy instruments to ensure public and environmental health in the context of modular water infrastructures. This is in line with the status quo of conventional water governance arrangements. However, the findings also suggest that informal instruments supplement the formal ones and that instead of political-administrative accountability more horizontal mechanisms, such as answerability toward citizens and consumers, play an important role in the context of new water technologies.

Negotiated Resolution of the Jordan-Israel Water Conflict

2000 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Water Conflict ◽  
Jordan Valley ◽  
Jordan River ◽  
River Waters ◽  
The Status

AbstractThis article reviews and analyzes the process associated with the water conflict between Jordan and Israel. It starts with the attempts made by the United States between 1953 and 1955 to work out a Unified Plan (The Johnston Plan) for the development of the Jordan Valley. The Plan was expected to forge tacit cooperation in the utilization of the Jordan River waters among Israel and the Arab riparian parties (then at a state of war with Israel). The efforts culminated in an agreement on the technical side, but approval on the political side was postponed and never materialized. The article then turns to the direct negotiations between Jordan and Israel. This process was conducted through the Middle East Peace Process which was launched in Madrid in 1991. The article focuses only on the water negotiations while reviewing the bilateral negotiations and the basis of the resolution over water. The negotiated resolution of 1994 is compared with Johnston's Unified Plan of 1955, with further attention to the status of the implementation of the water agreement since 1994.

An emerging “Islandian” sovereignty of non-self-governing islands

2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Prinsen ◽  
Séverine Blaise
Keyword(s):  
New Caledonia ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Comparative Analyses ◽  
Development Indicators ◽  
Political Independence ◽  
The Status ◽  
New Form ◽  
Global Research

Comparative analyses have found that non-self-governing islands tend to have much better development indicators than sovereign islands. Perhaps unsurprisingly, since 1983 no non-self-governing island has acquired political independence. This paper argues that rather than merely maintaining the status quo with their colonial metropoles, non-self-governing islands are actively creating a new form of sovereignty. This creation of an “Islandian” sovereignty takes place against the backdrop of debates on the relevance of classic Westphalian sovereignty and emerging practices of Indigenous sovereignty. This paper reviews global research on the sovereignty of islands and from this review, develops an analytical framework of five mechanisms that drive the emerging Islandian sovereignty. This framework is tested and illustrated with a case study of the negotiations about sovereignty between New Caledonia and its colonial metropole, France.

scholarly journals On the specifics of corporate governance in Iran and the Middle East

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 49-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Udo C. Braendle ◽  
Alireza Omidvar ◽  
Ali Tehraninasr
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Board Of Directors ◽  
Transition Economies ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Independent Directors ◽  
Control Environment ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Institutional Infrastructure ◽  
The Status

Corporate Governance (CG) is not a new concept for the transition economies of the Middle East, but corporate governance is especially important since these economies do not have the long-established institutional infrastructure to deal with corporate governance issues. This article is presenting the results of our survey analyzing the status quo of Corporate Governance in Iranian companies. The survey questions cover aspects of Corporate Governance awareness, board of directors, control environment, transparency and shareholder- as well as stakeholder rights. We find several specifics that apply to other countries in the MENA region too. Empowering shareholders and stakeholder, offering Corporate Governance trainings and case studies in the region as well as establishing a culture of independent directors is the way forward.

A War of Ideas: The American Media on Israel and Palestine post Oslo

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Dawn Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
First Amendment ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Status ◽  
American Media

This chapter looks at several of the entities and tactics shepherding the opinions that Americans follow regarding Israel and Palestine; the experience journalists and others have in attempting to report on or expose this issue; and the oft-overlooked impact of Christian media on the perception, politics, and continuation of the status quo. Topics discussed include how most Americans perceive Oslo through the Israeli narrative; how a country that values its First Amendment cultivate a media that seems more interested in polarization, celebrities, and sensationalism than in reporting the news; the players who manage the narrative of Israel and Palestine; the media's employment of euphemisms and obfuscations rather than accurate terms in order to control the narrative; and reporting in the Middle East.

Book Reviews

2010 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 759-762
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Energy Price ◽  
University Of Michigan ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Status ◽  
Rice University ◽  
Associate Director

Lutz Kilian of University of Michigan reviews “Oil, Dollars, Debt, and Crises: The Global Curse of Black Gold” by Mahmoud A. El-Gamal, Amy Myers Jaffe,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Examines the causes of the current oil and global financial crisis and considers how America’s and the world’s dependence on oil has created a repeating pattern of banking, currency, and energy-price crises. Discusses the challenges of resource curses and globalization; the new Middle East--childhood, 1973-84, and adolescence, 1985-95; the road to the status quo, 1996-2008; globalization of Middle East dynamics; dollars and debt--the end of the dollar era; motivations to attack or abandon the dollar; resource curses, global volatility, and crises; and ameliorating the cycle. El-Gamal is Chair of the Department of Economics, Professor of Economics and Statistics, and Chair in Islamic Economics, Finance, and Management at Rice University. Jaffe is Wallace S. Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy and Associate Director of the Rice University Energy Program. Bibliography; index.”

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