This article argues that whilst the relationship between the Gulf Arab states and Asia is developing quickly, it will remain largely transactional for the foreseeable future. The relationship has ...intensified over the past 5 years and is manifest in increased trade, diplomatic traffic, foreign direct investment and energy relations. This has led some observers to argue that the Gulf Arab states will come to rely more upon Asian, rather than Western partners to provide for their security in the Gulf. The advent of the shale revolution and US energy independence has further underscored this line of analysis. The authors argue, however, that it is unlikely that the relationship between the Gulf Arab states and Asia will become strategic in the near future, as Asian leaders have shown no interest in guaranteeing Gulf security. They are content to bandwagon for as long as possible. Furthermore, the current security arrangement between Gulf Cooperation Council and Western powers, which has stood the test of time, looks likely to endure for decades. In spite of the apparent downturn in relations between Gulf Arab leaders and the West since the Arab Spring, both sides are committed to a long-term strategic relationship.
The aim of this paper is to promote a better understanding of the complexity of decision making in the Gulf by acquiring a more insightful appreciation of how established and newly founded ...institutions contribute to the policy process.The analysis and insights shared by the scholars and practitioners who have contributed to this paper help explain the institutional process of politics in the region. At present, not much academic literature focuses upon the role played by institutions in decision making within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. There is a wealth of academic enquiry into the role of institutions in the developed world and regions of the developing world, but nothing that focuses on the GCC. Most academic studies on the GCC emphasize how tribal society, rentierism and patronage are at the core of decision making, but they tend to neglect the role of institutions. Academic studies have tended to stress the role played by elites, the tribe, majalis, the military, rentierism, the environment and external relations in shaping domestic and foreign-policy decisions. However, political, social, economic and cultural institutions also contribute to the wider policy making. There is both an academic and policy need for better understanding of how such institutions feed into decision making in GCC states.
Jordan and Syria, severed parts of the same country, were in many ways 'siblings': their systemic situation, as economically weak small states surrounded by more powerful enemies, was similarly ...vulnerable; their leaders at the time of the Iraq War were of a similar 'modernising' generation; the identities of their populations were similarly Arab-Islamic. Yet, they followed diametrically opposite policies toward the invasion of Iraq: Jordan bandwagoning with the United States and Syria defying it. This contrary behaviour is explained by their differential experiences of state formation and the differing social forces incorporated and identities institutionalised in Ba'thist Syria and Hashemite Jordan.
...the HDP's social policies -- promoting gender equality and LGBT rights -- match poorly with the Kurds' overwhelmingly conservative mores. Turkey's changing political landscape will only further ...complicate matters: Since 2008, Barzani has been a close ally of Erdogan.
This chapter has been designed to familiarise the reader with the 'dynamics of change' taking place within the six GCC states. Both Najem (Chapter 1) and Ehteshami (Chapter 3) allude to the various ...forces that have compelled the GCC leadership to steer their states towards gradual reform. The fall-out from the 11 September attacks upon state-society relations in the GCC states has yet to fully realised. As Najem notes, state-led reform, once an anathema to 'reform architects', does provide an element of solace and comfort to GCC leaders and the supporters of the US alliance against terrorism. The critical question for this study is whether the reforms implemented to date can be undone, if necessary. Or has the reform process reached a no-turning point, as Ehteshami hints in his introduction. Alternatively, the subsequent drop in the price of oil could diminish the political leverage of the ruling families and act as a fillip to political reform. The reform process in the GCC states, as suggested by Najem and Ehteshami, is sensitive to a more complex range of variables than most regions of the world, and the impact of the war against terrorism has not been lost on decision-makers, analysts and terrorists.
Transatlantic differences over the future of the Iran nuclear deal - or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) of July 2015 - are damaging a nuclear accord that all parties, except the United ...States, see as delivering on its purpose. They also increase the risk of Washington and European capitals working at cross-purposes vis-à-vis Iran and broader regional policies. To avoid such a scenario, the E3 (France, Germany, United Kingdom)/European Union (EU) and the United States need to set up new channels of communication to avoid a transatlantic rift, to attempt - if at all possible - to preserve the Iran deal, and to secure its benefits for regional and global security. (author's abstract)
The advent of the New World Order has challenged Syria's role in the Middle East. Traditionally viewed as a pariah state, and a Soviet satellite, Syria's future looked uncertain. Syria, however, has ...been able to accommodate the transformation in the world order. The New World Order amounted to a redistribution of global power. The transmutation of Soviet power towards the US culminated in a unipolar world order. The withdrawal of Soviet support through the advent of the New World Order threatened Syria's quest for regional hegemony. Existing in a state of anarchy, the co-ordinates of Syria's foreign policy have been founded upon the principles of self-help, national security, and national interest. These principles have found their expression through Syria's intractable struggle with Israel. Syrian foreign policy has been determined by two factors: primarily, by the international political system, and secondarily, by the influence of domestic politics. Omni balancing provides an explanatory model for foreign policy behaviour that bridges the divide between the determinants of the international political system and the influences of the domestic arena. Following a rational policy, the Syrian state was compelled to realign with the US- led world order, in order to pursue regional hegemony. It was able to display its accommodation of the New World Order by joining the US-led coalition forces in the liberation of Kuwait in 1990/1991. Syria's adjustment to the New World Order was rewarded with a place in the post-war regional order, and a central role in the Madrid Peace Conference.
