International Relations Commons^™

External Intervention In The Arab Spring Revolutions And Its Ramifications For Arab National Security, Gamal M. Selim

Political Science

تهدف هذه الدراسة إلى تقييم الدور الخارجي في ثورات الربيع العربي وكذلك انعكاسات هذا الدور على الأمن القومي العربي. وتنقسم الدراسة إلى ثلاثة أقسام رئيسة: في القسم الأول، تتناول الدراسة محدادت الربيع العربي. في القسم الثاني، تتناول الدراسة حدود التدخل الخارجي في الربيع العربي سواء في مرحلة ما قبل أو بعد اندلاع الثورات العربية. في القسم الثالث، تتناول الدراسة انعكاسات التدخل الخارجي على الأمن القومي العربي.

Book Review: The Arab Spring, Democracy And Security: Domestic And International Ramifications, Efraim Inbar (Ed), Zenonas Tziarras

Zenonas Tziarras

To oer analysis on an on going political event is always a challenging task. Yet, the “Arab Spring” has given rise to many questions about the past, the present and the future of the Arab world and the Middle East more generally. The Arab Spring, Democracy and Security:Domesc and International Ramifications addresses some of these questions. The chapters of this edited volume have been written by selected Israeli scholars focusing on “issues such as democratization, the role of economic factors in political change and explanations for variations in regime stability in the Middle East.” The relationship between internal and external …

Turkey-Egypt: Turkish Model, Political Culture And Regional Power Struggle, Zenonas Tziarras

Zenonas Tziarras

This paper argues that although, during the governance of the Muslim Brotherhood, the promotion of the Turkish model through political and economic support was welcomed in Egypt, it is not compatible with the country and cannot be emulated, while there are also different perceptions about the matter on the elite and mass political culture levels. Moreover, based on the political culture(s) of the county, it is very likely that future governments in Egypt would want to assume a greater regional role. Ultimately this means that the Turkish model would have failed as a means of soft power and hegemony, while …

The Egyptian Islamic Group’S Critique Of Al-Qaeda’S Interpretation Of Jihad, Paul Kamolnick

ETSU Faculty Works

A specific branch of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh al-jihad) regulates the waging of the jihad of the sword (jihad bis saif). In this article, a detailed exposition is presented of the Egyptian Islamic Group’s (IG; Al-Gama’a Al-Islamiyya) use of fiqh al jihad against Al-Qaeda. The present author’s ‘jihad-realist’ approach is first briefly described; the IG’s critique of AQ systematically outlined; and in conclusion, implications are derived for counter-radicalisation strategies.

The Transformation Of The Pkk (Kurdistan Workers' Party): Exploring Domestic, Regional, And Global Dynamics, Akin Guneri

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The main purpose of this study is to explore the underlying factors behind the political and ideological transformation of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) since its foundation. Through the detailed analysis of the role of Turkey's internal versus external factors on the evolution of the PKK over time, this work finds that changing political developments in the Middle East were more influential than Turkey's shifting domestic political environment. Hypothesis testing revealed that the 1991 Gulf War, 2003 Iraq War, changing political dynamics of the Middle East following Syria's Arab Spring, and policy changes worldwide implemented after the 9/11 terrorist attacks …

Woes Of The Arkansas Internationalist: J. William Fulbright, The Middle East, And The Death Of American Liberalism, Mitchell Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary scholarship has shown that J. William Fulbright's defeat in 1974 was due to a plethora of reasons including his opposition to America's involvement in Vietnam, lackadaisical attitude towards the monolithic threat of Communism, connection to the Washington establishment amidst the Watergate scandal, and old age. Scholars, however, have not paid enough attention to the role Fulbright's Middle Eastern stances played in his final election campaign. I seek to place the voice of Arkansans in the national and international political discussions and show that, despite their relatively unfocused interest in Middle Eastern affairs (and perhaps because of that lack of …

January Roundtable: Responding To The Syrian Crisis, Introduction, Claudia Fuentes Julio

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“The World Next Genocide” by Simon Adams. New York Times, November 2012.

and

“Syria is Central to Holding Together the Mideast” by Condoleezza Rice. Washington Post, November 2012.

Syrians Crushed Between Humanitarianism And Realism, Philip Cunliffe

Human Rights & Human Welfare

With the UN High Commissioner for Refugees announcing early this year that the war in Syria may have claimed as many as 60,000 lives, two op-eds published late in 2012 usefully exemplify two contrasting frames that have thus far dominated international responses to the conflict—namely, the humanitarian frame and the geopolitical frame. Yet despite the apparent contrasts between these two frameworks, both reflect a similar contempt for the Syrian people and their right to self-determination. The humanitarian framing of the conflict emphasizes the scale of human suffering and the need to alleviate it, while the geopolitical frame accentuates political interests …

Sectarianism And External Intervention: The Us Occupation Of Iraq And The Rise Of Political Sectarianism In The Arab World, Gamal M. Selim, Dalia Rushdy

Political Science

منذ أن تبلورت في البلاد العربية ظاهرة الهوية، لم تكن تلك الهوية تمثل أي تعارض مع الدين أو المذهب. كما أن التعدد الثقافي العربي وبما تضمنه من تنوع طائفي وإثني ظل سمة أصيلة من سمات المجتمعات العربية لعقود طويلة، وكان مصدرا مهما من مصادر الثراء والتنوع الثقافي والحضاري. لكن هذا التعدد تحول منذ الغزو الأمريكي للعراق عام 2003 من مصدر لإثراء المجتمع إلى سبب لهدمه وتفكيكه، حيث برزت مسألة الطائفية السياسية بقوة، وأصبحت إحدى أكثر المشكلات التي يعاني الوطن العربي من ويلاتها. ورغم أننا لا يمكن أن ننكر أن ظهور الطائفية في الدول العربية سابق على الغزو الأمريكي للعراق، إلا …

Syria: Not Libya, But Let’S Treat It Like It Is Anyway, Eric A. Heinze

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The articles by Condoleezza Rice and Simon Adams advance a series of disquieting possibilities for the future of Syria if the US and other states fail to act. While I am sympathetic to the urgency with which both writers advance their claims, there is much strained and stretched logic—as well as outright naiveté—in both authors' arguments, especially Rice's.

After Assad: Syria’S Post-Conflict Reconstruction, H. M. Roff

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Simon Adams and Condoleezza Rice warn us that with the portended fall of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, the country could witness even more heinous crimes and, potentially, regional political fallout. These worries are not unfounded. However, what seems to be truly missing in their discussions is any mention of post-conflict reconstruction planning. This is unfortunate, as much handwringing is still occurring over "what to do" in Syria, and it will continue until there is a clear vision of what to do after this civil war. Syria's post-conflict reconstruction plan is—or should be—inherently tied to its current operational agenda.

Myths About Syria, James Pattison

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In my contribution, I want to focus on five fallacious claims and arguments that have been presented about the conflict in Syria. (Please note that this piece was written in Dec 2012).

Yemen, Sheila Carapico

Political Science Faculty Publications

In February 2011, Tawakkol Karman stood on a stage outside Sanaa University. A microphone in one hand and the other clenched defiantly above her head, reading from a list of demands, she led tens of thousands of cheering, flag-waving demonstrators in calls for peaceful political change. She was to become not so much the leader as the figurehead of Yemen's uprising. On other days and in other cities, other citizens led the chants: men and women and sometimes, for effect, little children. These mass public performances enacted a veritable civic revolution in a poverty-stricken country where previous activist surges never …