International Relations of Middle East

Believers say he preaches a new, modern form of Islam. Critics charge he is a power hungry wolf in sheep's clothing preparing to convert secular Turkey into an Islamic republic; a conspirator who has created a state within the state and attempted this weekend to topple democratically elected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a failed military coup.

That was not how past Turkish governments or for that matter Mr. Erdogan in his first eight years as prime minister saw Fethullalh Gulen, the leader of one of the world’s largest and wealthiest Islamic movements.

Bahrain’s Royal Family, the Al Khalifa, has long pursued a strategy of divide and rule in order to prevent the emergence of cross-opposition coalitions, while exacerbating the country’s sectarian divide has become a critical means of ensuring regime survival. This article examines the country’s twentieth century imperial and post-independence history through the framework of divide and rule theory, providing crucial context for current events in Bahrain. It demonstrates how a divide and rule strategy is structurally embedded within the ruling family’s mode of governance, and reveals how it continues to be employed as an effective means of maintaining absolute monarchy in Bahrain.

Keywords: Bahrain, Arab Spring, Gulf Cooperation Council, divide and rule, sectarianism

As the crisis in Syria keeps escalating and the violent crackdown of the Bashar al-Assad regime results in more civilian deaths, the growing instability and civil opposition is significantly challenging the die-hard regime and raises questions regarding how much longer it can keep up with the deteriorating domestic situation and the increasing international pressure. More importantly, the troubling question that emerges is what might happen when the regime is finally overthrown?

First published in Buzzle on 16th August 2006

Republished on the same day here:
http://sudaneseonline.com/en2/publish/Articles_and_Analysies_12/Sudan_s_Beja_Blemmyes_and_their_Right_to_Freedom_a_929.shtml

Republished on 23rd August 2006 and discussed in the forum below:
http://www.politicsforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=62793
At the moment the misinformed international community plans to spend so easily US $ 3 billion for Lebanon's reconstruction, it is essential to highlight that much less money would be enough to bring peace in the strategically crucial area of Eastern Sudan where the Blemmyes / Beja have started their struggle for self-determination and independence. Support to historically indigenous Beja would bring the Khartoum tyrants at the brink of collapse, opening the path of independence for the oppressed peoples of Sudan, and at the same time it would reshape the entire area of the Red Sea where historical nations demand international recognition.

Il aura suffi de l’annonce par le gouvernement d’une taxe sur l’application de messagerie WhatsApp pour qu’éclate un mouvement de contestation populaire inédit dans l’histoire du Liban contemporain. En ce 17 octobre 2019, trente années après l’accord de Taëf, censé mettre un terme à la Guerre du Liban et permettre au pays exsangue de renaître de ses cendres, une limite est franchie. Des citoyens en colère se rassemblent sur une des artères principales de Beyrouth, le pont du Ring Fouad Chehab, jadis ligne de démarcation entre l’Est et l’Ouest de la capitale. Très vite, les grandes places de la ville répercutent l’onde de choc dans un élan spontané assimilé à un sursaut, à une prise de conscience fulgurante.
Il va sans dire que ce ras-le-bol cache un mal plus profond. Celui-ci prend racine dans les graves dysfonctionnements qui sévissent depuis la fin des hostilités armées en 1990 et l’installation de la tutelle syrienne. La fin de cette dernière, suite à l’assassinat de l’ancien Premier ministre Rafic Hariri en 2005, laisse la place à une crise de pouvoir et à une paralysie politique nées des rivalités inter et intra-communautaires sur fond de corruption généralisée et institutionnalisée (y compris au sein du pouvoir judiciaire), de clientélisme et d’impunité qui ont marqué les années 1992-2005. L’afflux massif des réfugiés syriens fuyant la guerre qui se généralise en Syrie à partir de 2012, exerce une très forte pression sur les ressources du pays, d’autant plus que les réfugié…

TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE TABOO OF ATHEISM IN EGYPT 3
By Hakim Khatib
NEW ORDER HAS JUST BEGUN IN THE MIDDLE EAST 6
By Fadi Elhusseini
TURKEY–ISRAEL NORMALIZATION – WHY EVER NOT? 9
By Neville Teller
MUSLIMS AND HUMAN LIBERTY 12
By Irshad Manhi
ISIS ATTACK IN ISTANBUL – TWO TARGETS IN ONE 14
By Rick Francona
PRESSURE ON SHEIKH SALMAN TO RESPOND TO HUMAN RIGHTS ALLEGATIONS 15
By James M. Dorsey
SAUDI POLITICAL INTOLERANCE 18
By Hakim Khatib
CULTURAL BRIDGE HAS NOT BEEN DESTROYED IN AFGHANISTAN 21
By Homayun Alam
ANCIENT SYRIA: ARE SYRIANS REALLY ARABS? 23
By Mohanad Albaaly

The Iraq War’s enduring conflict has proven resilient in its on-and-off relationship with the US and international forces occupying.  Streamlining a more sustainable counterinsurgency plan remains a critical link to securing stability designed to promote Iraqi nation-rebuilding efforts.  While the smart power approach to foreign policy has yet to realize its potential full effect, recruitment of younger generations into recurrent violence via Islamist co-optation persists with threat to bleed across the region.  Military, diplomatic and politically weighed strategies struggle to contain the violence by advancing innovative methods to counter and disengage while supporting Iraqi democracy, not altogether unlike US operations in Afghanistan.  COIN directive requires in-depth analysis of the socialization of teenage youth as they undertake transnational violence into adulthood.  Nation building through better concerted and inclusive effort of relief, intelligence, military and policymaking drive is the key to tapping the potential of next generation Iraqis as immediate and future leaders.  Youth at risk raised with a history of violence will otherwise require constant intervention.  Policy transition moving towards internal stability and an exit strategy has the resources to launch effective social programming for political infrastructure and business strategy to guide better negotiation in resource and conflict management.  Media’s role in promoting proactive social networks promises to be a game-changer for ground game where youth are enabled to access it.  International support and inter-alia networking then remain to be fully realized if Iraq and the US are to emerge from the war in two pieces.

NOTE: EMBARGOED BY PUBLISHER.  The latest edition of this renowned textbook explores the states and regimes of the Middle East and North Africa. Presenting heavily revised, fully updated chapters contributed by the world’s leading experts, it analyzes the historical trajectory, political institutions, economic development, and foreign policies of the region’s nearly two dozen countries. The volume can be used in conjunction with its sister volume, The Societies of the Middle East and North Africa, for a comprehensive overview of the region.  The chapters are organized and structured identically, giving insightful windows into the nuances of each country’s domestic politics and foreign relations. Data tables and extensive annotated bibliographies orient readers towards further research. In sum, the book provides the most comprehensive and detailed overview of the region’s varied politics available for prospective readers, travelers, journalists, scholars, and policymakers who need usable knowledge about the MENA region.

Diyala can be said to be a microcosm of Iraq. It is the home to all three major ethnosectarian groups in the country. It has lush farmlands and mountain ranges. It also remains a battlefield between the security forces, militias and the insurgency today. In 2005 Richard Buchanan worked there as a defense contractor interrogating prisoners where he saw first hand the early stages of the civil war. Here is an interview with Buchanan about how the Iraqi insurgency was organized, what the militias did in response, and how the Americans were caught in the middle.

Foreign Policies of the Great and Emerging Powers

© 2008 Pearson Prentice Hall: Sydney. 318pp. + xvii.

Remy Davison
Jean Monnet Chair in Politics and Economics
Department of Politics and International Relations
Monash University

The book is divided into five parts:
– Part I introduces a number of theories and approaches to the study of foreign policy within the framework of international relations theory.
– Part II deals with the world’s three largest military powers: the US, Russia and China
– In Part III, the analysis shifts to the three major European powers: Britain, France and Germany.
– Part IV is devoted to four ‘emerging powers’ in Asia and the Middle East.
– Part V reviews the case studies and provides some concluding comments on how relations between the great and emerging powers might evolve in the 21st century.

Foreign Policies of the Great and Emerging Powers is concerned primarily with the changing structure of the balance of power operating in contemporary international politics and focuses upon assessing the policy intentions and power capabilities of key actors within such a structure.
One of the key objectives of this text is to evaluate the factors and national interests that underpin policy-making in the major powers. It also addresses fundamental issues in international relations theory: the concept of power; national interests; geopolitical and geoeconomic factors; and the factors that determine foreign policy decision-making.


Part I: Introduction
1. Approaches to foreign policy
2. Explaining the great and emerging powers’ foreign policies

Part II: The great powers
3. The United States: Hyperpower unleashed or incompetent superpower?
4. Russia: Superpower in flux?
5. The People’s Republic of China: Status quo or revisionist power?

Part III:The European powers
6. Britain: European or transatlantic power?
7. France: Multilateral or balancing power?
8. Germany: Economic giant, pacifist power?

Part IV: Emerging powers
9. Japan: An increasingly ‘normal’ power?
10. India: The non-aligned Power?
11. Iran: Regional power or regional threat?
12.I srael: Balancer or destabiliser?

Part V: Concluding comments
13. The great and emerging powers in international politics

This chapter focuses on the role of social media in galvanizing street protests, demonstrations, and other forms of democratic participation associated with the Iranian Green Movement, and examines how Iranian activists framed relevant events, norms, values, ideologies, issues, narratives, and symbols on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other websites.  The political, social, economic, and technological circumstances in Iran that triggered the Green Revolution and eventually contributed to its apparent demise are investigated.  In particular, the chapter explores how movement activists utilized social media to enunciate their political demands and mobilize supporters – both within Iran and around the world.  Attempts by activists to achieve a frame alignment between the Green Movement and relevant indigenous (national) and transnational discursive concepts are examined.  The chapter proposes that the use of collective action frames in social media was instrumental initially in mobilizing the Green Movement and contesting the dominant frames of the regime, but ultimately proved to be insufficient and even counterproductive at times in sustaining the necessary levels of popular support to topple the regime from power.

The 2011 Arab uprisings were initially hailed by many observers in the Western world as the harbinger of a “modern” Middle East. Finally, it was believed, the hegemony of corrupt autocrats and the prolonged “dark age” of the Arab world were coming to an end. In the context of this narrative, the so-called Turkish model gained popularity as a potential guide for the modernization of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Accordingly, modernization has been defined as the inevitable path to a liberal democratic, free-market capitalist, and secular society within non-Western settings. This conceptualization is highly Eurocentric as the contents of modernization are solely limited to the contemporary characteristics of social, economic, and political life in Western Europe and Northern America.

This study criticizes much of the literature on the Arab uprisings, arguing that the excessive enthusiasm shown by Western mainstream media and governments toward the promotion of the Turkish model reveals the limits of their understanding of the complexities of MENA societies and polities. Modernization is actually a highly customizable path whose nature is determined mainly by the contingent socioeconomic and political characteristics of each country. Therefore, in order to develop a generalizable understanding of modernization in the MENA region and beyond, the Eurocentrism of mainstream literature needs to be replaced with more flexible frameworks such as the ones developed in recent years by proponents of postcolonialism, multiple modernities paradigm, and the uneven and combined development theory.

This article examines changes in Libya's internal security, politics, economy and international relations since the start of the revolution in February 2011. Our main argument is that in order to transition from authoritarianism to democracy significant change in each of these four, mutually reinforcing, areas is needed. Drawing on data collected through media analysis and field work, we offer a discussion of the nature of change in Libya and how far the country has democratised. We claim that significant changes in Libya's political system and foreign relations have taken place since 2011 that reinforce the process of democratisation. Within the political system these changes include the conduct of free and fair elections, the formation of new political parties, the reinforcement of civil rights and liberties, governmental accountability and the emergence of a participant political culture. Within foreign relations they include deeper cooperation with regional and international actors, reintegration into the Arab League, and rapprochement with Western states. However, we also observe that structural economic changes, in particular raising personal incomes and lowering poverty, and the normalisation of security provision are moving forward more slowly. We conclude that democratisation in Libya is taking place and there is a solid possibility that embedded democracy will emerge in Libya in the medium to longterm.

In the historiography of the 1967 War, the common reading is to portray it as an
“inadvertent war.” Using recently declassified documents, this article offers an
alternative interpretation. In critically examining existing master plan theories,
it is shown that the United Arab Republic’s (UAR) military actions were limited
in size and were without aggressive intentions. The Israeli decision to strike was
taken not for military reasons but rather to prevent a diplomatic solution which
might have entailed disadvantages for the Israeli side.

This handbook brings together a mix of established and emerging international scholars to provide valuable analytical insights as to how China’s growing Middle East presence affects intra-regional development, trade, security, and diplomacy.

How to reconcile a European policy in the Mediterranean
able to involve Egypt as a reliable partner and, at the same time, to ensure the promotion of essential European values in the field of civil and political rights? Where and how can the EU act to incorporate Egypt into a process of regional integration and cooperation on issues of shared importance? How can the EU deal with its loss of leverage in Egypt and in the region as a whole? Will heads of member states continue to look the other way as private sector bilateral deals are signed with a military regime systematically targeting the rights of Egyptian citizens? For European policy makers these issues raise further questions related to broader foreign policy strategy, commitment to deeper democracy, and the kind of relationship we want to maintain with Egypt.

La guerre et la paix sont des éléments constamment présents dans l'histoire politique et militaire. L'histoire du Proche et Moyen-Orient ne fait pas exception.
Cette vaste zone du monde, qui s’étend en Méditerranée de l’Égypte à la Turquie (Proche Orient) et qui englobe les territoires de l'Arabie jusqu'en Afghanistan (Moyen-Orient), a toujours été le centre d'attention de la politique internationale : sa position géostratégique entre trois continents, la présence de ressources aux enjeux de plus en plus stratégiques, et la présence de traditions fortes, profondes et diverses, en ont fait le théâtre des aspirations impériales, des revanchismes nationalistes, des affrontements religieux et culturels, et des luttes pour l'hégémonie.
Pour comprendre l'évolution de ces phénomènes le choix de 1914 comme point de départ n'est pas arbitraire. Le début de la Première Guerre mondiale est aussi le moment où l'Empire Ottoman, qui avait unifié la région jusqu'alors, s'approchait de sa chute définitive qui a amorcé une redéfinition géopolitique totale de la région.
1914 semble donc le moment le plus approprié pour analyser les acteurs, les enjeux et les moyens de l’alternance de la guerre et de la paix au Proche et Moyen-Orient.

"German emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, indulged in traveling. One of the most-traveled monarchs of the turn of the century, he rode automobiles, trains, yachts and ships, crisscrossing Germany, Europe, and even the Near and Middle East, specifically Turkey, Syria, Palestine, and the Holy Land's Jerusalem. His travels were employed in political communication strategies by the government, instrumentalizing the mass media. However, not all communication factors could be controlled during such travels -- with the Kaiser himself often spinning out of control. His travels also had important policy and diplomacy functions.

GERMAN/DEUTSCH Wilhelm II. galt als "Reisekaiser", seine Touren bedienten die Medienlogik wie nie zuvor. Doch sie lösten auch Krisen aus.
Schlagwörter: Bagdadbahn, Daily Telegraph Affäre, Damaskusrede, Diplomatie, Dschihad, Eisenbahn, Fotografie, Hunnenrede, Islam, Osmanisches Reich, Palästina, Palästinareise, Reden, Reisekaiser, Reisen, Rhetorik, Weltkrieg
Organisationen: Auswärtiges Amt, Hofmarschallamt, „Nachrichtenstelle für den Orient (NfO)
Unternehmen: Borsig, Deutsche Bank, Krupp, Philipp Holzmann, Thomas Cook
Personen: Abdülhamid II., Christopher Clark, Thomas Cook, Theodor Herzl, Martin Kohlrausch, Max von Oppenheim, Eberhard Straub, Frank Wedekind, Wilhelm II.
Publikationen: Alldeutsche Blätter, Daily Chronicle, El-Dschihad, Le Figaro, Le Petit Journal, Simplicissimus"

How have Syrian refugees affected the local economic development in Gaziantep since the start of the Syrian Civil War?

The impacts of the Syrian refugee crisis cannot be studied just by one discipline and the impacts are mainly examined on four aspects in this paper: Economic, social, political and environmental. However, this study will be primarily focusing on the economic and social sides of the story. Traditionally, economic, social and environmental sustainability are all associated with each other and are considered to be the “limits to
growth”. Nevertheless, after both the primary and secondary research were evaluated and interviews with local authorities were made, it has been deduced that both positive and negative impacts exist yet, the positive potential is worth the investment. Henceforth, this study examines how the Syrian refugee crisis has affected the local economy in Gaziantep and how the changes in the local economy have contributed to economic sustainability in any way. The results show that Syrian refugees have boosted the local economic development in Gaziantep, exposing it to different viewpoints.

Sam Wyer is an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War specializing in Iraq. In December 2012, he authored a paper on Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, the League of the Righteous. It provided one of the most detailed breakdowns of the history and organization of the League, and how it has tried to change itself from an Iranian-supported Special Group militia to a social and political party. Below is an interview with Wyer about Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq.

This book analyses Turkey’s role in the Arab world and investigates the effects of the Arab Spring on Turkish foreign policy, decision-making and its role. Particular attention is focused on widespread terms such as strategic depth, neo-Ottomans and the Turkish Model. It also provides incisive discussions of the key tenets of the Turkish official responses to Arab revolts and narrates the advantages and challenges that come to forge any potential regional role for Turkey.

This course presents a broad survey of historical forces at work over the past 6,000 years, examining the manners in which human societies have organized themselves along categories of race, ethnicity, class, and gender to meet the challenges of the increasing human population and its demands on natural resources: thus, it examines continuity and change in societies over time, in different places, and among various peoples.

تشهد المرحلة الحالية تغيرات من الناحية الجيوسياسية بالغة الأهمية خلال الربيع العربي وامتداده في البلدان العربية بشكل خاص.هذه التغييرات الجيوسياسية تعكس تغيرات جيوستراتيجية مهعلى دول الشرق الأوسط أيضاً، مما يسبب تأثيرات جدية داخليا وخارجيا على جميع دول نظومةالشرق الأوسطً. تناقش هذه الوثيقة بعض المفاهيم الجيوستراتيجية الأساسية لتطويرثقافة جيواستراتيجة إقليمية مشتركة لتجنب مواجهة جيوستراتيجية في المنطقة تبدو حتمية إن لم يتم الاستدراك ولإستغلال الفرص الاستراتيجية المتاحة. وتطرح هذه الوثيقة مفهوم الإدارة التكاملية للمصالح الجيوستراتيجية وتطلب أيضاً الوصول إلى "نقطة التوازن الجيوستراتيجي" تمهيدا للوصول إلى مرحلة "التكافؤ الاستراتيجي" للبدء بعد بذلك بتطوير مبادرات إقليمية جيوستراتيجية. كما ستقدم هذه الوثيقة مجموعة من المتطلبات الاستراتيجية الجوهرية ضمن السياق الديناميكي المعقد للمرحلة الانتقالية للربيع العربي وتأثيرها على المنطقة لدعم تماسك دول الشرق الأوسط في هذه المعضلة.

Migration has emerged as one of the major challenges of our time, from the Syrian refugee crisis or sub-Saharan migration via the Mediterranean to the mobilisation of diaspora groups across Europe or the politics of labour immigration in the Gulf. This interdisciplinary conference aims to bring together scholars working on the interplay between international relations and migration into, out of, and across the Middle East, both historically and in contemporary times.

Papers on all issues related to the international politics of Middle East migration are welcome, including work on labour migration, refugees and forced migration, as well as transnationalism and diasporas. Papers on the following topics are of particular interest:

- The governance of Middle East migration

- European responses to “migration and refugee crises” and the rise of “migration deals”

- The politics of Middle East diasporas

- The management of African and South-Asian migrant populations in the Middle East

- Foreign policy, security and Middle East migration

- Authoritarian states’ responses to labour and forced migration in the region

The conference will begin with a keynote lecture by Professor Dawn Chatty (Emerita Professor of Anthropology and Forced Migration, University of Oxford; former Director of the Refugee Studies Centre, 2011-2014), who will discuss her latest book, Syria: The Making and Unmaking of a Refuge State (2018, Oxford University Press).

Please submit your proposed abstract (maximum 350 words) to [email protected] by 14 December 2018. Funding is available to subsidise participants’ costs.

More details: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/government-society/departments/political-science-international-studies/events/2018/11/Two-Day-British-Academy-conference-on-the-politics-of-Middle-East-migration.aspx

This book is a window into contemporary Pakistan and my role in
shaping it. I have lived a passionate life, perhaps an impetuous one
in my early years, but always I have focused on self-improvement and
the betterment of my country. Often I have been chastised for being too
forthright and candid, and I trust you will find these qualities reflected
here. I do not shy away from sensitive issues, circumscribed only by
certain dictates of national security.

I decided to write my autobiography after Pakistan took center stage
in the world's conflicts, including the war on terror. There has been
intense curiosity about me and the country I lead. I want the world to
learn the truth.

Abstract
This article examines the longstanding rivalry of Rome and Parthia, which began as an unintended consequence of Crassus’ decisive defeat at Carrhae in 53 BCE. It synthesizes the accounts and opinions of numerous Graeco-Roman writers from the Augustan Age to late antiquity in order to help illustrate the new and interconnected post-Carrhae world and its legacy. The rivalry of the Romans and Parthians became a primary focus of their foreign policies and drastically expanded their perceptions of the world in which they interacted. Even after the fall of the Parthians to the rebellious Sassanid Persians in the 220s CE, the Romans continued to find their three-century-long rivalry with the Parthians of interest and relevant to the changing world of late antiquity.

U.S. mediation towards resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict in the 1970s and Balkan conflicts in the 1990s may not seem comparable at first. Differences between these conflicts in terms of history, duration and dynamics abound. The nature and level of U.S. involvement provides further contrasts. Yet, the Camp David negotiations in 1978 and the Dayton Peace Talks in 1995 offer striking parallels in terms of third-party mediator actions under-taken. This article compares the two summits by applying the analytic framework developed by Curran, Sebenius and Watkins to categorize third party mediator strategies. The analysis builds on this framework and deduces common tactics employed by third-party mediators at Camp David and Dayton.

Organizations such as the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization and the religious outreach arms of the Iranian state play an important role in helping cement transnational religious links between Iran and the wider Muslim world. Such links not only take the shape of traditional religious activities affiliated with the seminaries but also involve educational and diplomatic missions undertaken abroad by the Iranian government. The outreach and development of such parastatal organizations operating across the world highlights a complex and multi-layered articulation of Iran's combined spiritual and political mission in global politics. This brief is a product of the Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power (GRSP) project, a multi-year, cross-disciplinary effort to systematically study state use of religion in foreign affairs. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Iran's foreign policy draws on core Shia themes around fighting oppression and injustice to craft messages capable of transcending sectarian and regional boundaries. • The utilization of such themes leverages Iran's position as a global religious hub, but its projection of religious soft power is just one aspect of a multidimensional foreign policy. • Iran's cultural and religious diplomacy is agile and multifaceted and can shift gears depending on the target audience. • Iran relies on various parastatal organizations to enact its cultural and religious diplomacy on the world stage.

This chapter focuses on the Iraqi Kurdish response to the rapid and devastating advance of ISIS. Of course, the Iraqi Kurdish response to the ISIS advance has been a multifaceted, complex, and evolving one that includes military strategy, pragmatic politics, and aspirations of independence. Leaving aside the fact that the ISIS advance has granted the Iraqi Kurds unprecedented access to Iraq’s rich oil reserves and the fact that the initial Kurdish reaction was to ramp up their rhetoric toward complete secession from Iraq, this chapter focuses on two further dimensions of the Iraqi Kurdish response. Firstly, it documents the Iraqi Kurdish seizure of the so-called “disputed territories,” especially
Kirkuk, and their stated intent to hold a referendum on the future of these
regions (effectively to force a resolution to Article 140 of the constitution). Secondly, the chapter documents the Iraqi Kurdish use of the ISIS advance as leverage to enhance Kurdish relations dramatically with the US and Europe via direct military support (including airstrikes and weapons supply) and to become the key launchpad
in the fight against ISIS planned for 2015. The chapter concludes by briefly assessing the efficacy and wisdom of the Kurdish strategy of leveraging the ISIS onslaught to advance their own interests.

The Syrian uprising passed its one year mark with the Ba’th regime still in power. Since the beginning of the uprising, however, peaceful protests have declined and have been replaced by armed struggle. What were the factors that determined the course of events since the start of the uprising and how did these factors push Syria towards a civil war? In this paper, I argue that the uprising that began as a result of legitimate grievances of Syrian workers, peasants, activists and intellectuals was appropriated by more organized opposition forces that had the support of powerful Gulf States such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia. This turn of events marginalized the domestic opposition who were rendered invisible in Western media, which instead promoted the Muslim Brotherhood backed opposition as the only voice of Syrian opposition. This essay offers an analysis of the Syrian uprising by situating the uprising historically and by moving away from the narrative that has been established by the Western media. Part one situates the uprising in the context of economic liberalization policies of Bashar Assad. Part two explores the role of Syrian opposition forces prior and after the Arab Spring. Part three discusses the role of Western and regional powers and their intentions to shape the outcome of the uprising. I conclude by discussing the broader implications of international powers’ responses to the Syrian crisis.

An ambitious State with multi-continental holdings, the legal authority of the Ottoman Empire was subject to different interpretations at different times. This chapter is con cerned primarily with the Ottoman capitulations. It argues that the capitulations illus trate the variability of the empire's status in a changing international legal order, demon strating that this variability found expression in a distinct set of instruments for the regu lation of political and economic relations with the West. Though both Ottomans and West erners came over time to perceive the capitulations as sustaining far-reaching relations of domination and exploitation, a realistic account of the capitulations, one that captures the distinctive fluidity of Ottoman-European relations, may, it suggests, be developed on the back of the insight that each capitulatory document was first and foremost a site of con testation.

This study focuses on Anglo-Turkish relations in the Middle East between 1945 and 1953. It starts from the period directly following the Second World War and continues until July 1953 when British Middle Eastern defense plans failed and were replaced first by the Turkish ‘Triangular Strategy’ and then by the American ‘Northern Tier’ defense concept. A dual approach is adopted: while Turkish policies in the region are explored initially, the nature of the British attitude towards the Turkish policies is then examined to analyse the development of Anglo-Turkish relations concerning the Middle East.