Europe

Grand Strategy in the Contemporary Middle East

The Concepts and Debates

Tore T. Petersen, Clive Jones (eds.) – 2022

This unique volume explores the role that Grand Strategy has played in the shaping of the Middle East and why, conceptually, its core principles still have traction in explaining the shifting alliances and dispensation of power across the region. When so much of the spatial as well as the geo-political boundaries of the Middle East are in flux, it is now time to revisit the very ideas that inform Grand Strategy that once again, are enjoying a wider intellectual renaissance in world affairs. Through a longitudinal met...
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Britain’s Departure from Aden and South Arabia:

Without Glory but Without Disaster

Noel Brehony, Clive Jones (eds.) – 2020

Britain’s hasty departure from Aden and South Arabia after 128 years has often been presented as a humiliation at best and a disaster at worst. London’s hopes of handing power and sovereignty over to a friendly federal regime collapsed in the face of a nationalist uprising backed that enjoyed the support of Egypt. Five decades after the final British troops left Aden, academic experts and former British officials directly involved in the events that unfolded critically reflect on British withdrawal from South Arabia, the po...
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Diplomacy of Quasi-Alliances in the Middle East

with a foreword by Tim Niblock

Degang Sun, Dandan Zhang – 2020

Quasi-alliance refers to the ideation, mechanism and behavior of policy-makers to carry out security cooperation through informal political and security arrangements. As a “gray zone” between alliance and neutrality, quasi-alliance is a hidden national security statecraft. Based on declassified archives and secondary sources, this book probes the theory and practice of quasi-alliances in the Middle East. Four cases are chosen to test the hypotheses of quasi-alliance: - the Anglo-French-Israeli quasi-alliance during the Suez...
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European Muslims and their Foreign Policy Interests: Identities and Loyalties

Imène Ajala – 2018

In a global context marked by terrorist threats, Muslim communities in the West have come under increasing scrutiny. Sensitive questions on identity arise with regard to their foreign policy interests and their loyalties. Topics covered include: - Relations between European Muslims and international issues - Political opportunity structures - Organization and institutionalization of Islam - Diaspora and transnational dimensions - The securitization of Islam - Foreign policy and loyalty This book investigates the foreign pol...
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Iran’s Strategic Thinking:

The Evolution of Iran’s Foreign Policy, 1979-2018

Nikolay Kozhanov – 2018

What are the ideological motives behind Iran’s foreign policy? This new study examines Tehran’s twin desires to protect national interests and to project real power. Factors determining Iran’s foreign policy include: - Potential economic leader of the Middle East region - Key player in the oil and gas market - Centre of resistance against global Western domination - US and Israel policy - Syria as the bridge to Lebanon and Palestine There is a strong focus on primary sources, as well as interviews with EU, Russian and Middle...
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Conflict Resolution and Creation of a Security Community in the Gulf Region

Tim Niblock, Talmiz Ahmad, Degang Sun (eds.) – 2017

The bitter confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran is not only stoking conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, but now threatens the stability, security and well-being of the whole Gulf region. All the major global powers have significant interests in this area, and the pursuit of these interests adds further layers of division and conflict. This book goes to the heart of this issue, examining the critical modalities whereby the "Gulf Cold War" can be brought to an end. What is needed, the contributors argue, is th...
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The Arab States of the Gulf and BRICS:

New Strategic Partnerships in Politics and Economics

Tim Niblock, Degang Sun, Alejandra Galindo (eds.) – 2016

How the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) relates to BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) is, in the light of the growing strength and importance of this organisation and the countries which comprise it, of critical importance. The issue is not simply how the GCC countries handle their relations with the individual BRICS countries, but more importantly how they relate to an alternative structure of coordination and perhaps power in the global order. Their established links and alliances may no longer be enough...
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The Arms Trade, Military Services and the Security Market in the Gulf States: Trends and Implications

David B. Des Roches, Dania Thafer (eds.) – 2016

The Gulf is in the first rank of potential global flashpoints. It is the largest market for weapons imports in the world, and is considered to be a vital interest of all the great powers. Iran is viewed as an expansionist threat by the Arab states of the Gulf, who have built considerable militaries in a historically short timeframe. Security in the Gulf, however, is a complicated matter. The Arab states of the Gulf have pursued different defense policies as well as different ways of building up their forces. In some instance...
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Russia and the Syrian Conflict:

Moscow’s Domestic, Regional and Strategic Interests

Nikolay Kozhanov – 2016

This book is the first to offer a comprehensive survey of Moscow’s foreign policy interests in Syria. The author considers the Kremlin’s diplomacy on Syria within the broader system of Russian foreign policy in the Middle East; he analyses the influence of Russian domestic dimensions on Moscow’s approaches to the subject; and he considers how Moscow’s priorities in Syria have evolved during the last five years and what factors influenced this evolution. Key factors considered include: - Russian presence in the Middle East be...
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Wahhabism - Doctrine and Development

Set, Volumes 1-2 (Critical Surveys in Islamic Denominations)

Esther Peskes (ed.) – 2016

Saudi Arabian Wahhabism is the ultra-puritanical form of Sunni Islam which has been adopted by Islamist radicals, Salafists, and jihadists to legitimize and spread their extremist agenda. The scholarly articles in these two volumes throw fresh light on this messianic radicalism by tracing its origins in the 18th century up to its present role as the authoritative interpretation of Islam in the strategically vital Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. - Volume 1 focuses on the main tenets of Wahhabi doctrine that brought about the Wahhabi...
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Islamic Finance: Political Economy, Values and Innovation

Volume 1

Mehmet Asutay, Abdullah Q. Turkistani (eds.) – 2016

Islamic finance has had a transformational impact on markets well beyond the Muslim world. This development has been the outcome of various stakeholders and agencies interacting to develop a political economy based on Islamic values to generate religiously and culturally authentic financial institutions and instruments. The studies presented in this volume discuss these interactions through specific examples from the GCC countries, supported by comparative perspctives, in order to articulate the development and consequences...
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Islamic Finance: Risk, Stability and Growth

Volume 2

Mehmet Asutay, Abdullah Q. Turkistani (eds.) – 2016

In response to the recent global financial crisis, Islamic finance, as a religiously authentic proposition, has shown resilience throuh its inherited principles such as risk sharing and the avoidance of speculation. Such approaches have provided stability, which in turn has brought unprecedented growth to the sector. The studies in this volume focus on examples in the GCC countries to provide empirical analysis of the risk aspects of Islamic finance, to test its stability, identify its growth trajectories, and measure its im...
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Islamic Finance: Performance and Efficiency

Volume 3

Mehmet Asutay, Abdullah Q. Turkistani (eds.) – 2016

The growth, stability and resilience of Islamic finance is now a well established fact. However, in order to achieve sustainable growth the Islamic finance industry has to be able to maintain its competitive edge by generating higher efficiency and performance. The studies in this volume aim at providing empirical and comparative perspectives on the performance and efficiency of the Islamic finance industry through a number of econometric models, with a specific focus on the GCC countries supported by comparative cases....
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Islamic Finance - Political Economy, Performance and Risk.

Set, 3 volumes

Mehmet Asutay, Abdullah Q. Turkistani (eds.) – 2015

This collection of new research brings together state of the art thinking by 45 experts from academia and business on all key aspects of Islamic Finance. Individual volumes deal with the key issues of: Political Economy, Values and Innovation; Risk, Stabilty and Growth; Performance and Efficiency. - Volume 1 Political Economy, Values, and Innovation - Volume 2 Risk, Stability and Growth - Volume 3 Performance and Efficiency...
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The GCC in the Global Economy

Richard Youngs (ed.) – 2013

Changing geopolitical realities have seen the Gulf region turning to Asia and Africa to build new economic links, while strengthening old ones. This proactive internationalism is visible not just in economics and energy, but also in politics and security where a host of new agreements has been developed. This work provides an overview of the ways in which the GCC states now need to move ahead with reforms that will reflect issues such as raised expectations from a period of high revenues and the region's demographics. T...
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Resources Blessed: Diversification and the Gulf Development Model

Giacomo Luciani (ed.) – 2013

The Gulf countries have adopted a unique combination of policies to encourage diversification with largely positive results, while there are significant distinctions between the individual cases. This work evaluates various examples to show the extent to which the Gulf economies have diversifed to date, and how results can be measured, taking into consideration factors such as composition of GDP or exports; government services; and the categorization of industrial activities downstream of resources extraction (oil refining, ...
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GCC Financial Markets: The World's New Money Centers

Eckart Woertz (ed.) – 2013

Bond markets in the GCC countries are underdeveloped, and the capital mix is heavily skewed towards banks, while ambitious development plans in fields like petrochemicals and infrastructure, as well as a rapidly growing population, create an increased need for finance. This study outlines the structure of various segments of GCC financial markets and points to regulatory challenges and future developments, ranging from capital market structures to the planned GCC Monetary Union, Islamic banking, and sovereign wealth funds. T...
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National Employment, Migration and Education in the GCC

Steffen Hertog (ed.) – 2013

This volume provides a cross-cutting analysis of the policy challenges related to GCC labor markets. It analyzes the different dimensions of segmentation of these markets, factors of change influencing labor supply such as trends in education and demography, as well as the impact of potential future reforms in areas such as immigration policy, labor sponsorship, taxation and minimum wages. The work therefore provides an overview of what arguably will be the core socio-economic challenge for the GCC in the coming years....
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The Gulf Region: Economic Development & Diversification.

Set, Volumes 1-4

Giacomo Luciani, Steffen Hertog, Eckart Woertz, Richard Youngs (eds.) – 2012

The four volumes in this major research collection address the key economic issues which affect the future development and diversification of the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman. Specifically, this recent research covers Economic Diversification, Development of Global Partnerships, Labor Markets and Migration, and Financial Markets as Global Players The work brings together state-of-the-art analysis by some 40 international scholars who participat...
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