Shifting Global Politics and the Middle East March 2019 Contents

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Shifting Global Politics and the Middle East March 2019 Contents POMEPS STUDIES 34 Shifting Global Politics and the Middle East March 2019 Contents Introduction: Shifting Global Politics and the Middle East ..........................................3 Marc Lynch and Amaney Jamal Teorizing Structural Change Shifting Alliances and Shifting Teories in the Middle East .........................................7 Curtis R. Ryan, Appalachian State University In America’s Wake: Turbulence and Insecurity in the Middle East ..................................14 Waleed Hazbun, University of Alabama Global/Regional IR and changes in global/regional structures of Middle East international relations ....18 Morten Valbjørn, Aarhus University Great and Regional Powers in the Middle East: Te Evolution of Role Conceptions ...................23 May Darwich, Durham University Poverty, inequality and the structural threat to the Arab region .....................................28 Rami G. Khouri, American University of Beirut Europe, the UN and China Friends with Benefits: China’s Partnership Diplomacy in the Gulf ...................................33 Jonathan Fulton, Zayed University Is the Middle East the Transatlantic Achilles’ Heel? ................................................39 Kristina Kausch, German Marshall Fund of the United States European ‘Middle Powers’ and the Middle East in the age of Trump and Brexit ......................44 Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy EU foreign policy in MENA: Te pitfalls of depoliticization .........................................48 Ruth Hanau Santini, Università L’Orientale, Napoli Te UN and the Arab Uprisings: Reflecting a Confused International Order .........................53 Karim Makdisi, Te American University of Beirut Regional Dynamics Insecurity, Identity Politics, and the Restructuring of the Middle East. .56 Raffaella A. Del Sarto, SAIS Europe, Te Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies Global and regional crises, empowered Gulf rivals, and the evolving paradigm of regional security .....63 Emma Soubrier, George Washington University Structure, Agency and External Involvement in the Syria conflict ...................................67 Christopher Phillips, Queen Mary University of London From State-Building to State-Fraying Permeability:NSAs in the Post-Popular Uprisings Arab World ....72 Bassel F. Salloukh, Lebanese American University Saudi Arabian military activism in Yemen: Interactions between the domestic and the systemic level ...76 Maria-Louise Clausen, Danish Institute for International Studies Alliances and Treats in the Middle East: Neoclassical Realism and the Balance of Interest ............81 Ahmed Morsy, American Political Science Association Te Project on Middle East Political Science Te Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS) is a collaborative network that aims to increase the impact of political scientists specializing in the study of the Middle East in the public sphere and in the academic community. POMEPS, directed by Marc Lynch, is based at the Institute for Middle East Studies at the George Washington University and is supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Henry Luce Foundation. For more information, see http://www.pomeps.org. 2 INTRODUCTION Introduction: Shifting Global Politics and the Middle East Marc Lynch and Amaney Jamal What is the current structure of international relations, such as Iraq, or areas which it has declined intervention and how does this shape the politics of the Middle East? to overturn the status quo, such as Syria. Te Trump For decades, the answer was clear: international structure administration’s reported decision to withdraw most was unipolar, and American predominance shaped the troops from Syria came after accomplishing the declared alliance choices of both its allies and its adversaries. In mission of the territorial defeat of the Islamic State. Te recent years, this clarity has been overtaken by confusion. U.S. is expanding bases such as the Al-Udeid base in Qatar. American primacy has perhaps declined, or at least shifted Despite Russia’s opportunistic interventions and China’s in its application, but no rival power has yet risen to take economic diplomacy, to this point the U.S. still faces no its place. How has this perceived change in global structure serious peer competitor. affected regional politics in the Middle East? Te perception of U.S. decline is less about its capabilities In September 2018, POMEPS, Princeton University’s than about its policy choices and its inability to translate Bobst Center, and the American University of Beirut capabilities into outcomes. Hundreds of thousands of brought together nearly two dozen scholars from the U.S. troops were unable to create a durable, legitimate, United States, Europe and the Middle East at AUB to pro-American state in Iraq; toppling Qaddafi did not discuss the impact of shifting global structure on regional lead to a democratic Libya; support to the Saudi-UAE dynamics. Tis collection features sixteen essays ranging war in Yemen did not produce victory. Close allies have across diverse perspectives on the evolving relationship repeatedly opposed and undermined top American foreign between the global and the regional. Taken together, they policy objectives, such as the nuclear agreement with Iran. offer a fascinating window into the relationship between Overall, an increasingly turbulent region consumed by the global and the regional, and the implications for domestic challenges and intra-regional rivalries is simply contemporary regional politics. less amenable to external control. As Hazbun puts it in this collection, “Middle East geopolitics has transformed from Pervasive Uncertainty and International Structure a system organized around and against a US-managed security architecture into a multipolar system lacking Discussion of American retrenchment from the Middle norms, institutions, or balancing mechanisms to constrain East has become a persistent theme in debates in both conflict and the use of force.” Washington and the region. While some date American decline to its overstretch in Iraq and others to its failure Te reality of continued U.S. military presence and to intervene more forcefully in Syria, the conventional dominance has been largely obscured by perception. wisdom takes the retreat of U.S. power as a given. Tat does not make it less real: as constructivists remind us, perception and belief often are more important than Tis is in some ways odd. Te perceived decline of base reality in the daily course of international affairs. American primacy is not easily observed in terms of Te perception of American decline is less about its material power. Te United States continues to far outpace capabilities than it is about the perceived inability to secure all potential rivals in military spending, and maintains presumably desired outcomes and the seemingly successful an extensive array of military bases and alliances across moves of its rivals. Obama’s decision not to bomb the Asad the Middle East. Its perceived retreat is primarily from regime in September 2013 may have had little real impact arenas where it overextended itself in preceding decades, on the course of that war, as Christopher Phillips reminds 3 us, but it fueled a perception of U.S. weakness, which led a of the Islamic State in the name of combating Iranian wide range of other actors to take highly significant actions influence. Just as the region began to internalize this new in response. In the opposite direction, Russia’s successful policy direction, Trump suddenly announced the full and intervention to save the Asad regime in 2015 created a rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops. Either policy might be perception of power, which had little basis in the actual defensible, but the rapid moves between them left regional balance of power. actors unable to formulate coherent policies in response. Tis is an important corrective to any concept of an easily Similar policy confusion and weakness were revealed in observed “real” balance of power. Instead, perceptions the American response to the blockade of Qatar. Saudi with little objective foundation repeatedly became a Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain announced this self-fulfilling prophecy through an agitated process of boycott suddenly following Trump’s ostentatious visit to public social construction. Te more that regional powers Riyadh. Numerous U.S. officials pushed back against it, doubted American capabilities or intentions, the more based on the U.S. strategic interest in sustaining GCC independently they acted based on that perception. As unity against Iran. Trump then undermined their efforts by Darwich put it, “the perceived change in external actors’ tweeting support for the blockade. As the blockade settled roles by regional powers in the Middle East has led to in to become a new reality, a succession of U.S. officials and major uncertainties and changes in their behaviour… Te envoys tried to negotiate its end while sustaining strong change in the US role has led to a perceived vacuum in the working relationships with both sides. Te U.S. military region, and thereby, changed its social structure, which and diplomatic corps viewed the blockade as clearly influenced regional actors’ role conceptions and behaviour.” detrimental to vital national interests, but were unable to compel their allies to end it. Tis stalemate both increased Te shifting perception has also been fueled by the uncertainty about real U.S. intentions and exacerbated
Recommended publications
  • Harem Fantasies and Music Videos: Contemporary Orientalist Representation
    W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2007 Harem Fantasies and Music Videos: Contemporary Orientalist Representation Maya Ayana Johnson College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons, and the Music Commons Recommended Citation Johnson, Maya Ayana, "Harem Fantasies and Music Videos: Contemporary Orientalist Representation" (2007). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539626527. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-nf9f-6h02 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Harem Fantasies and Music Videos: Contemporary Orientalist Representation Maya Ayana Johnson Richmond, Virginia Master of Arts, Georgetown University, 2004 Bachelor of Arts, George Mason University, 2002 A Thesis presented to the Graduate Faculty of the College of William and Mary in Candidacy for the Degree of Master of Arts American Studies Program The College of William and Mary August 2007 APPROVAL PAGE This Thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Maya Ayana Johnson Approved by the Committee, February 2007 y - W ^ ' _■■■■■■ Committee Chair Associate ssor/Grey Gundaker, American Studies William and Mary Associate Professor/Arthur Krrtght, American Studies Cpllege of William and Mary Associate Professor K im b erly Phillips, American Studies College of William and Mary ABSTRACT In recent years, a number of young female pop singers have incorporated into their music video performances dance, costuming, and musical motifs that suggest references to dance, costume, and musical forms from the Orient.
    [Show full text]
  • The Syrian National Council: a Victorious Opposition?
    THE INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE EAST STUDIES IMES CAPSTONE PAPER SERIES THE SYRIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL: A VICTORIOUS OPPOSITION? JARED MARKLAND KRITTIKA LALWANEY MAY 2012 THE INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE EAST STUDIES THE ELLIOTT SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY COPYRIGHT OF THE AUTHOR(S), 2012 THE SYRIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL: A VICTORIOUS OPPOSITION? Jared Markland & Krittika Lalwaney Introduction The Syrian National Council (SNC) emerged as an opposition movement representing the democratic uprisings in Syria calling for regime change. The Assad regime’s forceful measures against Syrians have delegitimized the government and empowered the revolution. The success of the revolution, in overthrowing the regime hinges on the Syrian opposition’s ability to overcome its deficiencies. This paper analyzes the performance of the SNC by determining SNC success or failure to launch a successful opposition movement against the regime. The SNC’s probability of success in the overthrow of the regime is contingent on its ability to unify internally, obtain financial capacity, establish international recognition, and build internal popular support. Methodology The methods used to examine the prospects for success of the SNC as a viable opposition movement consist of comparative case studies and qualitative field research. We examined four case studies, including Nicaragua, Libya, El Salvador and Guatemala. These cases establish a set of core factors necessary for an opposition movement to succeed. The utilization of these factors allows us to create a comparative assessment of the overall performance of the SNC. Our qualitative fieldwork entailed a total of 32 interviews with current SNC members, Syrian activists, refugees, Free Syrian Army members, academic experts, and government officials.
    [Show full text]
  • Adaptation Strategies of Islamist Movements April 2017 Contents
    POMEPS STUDIES 26 islam in a changing middle east Adaptation Strategies of Islamist Movements April 2017 Contents Understanding repression-adaptation nexus in Islamist movements . 4 Khalil al-Anani, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar Why Exclusion and Repression of Moderate Islamists Will Be Counterproductive . 8 Jillian Schwedler, Hunter College, CUNY Islamists After the “Arab Spring”: What’s the Right Research Question and Comparison Group, and Why Does It Matter? . 12 Elizabeth R. Nugent, Princeton University The Islamist voter base during the Arab Spring: More ideology than protest? . .. 16 Eva Wegner, University College Dublin When Islamist Parties (and Women) Govern: Strategy, Authenticity and Women’s Representation . 21 Lindsay J. Benstead, Portland State University Exit, Voice, and Loyalty Under the Islamic State . 26 Mara Revkin, Yale University and Ariel I. Ahram, Virginia Tech The Muslim Brotherhood Between Party and Movement . 31 Steven Brooke, The University of Louisville A Government of the Opposition: How Moroccan Islamists’ Dual Role Contributes to their Electoral Success . 34 Quinn Mecham, Brigham Young University The Cost of Inclusion: Ennahda and Tunisia’s Political Transition . 39 Monica Marks, University of Oxford Regime Islam, State Islam, and Political Islam: The Past and Future Contest . 43 Nathan J. Brown, George Washington University Middle East regimes are using ‘moderate’ Islam to stay in power . 47 Annelle Sheline, George Washington University Reckoning with a Fractured Islamist Landscape in Yemen . 49 Stacey Philbrick Yadav, Hobart and William Smith Colleges The Lumpers and the Splitters: Two very different policy approaches on dealing with Islamism . 54 Marc Lynch, George Washington University The Project on Middle East Political Science The Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS) is a collaborative network that aims to increase the impact of political scientists specializing in the study of the Middle East in the public sphere and in the academic community .
    [Show full text]
  • Rediscovering the Arab Dimension of Middle East Regional Politics
    Review of International Studies page 1 of 22 2011 British International Studies Association doi:10.1017/S0260210511000283 The New Arab Cold War: rediscovering the Arab dimension of Middle East regional politics MORTEN VALBJØRN AND ANDRÉ BANK* Abstract. This article provides a conceptual lens for and a thick interpretation of the emergent regional constellation in the Middle East in the first decade of the 21st century. It starts out by challenging two prevalent claims about regional politics in the context of the 2006 Lebanon and 2008–09 Gaza Wars: Firstly, that regional politics is marked by a fundamental break from the ‘old Middle East’ and secondly, that it has become ‘post-Arab’ in the sense that Arab politics has ceased being distinctly Arab. Against this background, the article develops the understanding of a New Arab Cold War which accentuates the still important, but widely neglected Arab dimension in regional politics. By rediscovering the Arab Cold War of the 1950–60s and by drawing attention to the transformation of Arab nationalism and the importance of new trans-Arab media, the New Arab Cold War perspective aims at supplementing rather that supplanting the prominent moderate-radical, sectarian and Realist-Westphalian narratives. By highlighting dimensions of both continuity and change it does moreover provide some critical nuances to the frequent claims about the ‘newness’ of the ‘New Middle East’. In addition to this more Middle East-specific contribution, the article carries lessons for a number of more general debates in International Relations theory concerning the importance of (Arab-Islamist) non-state actors and competing identities in regional politics as well as the interplay between different forms of sovereignty.
    [Show full text]
  • Soft Power and Cross-Border Mobility in the Middle East
    IPS0010.1177/0192512118759902International Political Science ReviewTsourapas 759902research-article2018 Article International Political Science Review 2018, Vol. 39(3) 400 –416 Authoritarian emigration states: © The Author(s) 2018 Reprints and permissions: Soft power and cross-border sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512118759902DOI: 10.1177/0192512118759902 mobility in the Middle East journals.sagepub.com/home/ips Gerasimos Tsourapas University of Birmingham, UK Abstract Can labor emigration form part of a state’s foreign policy goals? The relevant literature links emigration to states’ developmental needs, which does not explain why some states choose to economically subsidize their citizens’ emigration. This article explores for the first time the soft power importance of high-skilled emigration from authoritarian emigration states. It finds that the Egyptian state under Gamal Abdel Nasser employed labor emigration for two distinct purposes linked to broader soft power interests: first, as an instrument of cultural diplomacy to spread revolutionary ideals of Arab unity and anti-imperialism across the Middle East; second, as a tool for disseminating development aid, particularly in Yemen and sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on Arabic and non-Arabic primary sources, the article identifies the interplay between foreign policy and cross-border mobility, while also sketching an evolving research agenda on authoritarian emigration states’ policy-making. Keywords Soft power, diasporas, Egypt, Middle East, authoritarianism, migration, case study, Arab–Israeli conflict Introduction Can labor emigration serve a state’s foreign policy goals? In particular, how do authoritarian states use labor emigration in their foreign policy-making? The emerging academic literature on the poli- tics of international migration has yet to fully explore this phenomenon as a separate field of inquiry.
    [Show full text]
  • A Conversation with Raghida Dergham
    TM: Welcome everybody to this sixth installment in the Harvard Kennedy School American University in Cairo series of conversations with Arab thought leaders on the 2020 U.S. election and America's changing role in the Middle East. I’m going to turn this over to my co-pilot Karim Haggag to introduce our distinguished guest for today but let me Just remind everybody what it is we are doing here. Each weeK we've been meeting with leading Arabs from the worlds of policy practice and ideas to explore their perceptions of the current season of politics in the United States and to get their sense of where they thinK the United States, the world's sole superpower, is heading, and particularly, what all of this means for the Middle East. So far in this series, we've interviewed some really interesting and extraordinary people, including prime minister Ayad Allawi, the Emirati intellectual AbdulKhaleq Abdulla, the Iraqi-Emirati Journalist Mina al-Oraibi, and these conversations will soon be available on our website and on podcast streaming services. We also have one more conversation. This is the penultimate conversation before we break for the winter, one more conversation next weeK with the Saudi editor of the al-Arabiya English, Mohammed Alyahya, and we hope that you'll Join us for that. Let me now turn it over to my co-pilot in this endeavor, Karim Haggag of the American University in Cairo School of Global affairs and Public Policy. Karim. KH: ThanK you, TareK, and thanK you everyone for Joining us for this afternoon's discussion.
    [Show full text]
  • The Arab Spring: an Empirical Investigation
    Protests and the Arab Spring: An Empirical Investigation Tansa George Massoud, Bucknell University John A. Doces, Bucknell University Christopher Magee, Bucknell University Keywords: Arab Spring, protests, events data, political grievances, diffusion Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Polity’s editor-in-chief and anonymous reviewers for their comments. We also thank Emily Brandes for her valuable assistance. All errors remain our own. 1 Abstract This article discusses a variety of major explanations for the intensity of recent protests in Arab states and investigates whether there is empirical support for them. We survey various political, economic, and social factors and develop a comprehensive empirical model to estimate the structural determinants of protests in 19 Arab League states between 1990 and 2011, measured using events data. The results show that protests were stronger in countries with higher inflation, higher levels of corruption, lower levels of freedom, and more use of the internet and cell phones. Protests were also more frequent in countries with partial democracies and factional politics. We find no evidence for the common argument that the surge in protests in 2011 was linked to a bulge in the youth population. Overall, we conclude that these economic, political, and social variables help to explain which countries had stronger protest movements, but that they cannot explain the timing of those revolts. We suggest that a contagion model can help explain the quick spread of protests across the region in 2011, and we conduct a preliminary test of that possibility. 2 I. Introduction The Arab revolts started in Tunisia in December 2010 and spread across the Middle East and North Africa with great speed in early 2011.1 In Tunisia and Egypt, loosely organized groups using mostly nonviolent techniques managed to topple regimes that had been in power for decades.
    [Show full text]
  • Status and Protection of Globally Threatened Species in the Caucasus
    STATUS AND PROTECTION OF GLOBALLY THREATENED SPECIES IN THE CAUCASUS CEPF Biodiversity Investments in the Caucasus Hotspot 2004-2009 Edited by Nugzar Zazanashvili and David Mallon Tbilisi 2009 The contents of this book do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of CEPF, WWF, or their sponsoring organizations. Neither the CEPF, WWF nor any other entities thereof, assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, product or process disclosed in this book. Citation: Zazanashvili, N. and Mallon, D. (Editors) 2009. Status and Protection of Globally Threatened Species in the Caucasus. Tbilisi: CEPF, WWF. Contour Ltd., 232 pp. ISBN 978-9941-0-2203-6 Design and printing Contour Ltd. 8, Kargareteli st., 0164 Tbilisi, Georgia December 2009 The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank. This book shows the effort of the Caucasus NGOs, experts, scientific institutions and governmental agencies for conserving globally threatened species in the Caucasus: CEPF investments in the region made it possible for the first time to carry out simultaneous assessments of species’ populations at national and regional scales, setting up strategies and developing action plans for their survival, as well as implementation of some urgent conservation measures. Contents Foreword 7 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction CEPF Investment in the Caucasus Hotspot A. W. Tordoff, N. Zazanashvili, M. Bitsadze, K. Manvelyan, E. Askerov, V. Krever, S. Kalem, B. Avcioglu, S. Galstyan and R. Mnatsekanov 9 The Caucasus Hotspot N.
    [Show full text]
  • Trading with the Far East, How to Sell in the Orient
    TRADING with NATIONAL BAN K. U-B -A TRADE MAP OF AS I A AND THE EAST INDIES Copyright 1919 by. Irving National Bank East from no Greenwich. VvV * TRADING WITH THE FAR EAST ' "... TRADING WITH THE FAR EAST ; HOW TO SELL IN THE ORIENT : POLICIES : METHODS ADVERTISING : CREDITS : FINANCING DOCUMENTS : DELIVERIES SECOND EDITION REVISED AND ENLARGED Is II 2 3 IRVING NATIONAL BANK WOOLWORTH BUILDING NEW YORK COPYRIGHT 1919, I92O IRVING NATIONAL BANK NEW YORK. INTRODUCTORY WORD THE FIRST edition of "Trading with the Far East" appeared a little more than a year ago, the United WHENStates had reached a critical in its stage history. The war had wrought great changes in our life. From a nation that had prided itself upon its independence, and, in a sense, even upon its isolation, we had emerged from the conflict bound by new ties of great economic and commercial importance. We had become world merchants. As our commerce had ex- panded, our perspective had broadened. Commercial relations had been established with markets which formerly were closed to us. American ships were familiar sights in ports where the Stars and Stripes had not been seen in half a century. The pendulum of American trade had swung to a high point. Would some supporting force, some expression of national resourcefulness, energy, enterprise, keep it there? Or, with the return of Europe to something resembling normal activity, would we fall back to our pre-war contentment in our economic self-sufficiency? In part, this question has been answered. Peace has been attained. Most of the nations have made at least a beginning in O *-3 rehabilitation.
    [Show full text]
  • Russia and Saudi Arabia: Old Disenchantments, New Challenges by John W
    STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVES 35 Russia and Saudi Arabia: Old Disenchantments, New Challenges by John W. Parker and Thomas F. Lynch III Center for Strategic Research Institute for National Strategic Studies National Defense University Institute for National Strategic Studies National Defense University The Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) is National Defense University’s (NDU’s) dedicated research arm. INSS includes the Center for Strategic Research, Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs, and Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction. The military and civilian analysts and staff who comprise INSS and its subcomponents execute their mission by conducting research and analysis, publishing, and participating in conferences, policy support, and outreach. The mission of INSS is to conduct strategic studies for the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the unified combatant commands in support of the academic programs at NDU and to perform outreach to other U.S. Government agencies and the broader national security community. Cover: Vladimir Putin presented an artifact made of mammoth tusk to Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud in Riyadh, October 14–15, 2019 (President of Russia Web site) Russia and Saudi Arabia Russia and Saudia Arabia: Old Disenchantments, New Challenges By John W. Parker and Thomas F. Lynch III Institute for National Strategic Studies Strategic Perspectives, No. 35 Series Editor: Denise Natali National Defense University Press Washington, D.C. June 2021 Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Defense Department or any other agency of the Federal Government.
    [Show full text]
  • The Making of a Leftist Milieu: Anti-Colonialism, Anti-Fascism, and the Political Engagement of Intellectuals in Mandate Lebanon, 1920- 1948
    THE MAKING OF A LEFTIST MILIEU: ANTI-COLONIALISM, ANTI-FASCISM, AND THE POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT OF INTELLECTUALS IN MANDATE LEBANON, 1920- 1948. A dissertation presented By Sana Tannoury Karam to The Department of History In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the field of History Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts December 2017 1 THE MAKING OF A LEFTIST MILIEU: ANTI-COLONIALISM, ANTI-FASCISM, AND THE POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT OF INTELLECTUALS IN MANDATE LEBANON, 1920- 1948. A dissertation presented By Sana Tannoury Karam ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities of Northeastern University December 2017 2 This dissertation is an intellectual and cultural history of an invisible generation of leftists that were active in Lebanon, and more generally in the Levant, between the years 1920 and 1948. It chronicles the foundation and development of this intellectual milieu within the political Left, and how intellectuals interpreted leftist principles and struggled to maintain a fluid, ideologically non-rigid space, in which they incorporated an array of ideas and affinities, and formulated their own distinct worldviews. More broadly, this study is concerned with how intellectuals in the post-World War One period engaged with the political sphere and negotiated their presence within new structures of power. It explains the social, political, as well as personal contexts that prompted intellectuals embrace certain ideas. Using periodicals, personal papers, memoirs, and collections of primary material produced by this milieu, this dissertation argues that leftist intellectuals pushed to politicize the role and figure of the ‘intellectual’.
    [Show full text]
  • Imperatives of Transformation: Changing Character of Conflict in the Emerging World Order
    Imperatives of Transformation: Changing Character of Conflict in the Emerging World Order V K Ahluwalia The character of war in the 21st century has changed, and if we fail to keep pace with the speed of war, we will lose the ability to compete. — General Joe Dunford, 19th Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, 20171 Introduction It is extremely difficult to crystal-gaze and predict the future with certainty. In hindsight, one can say that the rapid changes in the geo-political, economic, social, cultural and technological domains have had a profound impact on the emerging geo-strategic environment. With a plethora of disruptive technologies, the unknown effects of emerging technologies, asymmetric threats and the revolution in autonomous systems and communications, the global environment has been in a state of continuous change and flux. Resultantly, the envisaged threats and challenges to national security, both traditional and non-traditional, have also undergone significant change. The complexities of which need to be analysed in order to formulate the future course of action. Factors such as external security threats, religious and ethnic extremism, population growth and unemployment, societal tensions, severe competition for natural resources, climate change and environmental degradation are likely to ensure that Lieutenant General (Dr) VK Ahluwalia (Retd) is the Director of the Centre for Land Warfare Studies. CLAWS Journal l Summer 2019 21 V K AHLUWALIA armed conflicts will persist, perhaps with greater intensity. To say so, in a large number of cases, trans-national neighbouring forces and non-state actors have been indulging in abetting insurgencies, terrorism, violence and organised crime, thus, perpetuating instability and conflicts.
    [Show full text]