The geopolitics of the horn of africa lefebvre 1992. New energy, new geopolitics center for strategic and. The middle east reference web site provides a lot of reference material including the following chronological sections on middle eastern policies in general. Since the early nineteenth century, european powers have competed to colonise the middle east s territories in an attempt to control its natural resource and geostrategic location. Geography and geopolitics ewan anderson middle east is a lively and muchneeded update of a wellrespected work. A scarcity of fresh water and a small population density limit saudi arabias defensive capabilities. In recent years, russia has tried to tap its large energy resource endowments to reassert its place. Nowhere is this trend more visible than in the middle east, where violence and destruction will spillover throughout the neighbourhood in 2019. Policy congressional research service 1 enduring u. The rise of sacred political space in the middle east 6. Syllabus geopolitics of the new middle east summer2019. The implications of the syrian war for new regional orders.
Geography, resources and the geopolitics of middle east. The so called heart of the middle east is located at the eastern and south eastern side of the mediterranean sea. Mapping geopolitical shifts, regional order and domestic transformations 2 working papers no. Geopolitical futures gpf was founded in 2015 by george friedman, international strategist and author of the next 100 years. We value fair and balanced reporting but also understand the importance of context and analysis. The geopolitics reader brings together the most comprehensive selection of readings on geopolitics, from classic accounts to emerging trends.
Middle east will spread far beyond the region, as is already visible elsewhere even in the most developed countries of the world as they struggle to reinsert some modicum of balance and stability in the shattered confidence of their own peoples. To most contemporary observers of international politics, the term raises at least a whiff of realpolitik. Greater middle east in american foreign policy 23 this region. Factsheet air task force middle east brochure defensie. The new middle east, isis and the 6th revolt against the west murat yesiltas and tuncay kardas 8. William engdahl 10 october 2012 on october 3, 2012 the turkish military launched repeated mortar shellings inside syrian territory. Middle east have become diversified since the 1970s, geopolitical priority for the palestine was overshadowed by other compelling issues. University of pittsburgh press, pitt series in policy and institutional studies, 1991. In this first session of geopolitics with granieri for 2019, we are pleased to introduce and feature a conversation with dr. A mixed feeling, something in between physical fear and aristocratic despice is inevitable, when one lives in fragile venice and a menacing brutal monster enters the canal grande, offering the narrow strees and the delicate mosaics that pave its churches and palaces to the newly enriched masses of global tourism. Geopolitical codes in davutoglus views toward the middle east. The geopolitics of history geopolitics is a muchoverused term. Students participating in the geopolitics of the new middle east course will learn about multifaced diplomacy by a combination of theory and practice. The list below documents some of the ways pdf files have made it difficult or.
The indian pm narendra modi, met the chinese president, xi jinping, on the sidelines of the summit. He is the author of numerous books and articles on politics in the middle east and north africa, as well as irans foreign and defense policies. Aaron stein, the new director of fpris middle east program and a. Shifting global politics and the middle east marc lynch and amaney jamal. What really matters in the middle east geopolitical futures. East west pipelines is an important infrastructure project for the transportation of saudi raw materials from the e ast of the country to the west. However, in the aftermath of hurricane harvey, and while the mainstream media is developing its own story along precooked up racial narratives to continually destroy their flavor of the season, donald trump, the people of texas are doing what normal human beings do, i. The return to conflict needs to be debated and analysed on its causes and. The norwegian institute for defence studies has agreed to re issue this essay, which was first published in the series distinguished speakers in political geography by the royal military college of canada in march 2001 as, geopolitics and the new middle east isbn 1896354262.
It introduces fresh perspectives on the key issues of debate in the late twentieth century concerning discourse, power, gender and political economy. Inside geopolitics offers a unique look at foreign affairs with a focus on facts and brevity. Cold war world, the domain of geopolitics now touches upon some of the most hotly debated issues of our time, including global environmental degradation, ethnonationalism and postmodernism. Thearab uprisings and the geopolitics of the middle east. The geopolitics of water and oil in turkey throughout history, few nations have been as successful in leveraging their geographic location as turkey. Middle east islamic countries is looking at this writing more like the early onset of a world war iii, one that some nato members hint is expected to last decades. Alexander shumilin, russias diplomacy in the middle east. The causes of return to conflict and the geopolitical.
While the term has achieved common usage, no one studying the region has yet addressed whether this conceptualization. Dark geopolitics of the middle east a third wave of geopolitics has been making its way into middle east political geography since the end of the cold war. Syria, turkey, israel and a greater middle east energy war. Jan 01, 2002 the east southern parts of the former ussrtranscaucasus and central asia are not geopolitically separated from the middle east, which is itself in a state of e volution, which depends on continuity, commonality and growing connectedness of its elements. Jun 30, 2017 margaret thatcher conference on security, guildhall london, 27 june 2017 chair. Saudi arabia and iran, as key power brokers in the middle east, continue to couch their bilateral relations in antagonistic terms as they chafe against each other in a battle for influence in the region. Shifting geopolitics in the arab world 19452017 professor bichara khader louvain university louvainlaneuve, belgium introduction almost a century after the end the ottoman domination of the middle east and north africa, and after many decades of independence from western colonial rule, the arab region is far from being peaceful.
Inside geopolitics covering international news, trends. Amid dramatic changes in to the power structures of the middle east, brookings experts discuss how the united states can adapt its approach to the new geopolitics of the region. The geopolitics of postsoviet russia and the middle east. In the middle east, the strategic significance of turkey is in part a function of its location as a land bridge between europe and asia, and as a land barrier across the only outlet of the black sea. Conflict economies in the middle east and north africa. Economics and international relations in jordan and the middle east in this session, students will examine future economic actors in the future o f the middle east and jordan in the context of international relations. Middle east from which he can threaten natos southern flank directly, project power into the mediterranean and the arab world, and generally recreate russias aura as a global power. Jun 19, 2018 the shanghai cooperation organization sco summit from june 910 went largely along expected lines. Fishers book of the same name published in 1978, anderson provides a comprehensive account of the physical geography. Religious freedom, the minority question, and geopolitics. Cross border tribal ties also expose the kingdom to unrest in the south on the border with yemen. We cannot isolate russia on matter x, because we need its support on iran and syria, is a sentence anyone dealing with russia has heard from multiple european and american officials. Geopolitics, international relations, and the future of. The second wave followed world war ii, when the european colonial order crumbled.
The geopolitics of oil and gas pipelines in the middle east. Some participants stated that the new alliance is not likely to last over the longer term. This paper seeks to place the current kurdish problem in the broader context of regional relations and geopolitics in the middle east and to discuss its implications for the united states. For most of its modern history, the middle east has been besieged by international conflicts.
The eu s geopolitical crossroads in the middle east. Geopolitics and democracy in the middle east 7 benedetta berti is kreitman fellow at ben gurion university and fellow at the institute for national security studies. The shia crescent and middle east geopolitics foreign. Critique of the new century not just another geopolitics site. The case of the eritreanethiopian border conflict is, thus, matter of interest, which has been neglected on the international board.
Is the idea of the middle east simply a geopolitical construct conceived by the west to serve particular strategic and economic interestsor can we identify geographical, historical, cultural, and political patterns to indicate some sort of internal coherence to this label. A restive eastern province holds a majority of the kingdoms reserves and makes the country vulnerable to invasion from the north or the persian gulf. The middle east in many ways is a new theater for china. It is just as clear that the changes have not yet played themselves out. The conventional view is that the eu cannot do and resolutely recoils from geopolitics.
It p rovides not only access to resources to the other export route through the red sea to. From jamaat altawhid waljihad to the islamic state recep tayyip gurler and omer behram ozdemir 7. Gpf is nonideological, analyzes the world and forecasts the future using geopolitics. Power shifts and geopolitics in the middle east volker perthes since early 2011, when two longstanding arab rulers were toppled through popular uprisings, the arab world and the middle east have entered into what seems to be at least one and more likely two decades of turbulence. Regional and external actors in middle eastern geopolitics usa, russia, turkey, etc.
In this session, students will learn about major external actorsinternational actors who influence and affect geopolitics in the regional middle east. A lot of discussions this week looking at the middle east have centered on the role of two outside global powers. Apr 10, 2014 this report evaluates the energy and geopolitical shifts that have arisen from the production of shale gas and light tight oil in the united states. Use adobe acrobat reader version 10 or higher for the best experience.
This is an excerpt from regional security in the middle east. Any disaster can be a powerful tool of exposing the weakness of anybody, or any government. The caspian sea countries ultimate aim in this geopolitics should be to reach cooperation and partnership, rather than competition and rivalry. Geopolitical inventions and practices of security pinar bilgin, bilkent university abstract contesting those approaches that present the middle east as a region that best fits the realist view of international politics, this article submits that critical approaches are relevant to this part of the world as well. The fight against the islamic state appears to be going well. The middle east during the war from military campaigns to hunting locusts, from an arab revolt to the armenian genocide. On july 9, iraqi prime minister haider alabadi declared victory in mosul after the city was finally retaken. Typeyournamehere typeunitordepartmenthere how national. Is there a middle east the evolution of a geopolitical. Vertical contagion is a phenomenon of the countrylevel civil wars morphing into regionallevel conflicts engulfing iran, saudi arabia, turkey, and israel, where interest in a stable middle east give way to competition for regional dominance.
The military action, which was used by the turkish military, conveniently, to establish a tenkilometer wide. With the start of the military intervention in syria in 2015, and the u. Cia pentagon helicopters caught transporting daesh terrorists. Koichiro tanaka geopolitical events have so far shaken the world economy beyond spatial and temporal domains, as have those in the middle east. Middle east has 56% of worlds oil it can be argued that the invasion of iraq in 2003 was partly to establish us presence in a world that is characterised by the looming threat of peak oil klare whoever controls the persian gulf oil controls the world economy shows the need to prevent a new great game from occurring by.
Lefebvre is assistant professor in the department of political science at the university of connecticut at stamford. Petroleum politics have been an increasingly important aspect of diplomacy since the rise of the petroleum industry in the middle east in the early 20th century. His writings have appeared in the national interest, harvard iranmatters, middle east journal, middle east policy, atlantic council, the hill, and international affairs among others. Edward burke is associate fellow at fride and phd candidate at university of st. The us will not do so in iran, and irans options are a war and blockade, which is unwinnable for them, or b continued less than war harassment of us assets and allies. Edit text and pdf images with acrobat dc adobe acrobat dc. The middle east conflicta brief background global issues. Yet geopolitics and the global energy economy are both changing. To discuss this, the article will first introduce the theoretical background and analytical tools. Geopolitics is the study of how things like a countrys land, climate, and natural resources all affect its government and economy. Middle east, but potentially in the wider theatre of russianeuropean relations too. The report then posits several possible energy futures that could emerge from the unconventionals revolution. Security policy in ethiopia and somalia, 19531991 pittsburgh. Kerry brown is professor at the university of sydney and associate fellow at chatham house.
Middle east geopolitics has transformed from a system organized around and against a usmanaged security architecture into a multipolar system lacking norms, institutions, or balancing mechanisms to constrain. Elf was created after the second world war for the very same reason. As competition continues for a vital resource, the strategic calculations of major and minor countries alike place prominent emphasis on the pumping, refining, transport, sale and use of petroleum products. Please consider supporting our website by making a contribution so that we can continue to bring you more exclusive content. To this end both of them resorted to geopolitics employing their own advantages. June 2017 the geopolitics of renewable energy meghan osullivan indra overland. Syria, turkey, israel and a greater middle east energy war by f. Sir peter westmacott former ambassador to france, turkey, and the usa panel.
Since oil prices started a plunge around the emergence of the isis as a new threat in syria and iraq, however, geopolitical factors have apparently lost. The geopolitics of the caspian is very broad theme in term of geography, players. Common interests in the middle east a stable middle east, which will enable a steady global oil price and allow unhampered outflow of oil from mena is critical for sustaining u. Jawan 1 introduction this research is an introductory work concerning the geopolitics of the islam world and the world leadership. Thearab uprisings and the geopolitics of the middle east bassel f. Egypts geostrategic power emanates from its central location in the heart of the middle east serving as a bridge between africa, asia, and mediterranean europe. Second, it will consider the factors that led to the birth of the socalled broader middle east initiative as a case that reveals a new geopolitical imagination in american. As with world war ii and world war i, this one as well would be launched to expand what david rockefeller and george h. The finnish institute of international affairs kruunuvuorenkatu 4 fi00160 helsinki tel. This shift in paradigm is especially preeminent in the middle east, where constant political and social changes affect the balance of power and the entire geopolitics of the region.
The first wave began with the collapse of the ottoman empire after world war i. Middle eastern notes and anticipations as befits a word constructed from two parts, geopolitics is a locution with more than one meaning. He may have more complicated objectives in mind as well, but the state department should be able at least to recognize these. For about 20 years since the end of the cold war, the regional power dynamics of the middle east were relatively stable, and united states was the uncontested and dominant external power. Russian diplomatic effort that accompanied it, the middle east has become a key testing.
Lebanese domestic politics, and its tendency to play a. In 2004, jordans king abdullah ii used the term crescent to warn against the expansion of iranian influence in the middle east. It begins by assessing how much the unconventional energy trend has already impacted energy, geopolitics, and national security. Middle east and north africa regional architecture. Cia pentagon helicopters caught transporting daesh terrorists again february 22, 2018 geopolitics101 8 comments the usled coalition is often accused of supporting terrorist groups in syria, including organizing safe passage and extraction from encirclements and hot zones. Conflict economies in the middle east and north africa report. Eu policies do not fit the mould of classical geopolitics, but they do reflect a distinctive way of thinking about strategic interests.
Religious freedom, the minority question, and geopolitics in the middle east volume 54 issue 2 saba mahmood skip to main content accessibility help we use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. The european union s eu policies in the middle east have been implicitly, not overtly geopolitical. The effects of the arrangements in the middle east have become references for central asia ns in assessing the wester noriented advises and prom ises. Characterising this rivalry in the purely sectarian terms of a deeprooted sunnishia enmity is simplistic and fails to understand the. Russias return to the middle east nicu popescu and stanislav secrieru the us department of defenses 1984 annual assessment of soviet military power was particularly concerned with the rise of moscows influence in the middle east and beyond. There will be some retaliatory attack, sometime in the future, somewhere in the middle east region, limited in scope, not war. Such overuse ignores the fact that geopolitics as a method of. Syrian relations, syrias continuing interference in. Contents about the authors 7 acknowledgements 8 abbreviations 9 introduction kristina kausch 11 part i. Geopolitics of the islam world and world leadership in the. Salloukh the contest between saudi arabia and iran played out in lebanon, the west bank and gaza strip, postwar iraq and, to a lesser extent, yemen and bahrain, has shaped the geopolitics of the region since the 2003 us invasion and occupation of iraq. Russias reappearance as a player in the middle east under president vladimir putin has the aim of restoring the countrys position as a great power outside of the former ussr. The middle east was directly involved in world war i, and so it was affected by the war in all aspects of life. In fact, a middle east peace conference took place in madrid in 1991, paving the way for arabisraeli negotiations leading to the later oslo agreement, under the strong leadership of the.
Stability and instability in the middle east center for. The geopolitics of gas and oil cartels and the changing middle east 4 conflicts and protect energy assets from coercive leverage or to prevent a disruption of oil flows too large to permit a quick and lowcost market adjustment. This was later picked up by then egyptian president hosni mubarak who said, in an interview with alarabiya, that shias in iraq and across the middle east are more loyal to iran not to the countries they are living in. The pdf file can be easily downloaded to your computer, enabling you to view it offline at your convenience. The return of geopolitical risk thomas gomart france appreciated the risk it was running in depending on the us and uk for oil that the decision was taken to found the compagnie francaise des petroles cfp, the forerunner of total. Global geopolitics and political economy net idn indepthnews by j nastranis united nations idn fifty years after israel occupied the west bank and gaza strip, it continues to control these areas through repression, institutionalized. Authors endorse the overall direction and content of this working paper.
342 413 511 1222 314 889 363 969 1543 861 1410 320 264 1285 1277 500 1074 556 827 77 408 1338 1455 716 497 223 493 993 594 453 41 659 1408 480