Authoritarian regimes in the Global South diffuse compelling narratives of China, the Belt and Ro... more Authoritarian regimes in the Global South diffuse compelling narratives of China, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its development success to reinforce authoritarian practices discursively. A case illustrative of this process is that of Egypt under President Abdul Fatah el-Sisi. An analysis drawing on strategic narrative theory highlights that the el-Sisi regime has been deploying a persuasive narrative on China, its development experience and the BRI to reinforce authoritarianism discursively under the pretext of preserving the state's sovereignty and achieving progress and the public good. Such a process is called Authoritarian Reinforcement (AR).
The Chinese development model offers Mediterranean Africa countries an alternative to what they p... more The Chinese development model offers Mediterranean Africa countries an alternative to what they perceive as a discredited and distrusted Washington Consensus. In terms of economic growth, China is the most striking non-Western success story, which makes its development model alluring in the Global South. A case illustrative of this process is that of Egypt and Algeria. Despite its ambiguities and flaws, Algeria and Egypt view the Beijing Consensus as a useful model to achieve the highest rates of growth while retaining sovereignty.
This chapter is on relations between the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) and the Iraqi centra... more This chapter is on relations between the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) and the Iraqi central government from 2003 until 2018. After more than a decade since the establishment of the federal system in Iraq in 2005, the central government and the KRG constantly failed to commit to the federal constitution. This chapter seeks to analyse the reasons for this failure of federalism in the country. It begins with an overview of the nature of the politics and political disagreements between Erbil and Baghdad during the second Iraq Republic (2003 to date). It then analyses the future of the disputed areas in the post-ISIS period which are at the centre of KRI–Baghdad relations. A solution to this difficult question needs to be negotiated.
The arrival of more than 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon since 2011 has created dramatic dem... more The arrival of more than 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon since 2011 has created dramatic demographic pressure on a country that was already home to about half a million of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees. The population growth highlighted several structural weaknesses that stem from the internal policies implemented after the creation of the modern state of Lebanon and after the civil war (1975–1990). This chapter offers an overview of Lebanon’s refugee population. It then shortly reviews the main socio-economic impact of the demographic pressure on the country. It concludes that the demographic pressure, the strain on municipalities, and the degrading livelihoods of vulnerable groups contribute to a situation that could lead to deepened social divisions and strongest social unrest.
This chapter discusses the creation, evolution and role of the Hashd al-Sha‘bi, Iraq’s state-spon... more This chapter discusses the creation, evolution and role of the Hashd al-Sha‘bi, Iraq’s state-sponsored paramilitary organisation known as the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU). Once an exclusively Shia force that was hastily formed in June 2014 in the wake of the onslaught by the so-called Islamic State and collapse of the Iraqi army, the PMU has grown considerably in size, strength and influence. Today, the PMU includes fighters of diverse ethno-sectarian backgrounds, including Sunnis, Christians and Yazidis. After the territorial defeat of ISIS, questions are being raised over the future role of the PMU, human rights abuses carried out by its members and lack of accountability, Iran’s influence over the PMU, and the challenges that these pose to the legitimacy and authority of the Iraqi state. This paper outlines the challenges facing post-ISIS Iraq in the context of rivalry between the United States and Iran, and a struggle between Iraq’s main Shia political parties and paramilitary groups. By analysing these intra-Shia dynamics in Iraq and taking a detailed look at the constellation of forces that form the PMU, this chapter will provide a nuanced picture of the various interests at play in Iraq that moves beyond the usual focus on sectarian dynamics.
This article analyzes how Qatar strategically utilized its foreign policy to overcome the implica... more This article analyzes how Qatar strategically utilized its foreign policy to overcome the implications of the 2017 Gulf crisis. Using neoclassical realism, it investigates the ways in which Qatar used its foreign relations to mitigate the impact of a crisis that barred Qatar from aerial, naval, and land corridors in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, henceforth referred to as the Quartet. The impacts are threefold. Starting from a macro-level perspective, Qatar leveraged its status as a crucial energy supplier, alongside the resultant financial boon, to prevent an international consensus supporting the claims of the Quartet. From a micro-level perspective, the likelihood of military escalation was circumvented by Qatar's ties with Turkey and the United States. Finally, the economic impact of the crisis was largely absorbed by Qatar's ties with Iran. The biblical story of David and Goliath presents a case in which the strategic use of resources can be effective in overcoming a larger threat. For the tiny David facing the gigantic Goliath, a slingshot was all that was needed to win the battle. In this article, we treat Qatar's foreign-policy making as that slingshot, which was able to resist and, arguably, emerge more resilient from the sudden effects of the 2017 Gulf crisis. On June 5, 2017, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, known as the Quartet, cut their diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed a land, sea, and air closure on the country. While such an act was unprecedented, the source of discontent is not new. In fact, the crisis was an escalation of events in 2014 when the Quartet alliance cut diplomatic ties with Qatar This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Authoritarian regimes in the Global South diffuse compelling narratives of China, the Belt and Ro... more Authoritarian regimes in the Global South diffuse compelling narratives of China, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its development success to reinforce authoritarian practices discursively. A case illustrative of this process is that of Egypt under President Abdul Fatah el-Sisi. An analysis drawing on strategic narrative theory highlights that the el-Sisi regime has been deploying a persuasive narrative on China, its development experience and the BRI to reinforce authoritarianism discursively under the pretext of preserving the state's sovereignty and achieving progress and the public good. Such a process is called Authoritarian Reinforcement (AR).
The Chinese development model offers Mediterranean Africa countries an alternative to what they p... more The Chinese development model offers Mediterranean Africa countries an alternative to what they perceive as a discredited and distrusted Washington Consensus. In terms of economic growth, China is the most striking non-Western success story, which makes its development model alluring in the Global South. A case illustrative of this process is that of Egypt and Algeria. Despite its ambiguities and flaws, Algeria and Egypt view the Beijing Consensus as a useful model to achieve the highest rates of growth while retaining sovereignty.
This chapter is on relations between the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) and the Iraqi centra... more This chapter is on relations between the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) and the Iraqi central government from 2003 until 2018. After more than a decade since the establishment of the federal system in Iraq in 2005, the central government and the KRG constantly failed to commit to the federal constitution. This chapter seeks to analyse the reasons for this failure of federalism in the country. It begins with an overview of the nature of the politics and political disagreements between Erbil and Baghdad during the second Iraq Republic (2003 to date). It then analyses the future of the disputed areas in the post-ISIS period which are at the centre of KRI–Baghdad relations. A solution to this difficult question needs to be negotiated.
The arrival of more than 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon since 2011 has created dramatic dem... more The arrival of more than 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon since 2011 has created dramatic demographic pressure on a country that was already home to about half a million of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees. The population growth highlighted several structural weaknesses that stem from the internal policies implemented after the creation of the modern state of Lebanon and after the civil war (1975–1990). This chapter offers an overview of Lebanon’s refugee population. It then shortly reviews the main socio-economic impact of the demographic pressure on the country. It concludes that the demographic pressure, the strain on municipalities, and the degrading livelihoods of vulnerable groups contribute to a situation that could lead to deepened social divisions and strongest social unrest.
This chapter discusses the creation, evolution and role of the Hashd al-Sha‘bi, Iraq’s state-spon... more This chapter discusses the creation, evolution and role of the Hashd al-Sha‘bi, Iraq’s state-sponsored paramilitary organisation known as the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU). Once an exclusively Shia force that was hastily formed in June 2014 in the wake of the onslaught by the so-called Islamic State and collapse of the Iraqi army, the PMU has grown considerably in size, strength and influence. Today, the PMU includes fighters of diverse ethno-sectarian backgrounds, including Sunnis, Christians and Yazidis. After the territorial defeat of ISIS, questions are being raised over the future role of the PMU, human rights abuses carried out by its members and lack of accountability, Iran’s influence over the PMU, and the challenges that these pose to the legitimacy and authority of the Iraqi state. This paper outlines the challenges facing post-ISIS Iraq in the context of rivalry between the United States and Iran, and a struggle between Iraq’s main Shia political parties and paramilitary groups. By analysing these intra-Shia dynamics in Iraq and taking a detailed look at the constellation of forces that form the PMU, this chapter will provide a nuanced picture of the various interests at play in Iraq that moves beyond the usual focus on sectarian dynamics.
This article analyzes how Qatar strategically utilized its foreign policy to overcome the implica... more This article analyzes how Qatar strategically utilized its foreign policy to overcome the implications of the 2017 Gulf crisis. Using neoclassical realism, it investigates the ways in which Qatar used its foreign relations to mitigate the impact of a crisis that barred Qatar from aerial, naval, and land corridors in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, henceforth referred to as the Quartet. The impacts are threefold. Starting from a macro-level perspective, Qatar leveraged its status as a crucial energy supplier, alongside the resultant financial boon, to prevent an international consensus supporting the claims of the Quartet. From a micro-level perspective, the likelihood of military escalation was circumvented by Qatar's ties with Turkey and the United States. Finally, the economic impact of the crisis was largely absorbed by Qatar's ties with Iran. The biblical story of David and Goliath presents a case in which the strategic use of resources can be effective in overcoming a larger threat. For the tiny David facing the gigantic Goliath, a slingshot was all that was needed to win the battle. In this article, we treat Qatar's foreign-policy making as that slingshot, which was able to resist and, arguably, emerge more resilient from the sudden effects of the 2017 Gulf crisis. On June 5, 2017, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, known as the Quartet, cut their diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed a land, sea, and air closure on the country. While such an act was unprecedented, the source of discontent is not new. In fact, the crisis was an escalation of events in 2014 when the Quartet alliance cut diplomatic ties with Qatar This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This chapter is on relations between the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) and the Iraqi centra... more This chapter is on relations between the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) and the Iraqi central government from 2003 until 2018. After more than a decade since the establishment of the federal system in Iraq in 2005, the central government and the KRG constantly failed to commit to the federal constitution. This chapter seeks to analyse the reasons for this failure of federalism in the country. It begins with an overview of the nature of the politics and political disagreements between Erbil and Baghdad during the second Iraq Republic (2003 to date). It then analyses the future of the disputed areas in the post-ISIS period which are at the centre of KRI-Baghdad relations. A solution to this difficult question needs to be negotiated.
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