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Africa-Middle East

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Region (Africa)

Region (The Middle East)

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Areas (The Middle East)

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Introduction and recent updates

Introduction

The Africa-Middle East section offers academic analysis of geopolitical trends, tensions and risks in Africa and the Middle East.

This section seeks to answer questions such as:

  • How future scenarios for Iraqi Kurdistan seem most likely?
  • What is the regional and global position of Iran?
  • Why has reource scarcity an impact on the region?

Iran's ties with China, India and Russia

July 2010

picture Mahdi Ahouie

Mahdi Ahouie (Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue in Geneva) explains what role economic, political and security considerations play in the relationship between Iran and China, India and Russia, and discusses the their mutual interests.

Iran: its relationship with China, India and Russia - Mahdi Ahouie

book cover

"China has become a major foreign direct investor in Iran’s oil and gas industry, replacing Iran’s former Western partners. China has also developed cooperation with Iran in various economic and technological fields such as the building of Tehran’s metro system, railways, and construction sector. China has supported Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear technology, rejecting any military solution to the current crisis over Iran’s nuclear program."

US foreign policy towards Iran

July 2010

Mahdi Ahouie (Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue in Geneva) elaborates on the policy options of the US towards Iran, including containment, an incentives based approach and a military attack. He further explains what difficulties the US would encounter during a land invasion of Iran:

Iran: US military invasion, geographic complexity and defensive capacity - Mahdi Ahouie

"There is also great diversity in the Iranian political system, which means that there is no individual symbol of an enemy, such as Saddam Hussein of Iraq, for the US or any other state to harp on. This political dynamic of Iran makes it very difficult, first to justify a possible war for the world public opinion, and second, to ensure that such an offensive would actually succeed in overthrowing the Iranian government."

Iran's Nuclear Program

June 2010

Dr Mahdi Ahouie elaborates on the history of Iran's nuclear program, the country's rationale behind obtaining enriched uranium and the position of the US in this regard:

Iran: nuclear program, Bushehr and Non Proliferation Treaty - Mahdi Ahouie

"It’s difficult to believe that Iran would be willing or able to produce sufficient amount of highly enriched uranium needed for making nuclear bombs any time in the early future. But if Western powers are concerned in this regard, then they themselves must be held responsible for having forced Iran towards a resistant and defensive position through their antagonizing policies and double standards."

Iran's Foreign Policy

June 2010

Dr Mahdi Ahouie gives his views on Iran's foreign policy objectives, its security concerns and its regional and global position:

Iran: foreign policy objectives, security concerns and global position - Mahdi Ahouie

"Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War, Iran’s foreign policy has not changed in strategy. The main goal is to resist the United States’ "unilateralism" in the world politics, through making an unannounced alliance between developing countries."

Recommended contributions

Western Sahara: territorial dispute

June 2010

picture Alex Chitty

Alex Chitty is student 'Geopolitics, Territory and Security' at King’s College London. In this essay, he outlines the origins of the dispute in Western Sahara, and discusses the role of UN peacekeepers:

Western Sahara: territorial dispute, self-determination and the UN - Alex Chitty

Security in the Middle East

October 2009

Andrea Teti

Dr Andrea Teti (Lecturer in International Relations at University of Aberdeen) speaks about key challenges for the Middle East, such as the different branches of Islam and the complex relationship between Israel and the other countries in the region.

Middle East: security, Sunni-Shia divide and the Palestinian question - Andrea Teti

"The ‘frontline’ actors in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have too great an interest in escalation rather than conflict resolution."

The borders of Palestine

May 2009

picture Okunev

Professor Gideon Biger (Tel Aviv University) discusses the main findings of his book "The Boundaries of Modern Palestine, 1840-1947". What was the role of the United States during the boundary delimitation process? Was water scarcity among the discussed factors?

Palestine: history and origin of the borders - Gideon Biger

"Israel’s current border with Egypt used to be the administrative separating line between Sinai and the provinces of Jerusalem and Hejaz established by an agreement between Egypt (then ruled by Britain) and the Ottoman Empire in 1906."