The Americas, Asia and The Middle East

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The Americas

No contributions on this region yet

Asia

• Judith Akkerman: New regionalism of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
• Melanie Hanif: India's foreign policy, energy security and the nuclear deal
• Melanie Hanif: India's regional interests, identities, instability and integration
• Julien Mercille: Afghanistan's politics, security and drugs
• Claude Rakisits: The Afghanistan–Pakistan vortex 1 – The rise of the Pakistani Taliban
• Claude Rakisits: The Afghanistan–Pakistan vortex 2 – The security situation in Afghanistan
• Claude Rakisits: The Afghanistan–Pakistan vortex 3 – The role of the international community
• Nathalène Reynolds: Jammu-Kashmir conflict - history, identities and resolution
• Nathalène Reynolds: Pakistan - Women's rights, civic society and Benazir Bhutto

The Middle East - Iran

• Mahdi Ahouie: Iran's foreign policy objectives, security concerns and global position
• Mahdi Ahouie: Iran's nuclear program, Bushehr and Non Proliferation Treaty
• Mahdi Ahouie: Iran's relationship with China, India and Russia
• Mahdi Ahouie: Iran's geographic complexity, defensive capacity and US military invasion
• Julien Mercille: US foreign policy towards Iran

The Middle East - other

• Gideon Biger: Palestine's history and origin of the borders
• Leonhardt van Efferink: Lebanon's sovereignty 1 - a history of its territory, people and political system
• Leonhardt van Efferink: Lebanon's sovereignty 2 - the military, social and political rise of Hezbollah
• Leonhardt van Efferink: Lebanon's sovereignty 3 - Stephen Krasner's four concepts (conclusion)
• Sherif Elgebeily: Kurdistan - armed conflict or peaceful settlement?
• Sherif Elgebeily: Kurdistan - federalism, sovereignty and independence
• Andrea Teti: Middle East - political reforms, regional powers and external actors
• Andrea Teti: Middle East - security, Sunni-Shia divide and the Palestinian question

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Introduction and recent updates

Introduction

The Americas, Asia and The Middle East section offers academic analysis of geopolitical trends, tensions and risks in these three regions.

The 22 contributions to this section seek to answer questions such as:

• How could the UN ease tensions between South and North Korea?
• What are the roots of the conflict in Jammu-Kashmir?
• Why has democracy not taken root in the Middle East?

Melanie Hanif on India's foreign policy

December 2010

In two interviews, Melanie Hanif (German Institute of Global and Area Studies in Hamburg) focuses on among other topics the IBSA forum, the profile of the European Union in India, regional cooperation and the Indo-Chinese ties:

Melanie Hanif: India's foreign policy, energy security and the nuclear deal

Melanie Hanif: India's regional interests, identities, instability and integration

"In the light of the identity dimension of the India-Pakistan conflict it becomes clear that a technical tit-for-tat approach which focuses exclusively on territorial disputes will hardly solve the underlying conflictive dynamics."

Iran's ties with China, India and Russia

July 2010

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.

Mahdi Ahouie: Iran's relationship with China, India and Russia

"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."

Recommended contributions

Politics in the Middle East

October 2009

Dr Andrea Teti (Lecturer in International Relations at University of Aberdeen) speaks about key challenges for the Middle East, such as human rights and international influences.

Andrea Teti: Middle East - political reforms, regional powers and external actors

"For liberalising and democratising reforms to work, each major power with influence in the region would have to make short-term sacrifices in the notoriously difficult balance between short-run political stability which provides incentives against reform and for ‘stability’, and the long-term positive consequences which are expected from the development of democratic and economically developed states."

Politics and security in Afghanistan

October 2009

Julien Mercille (Lecturer at the School of Geography of the University College Dublin) gives his views on a broad range of topics such as corruption, democracy, warlords, NATO's accomplishments and opium production in Afghanistan:

Julien Mercille: Afghanistan's politics, security and drugs

"There are not so many non-governmental, democratic movements in Afghanistan, the result of decades of destruction brought to the country."

Conflict potential in Iraq's Kurdistan

September 2009

In a second interview, Sherif Elgebeily (student 'International Human Rights Law' at American University in Cairo) discusses the tensions in Iraq's Kurdistan. What explains the elevated conflict risks of Kurdistan? What would be the impact of a Kurdish referendum on autonomy and borders? And how can the international community help in finding a solution?

Kurdistan: armed conflict or peaceful settlement? - Sherif Elgebeily

"The battle for Kirkuk, the hints of increased Kurdish autonomy or outright independence, PKK attacks and the relationship with Turkey are all examples of opportunities for increased rifts between the central government and the KRG."