Qatar and the Al Thani: The Self-Made Critical Ally
With a strategy informed by its past, no other ruling dynasty in the Arab Gulf has played a weak hand with more skill than Qatar’s Al Thani regime.
The East Mediterranean’s Energy Resources Are More Important Than Ever
Competition over the energy resources of the Eastern Mediterranean did not start with Russia’s war in Ukraine, it has been going on since 2009.
The Games Inside the Game: A Look at the Politics and Economics of the Qatar World Cup
With the successful delivery of the Qatar World Cup, Qatar will be able to step out from the shadows of its more well-known Gulf neighbours.
COP27 Nets Mixed Blessings for Host Egypt
In the case of Egypt, the host nation of COP27, the pitfalls of being in the public eye for such an important event almost managed to derail the perks.
The Strategic Challenges Facing the Next Israeli Government
Benjamin Netanyahu’s incoming coalition can expect to face a series of unprecedented security and social challenges. The immediate and most important test comes on the domestic front: namely, preserving Israel’s social cohesion, which has fractured in recent years. Reasons for this include five elections in a period of four years, polarising the political map. This […]
A Look to US-Saudi Relations in 2023: Irritants, Constraints and Opportunities
For many decades, the U.S.-Saudi relationship has been loosely defined by the premise of oil for security. This premise arose out of a growing alignment of interests following the announcement of British withdrawal “East of Suez” in 1968, the Iranian Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. This mantra has been put to […]
Iran and Saudi Arabia: Mutual Threat Perceptions and the Potential for Conflict
For about a year and a half, there was hope that Iran and Saudi Arabia, two Persian Gulf neighbours and regional rivals, would overcome the period of hostility between them and agree on some form of normalisation in bilateral relations. That hope was primarily fuelled by the Iranian-Saudi dialogue process, which began in April 2021 […]
Will Turkey’s Meddling in Syria Solve the Kurdish Dilemma?
Turkey’s long-lasting Kurdish issue, which embodies the political, economic and cultural problems that Kurds have faced over the past century, has become more complicated than ever, largely due to the Syrian conflict and the upcoming presidential election in 2023. Not only has the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Syria policy contributed to the country’s […]
Iran’s Protests: The Role of Power and the Weakening of the Reform Movement
Throughout history, the concept of liberation for Iranians has been something like anarchism. The widespread protests in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini have been analysed through different political, economic and social theories. Based on this, the weakening of the middle class, the demands of Generation Z and the women’s movement have been cited […]
Book Review: “Turkish Politics and ‘The People’: Mass Mobilisation and Populism” by Spyros Sofos
On October 29, 2022, the Republic of Turkey celebrated its 99th anniversary. To mark the day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Anitkabir, the mausoleum in Ankara where the founder of the Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, is buried. Speaking at the site, Erdoğan proclaimed that during the two decades in which his Justice and Development […]