Foreign Policy In Middle East Research Articles

Political Campaign finance and the United States Foreign Policy Decisions: A Cursory Look at the Jewish Lobby Group and the United States Middle East foreign policy

The act of providing fund for political candidate by wealthy private individual and group has become a recurrent phenomenon in the United State electoral system. It is a pervasive campaign practice that cannot be isolated from the US politics. Individual and group donate huge sum of money to support political candidate or political parties of their choices. Of greater concern is the ease with which interest group adopts the strategy of campaign finance to influence state apparatus to achieve interest based policy concession. The Jewish lobby group is a loosed coalition of interest group whose primary objective is the advancement of the US- Israel relation for favourable foreign policy toward Israel. It is a prominent interest group with members who are often the richest and highest campaign donor in any election circle in the United States. The group over the years capitalised on the strategy of campaign financing to stronghold the United States Congress and the executive in order to shape the country Middle East foreign policy in favour of Israel. The study seeks to examine the dynamic role of interest group, the link between campaign financing and interest group using the Powerful Jewish lobby group as the basis of analysis. The theoretical foundation for the work is the elite theory postulated by Gaetano Mosca and the Italian school of elitism. Secondary source of data collection was adopted to extrapolate fact that are relevant to the study. The article find out that campaign fiancé is an integral part of the United States politics and cannot be divorced. Interest group such as the Jewish lobby group adopts the instrumentality of campaign financing to advance private interest

Problem of Sources in Researching V.N. Khitrovo’s Biography

Through their work, the author examines some of the problems of studying sources while researching the biography of famous Russian statesman V.N. Khitrovo (1834-1903), who played an important role in shaping the Middle East foreign policy of the Russian Empire. While in the region, he made a great contribution to the protection of Orthodoxy and Orthodox pilgrims in the Holy Land, including the development of education of the Arab population of Palestine and Syria, and promoting the spread of Orthodox education. In order to reconstruct the biography of V.N. Khitrovo, sources of various nature and origin were identified and classified. There has been conducted for the first-time analysis of materials from the private collection of V.N. Khitrovo stored in the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian State Library; on their basis, the role of V.N. Khitrovo as a specialist in the field of genealogy is revealed within the text. The materials on the history of the Khitrovo family collected by him make it possible to most fully present the history of the family and its role in the development of the future statesman and organizer of science. There was used a wide range of unpublished archival documents containing material important for the reconstruction of V.N. Khitrovo’s biography. Above all, it is the correspondence of widow S.D. Khitrovo with bibliographer and literary critic S.I. Ponomarev. In addition, for the first time, the authors have collected obituary materials, a large amount of reference literature published in Russia in the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries, published official sources and documents of private origin, which have allow the researchers to begin supplementing, clarifying and correcting the information and facts from V.N. Khitrovo’s biography.

China's Middle East Foreign Policy: A Soft Power Approach and Human Right Issues

By strengthening its relationship with Middle Eastern countries, China continues to increase the security of its Middle Eastern oil imports. The “three ugly forces” of terrorism, national separatism, and religious extremism are something that the Chinese would like to fight against in terms of security. This article examines China’s Middle East foreign policy in the Middle East, soft power business tactics, and human rights issues. Through an analytical and descriptive approach, data were analyzed utilizing the deductive technique of research. To provide a qualitative interpretation of the subject of this article, these data were then processed, validated, and reviewed using the theories of peaceful rise and peaceful development in foreign policy as a theoretical review. The results of this study showed that China promotes a style of Chinese diplomacy in which China will not interfere with domestic political matters or the human rights issues of other countries. China will not put strict requirements on humanitarian assistance or investment. Three fundamental concepts define China’s relations with the Middle Eastern countries: sovereignty projection, the right to protect sovereignty, and non-interference in the internal affairs of other states. The novelty of this research focuses on China’s soft power and human rights in the Middle East rather than on Joseph Nye’s three pillars of soft power: political values, culture, and foreign policy.

Middle Eastern policy of the Russian Federation in the post-soviet period: Dynamics of development

The article is an overview of the main directions of the policy of the Russian Federation in the Middle East from 1991 to the present. Certain stages are identified when the transformation of the paradigm of the Middle East foreign policy and, accordingly, the change in the role of Russia in the regional arena took place. Various domestic and foreign policy factors are considered, which caused the loss of Russia’s influence in the countries of the region in the 1990s and early 2000s, but with the change in geopolitical realities, they lost their significance. This made it possible from the mid-2000s to begin the process of restoring ties with traditional Middle Eastern partners, simultaneously with the development of new areas of cooperation, in particular, with Israel and the monarchies of the Persian Gulf. The article also identifies strategic priorities that affect the nature of relations between Russia and such key countries of the region as Iran and Turkey as well as determine the dynamics of their development. Particular attention is paid to the comparative analysis and assessment of the geopolitical consequences of the policy of “active neutrality” in the early stages of the “Arab Spring”, which led to the weakening of bilateral relations with the countries of the Middle East and North Africa in addition to Russian positions in the region as a whole, and Russia’s armed intervention strategy within the current Syrian crisis. In conclusion, the author argues that there is a need for further development and diversification of contacts with the countries of the Middle East region in the formation of Russian foreign policy taking into account new trends in the world political and economic arena.

İç İstikrar, Refah ve Güç Hedefleri Ekseninde Çin’in Orta Doğu Politikası

Bu makale Çin’in Orta Doğu’ya yönelik aktif dış politikasının ardındaki etmenleri, Fei-Ling Wang’ın siyasi yapıyı korumayı, refahı sağlamayı ve güç sahibi olmayı teşvik eden özgün yapı yaklaşımını kullanarak ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır. Çin’in Orta Doğu ülkeleriyle olan ilişkilerini şekillendiren üç temel faktörün; Çin Komünist Partisi önderliğindeki mevcut siyasal rejimi korumak, ülkenin ekonomik refahını sağlamak ve Çin’in gücünü artırmak olduğu ileri sürülmektedir. Siyasi yapıyı koruma çerçevesinde, ekonomik büyümeyi sürdürülebilir kılma, iç işlerine müdahale etmeme ilkesine bağlılık ve toprak bütünlüğünü muhafaza hususları, Çin-Orta Doğu ilişkilerinde ön plandadır. Orta Doğu, Çin’in petrol ihtiyacını ve ürettiği mallar için pazar ihtiyacını karşıladığından, söz konusu ilişkiler Çin’in refahı sağlama hedefiyle de doğrudan bağlantılıdır. Son olarak, Çin’in bu bölgeyle olan ilişkileri Pekin’in güç hesapları açısından da önem arz etmektedir.

American foreign policy in Middle East: new transformations under W. Bush and Obama administrations

This study attempts to diagnose the changes witnessed by the American foreign policy in the Middle East, in both of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, this phase witnessed shift at the level of the visions, beliefs and attitudes. which reflected on the nature of the of dealing with the issues of the region , and embodied the most prominent features of change to adopt the U.S. policy toward the countries of the region in a general principle encapsulates policies , texture pressure in order to establish the values of democracy and human rights as a philosophy and a general principle , and inwardly save its interests in the Middle East , the United States sought for six decades in middle east countries to achieve stability on the expense of democracy , and through the support of totalitarian existing regimes , and cracking down on the opposition .but the events of September 11 forced them to change the approach to foreign policy encouraging democracy and claim to impose reforms. the study exposed to the George W. Bush hard doctrine, unilateral, military tool that give superiority to the implementation of the objectives of its foreign policy, on the contrast of president Obama doctrine with its realistic approach, which sees the need to combine all the tools of foreign policy to implement its objectives, Also this study return to realistic policy in its alliances and legitimacy, as well as dealt approach U.S. political discourse towards the Muslim world, and seek the main topics like, the war on Iraq in 2003and its impact on reformation in the Middle East .And the U.S. position on the Arab Spring, specifically the Syrian revolution. Also this study deals with U.S policy towards Iran Nuclear file, and The Arab-Israeli conflict .The study concluded that foreign policy changes occurred in George W. Bush second presidency is differ from his first presidency, and this transformation take a wider dimension and more comprehensive in Barack Obama's presidency.

Master of None: Trump, Jerusalem and the Prospects of Israeli‐Palestinian Peace

Although the Trump administration claims to be seeking ‘the ultimate deal’ to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the effective attainment of this goal is subordinate to both domestic political concerns and wider Middle East foreign policy calculations. Using the shared antipathy between Israel and the Arab world towards Iran to reach an agreement is sound in principle but is being applied in such a way as to make sustainable Israeli-Palestinian peace through a two-state solution even more unlikely. Trump has sided wholly with the right-wing Israeli government led by Prime Minister Netanyahu and has shown little regard for Palestinian needs, adopting an incoherent and unbalanced mediation strategy centred on power rather than principles. Regional partners such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia are applying pressure to the Palestinians with caution, given the continued relevance of Jerusalem to their populations. Any future peace deal will have to address Palestinian concerns in tandem with Israeli concerns, and show a level of understanding of Palestinian needs yet to be evinced. Meanwhile, Trump’s intervention in the conflict is setting into motion trends in Israeli and Palestinian society which may finally render the two-state solution dead and buried.

БЛИЗЬКОСХІДНА ПОЛІТИКА США В КОНТЕКСТІ СВІТОВОЇ СИСТЕМИ НАФТОЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ НАПРИКІНЦІ 1950-х – 1960-ті рр.

The article attempts to analyze the American strategy for maintaining the status quo in the global energy supply system, as well as to reveal the main causes of the destruction of this system. At this stage, there is a sharp increase in the interdependence of politics and energetics as well as their merger. Therefore, one of the main messages of the article is the thesis that oil and related issues were at the center of the US Middle East foreign policy. It was determined that the main components of the US strategy were maintaining access to oil resources in the Middle East and strengthening their positions in the region, which was stipulated by the factor of intersystem confrontation. The doctrinal foundations of the American oil strategy in the region were determined. The evolution of political processes in the Middle East, which led to the destruction of the foundations of the global energy supply system, was examined. It is shown how dynamic changes in international politics and the world economy influenced the transformation of American politics in the Middle East with elements of balancing between the countries of the region, for which oil and energetics, in general, have become the main factor in foreign policy. It was the study of political and economic processes in their dynamics that allowed the author to highlight critical moments in international politics and economics. Important place in the article is devoted to the activities of American oil companies, their economic relations with the governments of the Middle East countries, which became the subject of political confrontation between these countries and the U.S. Based on the given facts, it was established that the US policy to maintain the status quo in the Middle East had been actually stopped in the early 1970s. Instead, it was not formed the clear long term course of foreign policy, which could provide the interests of the USA and its allies in the field of economics and energetics.

Middle East foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration

Middle East foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration

In Honor of Naseer H. Aruri (1934-2015)

In the remembrance that follows, we pay tribute to the late Naseer H. Aruri, who passed away on 10 February 2015. After serving on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth for over three decades, Aruri retired as chancellor professor (emeritus) of political science in 1998. Aruri, who was born in Palestine in 1934, came to the United States as a twenty-year-old to pursue his college education and he devoted the rest of his life to the study and advancement of Middle Eastern, and particularly Palestinian, politics, as well as U.S. Middle East foreign policy, and human rights. His stature both as a scholar and unswerving advocate of justice and equality for all in the land of his birth and further afield earned him the unconditional admiration and love of his many students, colleagues, and fellow intellectuals.

American Grand Strategy and Rotation of Turkey’s Foreign Policy in Middle East

American Grand Strategy and Rotation of Turkey’s Foreign Policy in Middle East

Déjà vu diplomacy: South Korea's Middle East policy under Lee Myung-bak

This paper probes major directions in South Korea's Middle East foreign policy under the presidency of Lee Myung-bak, during a turbulent transitional period in the region. These include serious attempts to forge multifaceted and long-lasting connections with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), efforts to penetrate Kurdistan's energy and construction industries, and strategies to overcome the quandary of sanctions against Iran. Epitomized by the concept of ‘déjà vu diplomacy’, this study argues that Lee drew heavily on his previous experiences in the Middle East in a nostalgic sense of thrill and action, striving to foster Seoul's policy goals and to extend the country's increasing vested interests in the region. Drawing on international relations theory, this research also attributes the Lee administration's achievements in the Middle East to a combination of both individual (statesman) and international system (structure) elements, with a greater emphasis on the former than on the latter. However, it in no way gainsays the overall contribution of the state bureaucracy as an ancillary component to other parameters.

ARAB SPRING: PERUBAHAN REZIM DAN TEGANGAN HUBUNGAN AS – DUNIA ARAB REFLEKSI SOSIO-HISTORIS

The revolutions in the Arab World such as Egypt, Tunisia, Marocco, Libya, Syria and Yemen have affected political landscapes in the Middle East countries. Revolutions in the MENA countries have broken up relations between the Arab World and the US. The revolutions also have paved the way for Islamic groups to put political pressures to take power . Moreover, the Arab Spring have the influence over changes in the United States foreign policy in Middle East. But, up to now, it is not clear that the revolution in the Middle East in 2011 is a great opportunity for the U.S. to increase its role in countries. It's not clear too, whether or not it also a new opportunity for the U.S. to establish strategic alliances in Arabic World. While Washington was surprised by the fall of the regimes of Egypt and Tunisia, for instance, there is uncertainty that the two countries would be the new alliances of the US in the near future. America has lost its loyalists such as former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Ben Ali, Tunis. But at the same time, the proximity of the the US-Gulf alliances is increasing, especially with Saudi Arabia,Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar . Washington for a while is still groping, if not frenzy, in rebuilding the present relationship with the Middle East, as long as the MENA countries are still in the era of transition. The U.S and the West are aware about that problem, and they understand that in the Middle East the political uncertainty is so apparently.

Christian zionism as a factor of US politics

One of the most important phenomena in US politics is Christian Zionism. The term Christian Zionism is related to unity of a large part of Protestant beliefs and the Zionists movement. The religious motives of US Protestants have coincided with the Jewish intention to go back to Palestine. In this way, Protestant religious motives could only be achieved by using political pressure on the US government. The goal of this pressure is to turn the foreign policy of Washington into a struggle for reconstruction and maintenance of the state of Israel. That is why many people wrongly believe that the US policy in Middle East is a product of the Jewish lobby. However, the US foreign policy in Middle East is a product of religious beliefs of Christian Zionists and the Jewish lobby is just using this fact for its own purposes.

A single roll of the dice: Obama's diplomacy with Iran

Have the diplomatic efforts of the Obama administration toward Iran failed? Was the Bush administration's emphasis on military intervention, refusal to negotiate, and pursuit of regime change a better approach? How can the United States best address the ongoing turmoil in Tehran? This book provides a definitive and comprehensive analysis of the Obama administration's early diplomatic outreach to Iran and discusses the best way to move toward more positive relations between the two discordant states. Trita Parsi, a Middle East foreign policy expert with extensive Capitol Hill and United Nations experience, interviewed 70 high-ranking officials from the U.S., Iran, Europe, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Brazil-including the top American and Iranian negotiators-for this book. Parsi uncovers the previously unknown story of American and Iranian negotiations during Obama's early years as president, the calculations behind the two nations' dealings, and the real reasons for their current stalemate. Contrary to prevailing opinion, Parsi contends that diplomacy has not been fully tried. For various reasons, Obama's diplomacy ended up being a single roll of the dice. It had to work either immediately-or not at all. Persistence and perseverance are keys to any negotiation. Neither Iran nor the U.S. had them in 2009.

Radical Atmosphere: Explaining Jihadist Radicalization in the UK

In the months following the July 7, 2005, attack that killed 52 people and injured hundreds more, the British government was at pains to deny allegations that Britain was targeted by homegrown, al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists because of its Middle East foreign policy. Yet the government was privately aware by May 2004 that a “particularly strong cause of disillusionment amongst Muslims … is a perceived ‘double standard’ in the foreign policy of western governments (and often those of Muslim governments), in particular Britain and the U.S” (FCO/HO 2005). Specific causes cited were bias towards Israel vis-à-vis Palestinians; non-action on Kashmir and Chechnya; and “active oppression” in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the wider “war on terror.” Other alleged causes included social and economic deprivation, Islamophobia (particularly following 9/11), and intergenerational clashes between first, second, and third generation Muslims. But little attempt was made either before or after July 7, 2005, to examine the interaction between these domestic and foreign sources of radicalization. This paper attempts to do so by examining the rhetoric and actions of a range of young British Muslims including: examples of 48 persons convicted of, charged for, or killed by violent jihad—evidence of young Muslim opinion on extremism and causes of violent jihadi terror in Britain. The evidence from this preliminary study, though not large enough to draw reliable statistical inferences, does suggest that not only is British foreign policy a significant source of alienation among young British Muslims, but that attitudes towards British foreign policy interact with and often reinforce domestic social, cultural, and economic sources of discontent. As explained in the literature review below, examining the links between perceptions of foreign policy towards the wider Muslim Ummah and sources of domestic discontent offers a more satisfying account of British Muslim radicalization than those offered by the dominant structural (social network theories) and “aggrieved actor” interpretations. I would like to thank Jonathan Githens-Mazer for organizing the PSA panel at the 2007 APSA Annual Meeting where I presented this paper. I would also like to thank Shah Miah for allowing me to cite evidence from his BA research project (Queen Mary, University of London); Emily Mclean Inglis and Anthony de Silva for research assistance; and Zamila Bunglawala for advice and data on British Muslims and the labor market.

Eye on Israel: How America Came to View Israel as an Ally (review)

Reviewed by: Eye on Israel: How America Came to View Israel as an Ally Herbert M. Druks Eye on Israel: How America Came to View Israel as an Ally, by Michelle Mart. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006. 242 pp. $65.00. Michelle Mart describes how American moviemakers and writers came to regard Israel more favorably during the years of the Truman and Eisenhower presidencies. She assumes that the public view of Israel helped influence American officials to be pro-Israel. But it is an assumption not supported by fact. Truman recognized Israel in May of 1948, but throughout his years in the White House he did not lift the arms embargo against Israel. A loan was extended to Israel, but Mart does not mention that Israel paid back the loan with interest. She claims that the Eisenhower administration grew to like and admire Israel and readily quotes Secretary of State John Foster Dulles declaring his admiration for the contribution Israel and the Jews made to the development of Christian civilization. She likewise quotes Ambassador Abba Eban as saying that the U.S. "was obviously coming to regard Israel not as a burden to be chivalrously sustained, but as an asset in the global and ideological balance." Such observations were typical of Abba Eban. He talked that way [End Page 199] when I interviewed him. But in his correspondence with the Israel Foreign Office he was greatly critical of Secretary Dulles. Frustrated by Dulles' refusal to allow Israel to puchase weapons for its own defense, Eban observed that with all of Dulles' reference to scripture he should have chosen to become a preacher rather than a diplomat. Moreover, Eban noted on February 26, 1953 that Dulles showed "nervousness and a lack of calm frightening in one holding so important a position. At times his left eye twitches, and at times, his right. He plays with his hair, now smoothing one side down with one hand and then smoothing the other side down with his second hand. He runs his pencil down the parting in his hair and then sucks his pencil. Dulles was scarcely still for a moment." While attending a Foreign Affairs Committee he doodled: "Dulles Must Go." "Freudians could explain what he really meant" (Israel Foreign Office Papers 2414/27B). In conversation with Dulles on February 26, 1953, Eban advised that Israel could be of great help to the United States in case of a Soviet threat. "Israel could put eight divisions into the field. If its airfields were enlarged and its industry increased in advance of an emergency Israel could be of great use in the event of an international crisis. One should not underrate the military value of Israel. Others might be hesitant, but we were prepared to fight along with the West." Dulles responded with: "You have given me a lot to think about. I have no reaction at the moment." But he added that he was concerned with Arab antagonism toward the British, French and to lesser extent the U.S." (Israel Foreign Office Papers 2414/27B). Those who like Michelle Mart conduct research on Israel and the U.S. should not only learn to use American archival sources, but they should research the Israeli archives as well. This is something that should be done most carefully, especially since individuals like professors Stephen M. Walt of Harvard and John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago have chosen to publish diatribes against Israel, claiming that the Israel lobby controls U.S. Middle East foreign policy. While the author claims that the focus of her study is "the image of Israel in American culture" and that she did not intend to make her work "a comprehensive history of American-Israeli relations," she does attempt to show how American public views of Israel impacted on the formulators of American policy towards Israel and the Arabs. She observes that Israelis "came to be accepted as insiders once they were re-constructed to Americans" (whatever that is supposed to mean). Israelis were viewed as pioneers, as builders and farmers, while the Arabs were regarded as backward intruders seeking to destroy that which Israel was building. Writers...

The Three Environments of Middle East Foreign Policy Making and Relations with Europe

In the post-9/11 climate, the role of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) states in Europe’s regional security environment and international politics has become more than ever a focus for attention, but remains ill-understood. This book provides a framework for the analysis of Middle Eastern foreign policies in general, and for understanding these states’ relations with Europe in particular. The book fills a gap in the literature on Euro-Middle Eastern relations by adopting a south-to-north perspective, using the tools of Foreign Policy Analysis to examine the determinants of the foreign policies of the MENA states themselves: only thus can one hope to arrive at a genuine understanding of what underlies these states’ evolving policy orientations and behaviour towards Europe. The volume starts by laying out a conceptual framework for analysis, and examining the domestic, regional, and international environments that condition MENA foreign policies. Actual policy output is then systematically investigated through a wide range of country case studies ranging from the Maghreb and the Mashreq to the Gulf and Turkey. Europe is treated throughout both as a target of those foreign policies, and as part of the environment that shapes them. The result of a two-year project sponsored by the European University Institute’s Mediterranean Programme, the book helps bridge the divide between Middle East expertise and the discipline of International Relations. The systematic comparative analysis of MENA states’ foreign policy with special reference to Europe throws new light on questions about ‘Third World’ foreign policy.

Middle East Foreign Policy: Issues and Processes, by Ronald D. McLaurin, Don Perez, and Lewis W. Snider. Pp. vii + 336, bibliography, index, maps. Praeger Publications, New York1982. $34.95.

Middle East Foreign Policy: Issues and Processes, by Ronald D. McLaurin, Don Perez, and Lewis W. Snider. Pp. vii + 336, bibliography, index, maps. Praeger Publications, New York1982. $34.95.