Summary Finals Readings Politics: Middle East - Mostly from chapters of International Relations of the Middle East - Louise Fawcett
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Politics: Middle East
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Lecture 1: Crash course Middle East 1914-2014
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF THE ME CH. 3; 62-78 (SLUGLETT)
Although some might argue the Cold War itself has had limited impact on the Middle East as
there were no signifcant pro-Soviet revolutonarr movements, there was a constant struggle for
infuence waged br the US and the USS.$ This struggle polarieed andoor anaestheteed politcal
life in most Middle Eastern countries, encouraged the rise of militarr or militarr-backed regimes
and served to stuntodistort the growth of indigenous politcal insttutons$ The Cold War must be
seen in a broader context of decolonieaton$ Furthermore, we should not exaggerate the extent
to which each superpower was able to control the actons as there was an amount of
manipulaton exercised br individuals such as Nasser, al-Asad and Hussein local actors could
and frequentlr did take advantage of superpower rivalrr to plar the US and the USS. of against
each other for their own or their countrr’s beneft$
The immediate origins of the Cold War
Desires of the superpowers to gain strategic advantage in the region given the departure
of Britain and France
.egion contained some two-thirds of the world’s oil reserves
Cold War represented an ideological confict whoever occupies a territorr also
imposes on it his own social srstem
USS.: Turker, Iran and Afghanistan
An invasion of the Soviet Union could be launched from Iran or Turker, but it did not
have access to the US from the territorr of US neighbours$ At the same tme, while the
US would have to send troops halfwar across the world to assist its friends in Iran or
Turker; it was rather easier for the Soviet Union to train and supplr guerrillasoseparatst
movements$
1947: Truman Doctrine: American assistance specifcallr to both Greece and Turker as a
result of the growing communism in Greece and Turker$
1941: Britsh and Soviet forces occupr Iran because of .eea Sha’s pro-German leanings
and German invasion of .ussia forced abdicaton of .eea Shah politcal freedom,
which benefied organieed politcal groups growth of communist Tudeh Partr, free
press and formaton of labour unions 1943: joint Allied Declaraton (Churchill,
.oosevelt and Stalin) to guarantee Iran’s future sovereigntr and territorial integritr
declaraton of Kurdish autonomous republic and Aeeri autonomous government, as
ther saw Soviet occupaton as a mean of freeing themselves from the control of Tehran$
1946: Impossible for the USS. to wrest the oil concession out of Iran and withdraw Iran
no leverage in Aeerbaijan and Kurdistan Iranian troops marched into and made an
end to the two autonomous enttes
Whr USS. was interested in Iran: sought an oil concession in the areas around the
Caspian and a friendlr local government on the other side of the border$ It wanted to
assure the safetr of its fronters, while US wanted to defend freedom and democracr$
Oil in the Middle East
1
, Demand of oil had risen enormouslr in the course of the war and oil rapidlr became a
major strategic factor in the region$
o US oil companies controlled at least 42% of Middle Eastern oil$
o USS. hardlr partcipated here, however it did provide technical assistance for
the natonalieaton of Iraqi oil in 1972$
Difcult to pinpoint the true role oil plared in the Cold War, used as an excuse$
o USS. had immense resources of its own
o Natonalieaton of oil degenerated into a damp squib due to despotc culture
A clash of ideologies
Plared important role in Cold War
Whole Middle East and North Africa under European power, even if it was onlr
economicallr after 1945: process of decolonieaton
US: disinterested senior partner that could ofer assistance to roung natons struggling
to become members of the ‘free world’$ Communism as incarnaton of evil totalitarian
forces$
USS.: egalitarian societr in which class divisions had been abolished and in which a
benevolent state would look after the interests of its citeens from the cradle to grave$
Power vacuum after Britsh and French leave in which US and USS. stepped in$
USS. period of relatve isolaton untl death of Stalin 1953 internal reconstructon of
the Soviet state and assuring the ‘stabilitr’ of the states of Eastern Europe$
US: creaton of North Atlantc Treatr Organieaton, Baghdad Pact (Britain, Iran, Iraq,
Pakistan, and Turker) as ant-Soviet alliance$
Superpowers not simple (neo)imperialist ‘patron-client’ relatons, with the peculiaritr
that some of the clients were able to switch patrons or have more than one patron at
once$
Middle East acquired the abilitr to plar one superpower of against another relatons
were compettve in terms of the provision of goods and services fnance of the
Aswan Dam
Elements of a case studr: Iraq, the Soviet Union, and the United States, 1945-90
1934: Iraqi Communist Partr
1946: end of Iraqi Communist Partr and politcal freedom
1948: renegotaton of Anglo-Iraqi Treatr
Baghdad Pact: create an ant-Soviet alliance of states bordering, or close to, the USS.
1955: Popularitr of USS. when Ceechoslovakia would sell arms to Egrpt
Iraqi oppositon: make Iraq independent of Britain and set up natonal government
More hostlitr towards Britain after tripartte invasion of Egrpt 1956$
Iraqi .evoluton 1958
USS.: late 50s and 60s, natonal liberaton movements that were not capitalist, could be
allies of USS.$
2
, Militarr regimes that seieed power in the Middle East in the 1950s and 1960s were
natonalist and ant-imperialist, and sought independence, but were not socialist or
communist$
USS. would not intervene as it would threaten the status-quo with the West$
Iraq and USS. went through honermoon relatonship untl 1970s where Iraq was ant-
American massacre of communist left 1963, Baath’s crude natonal socialist
demagoguerr and following capitalist road$
US: after 1970s Iran would plar policeman in the Gulf and therefore threw its weight
behind Iraqi’s invasion of Iran in 1980$
Conclusion
View that democracr has no roots in Middle East is wrong some states have had
consttutons before 1914
Parliamentarr electons in the 1950s was killed of due to pressure of the Cold War$
Communists did not get done much in the Middle East: creaton of trade unions,
fundamentals of compensated land reforms, natonalieaton and welfare programs
also part of Western European social democratc partes$
1950s and 1960s: communists were persecuted and replaced br natonal socialist
dictatorship
Maintenance in power of a series of unairactve dictatorial regimes and rise of the
religious right Islam is the soluton
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF THE ME CH. 4; 79-101 (KORANY)
Arab summits
Arab natonal securitr
o Forces against Israel
o Contain Iran and prepare interventon in Yemen
Is no longer Arab versus non-Arab: joining of Israel and support of Israel and Turker
Confict of Iran and other states is an inter-group and interstate one$ Iran is seen as
incarnaton of both revolutonarr and Shia Islam
Confict is related to politcal and socio-economic domestc polarieaton, state-authoritr
decline and regime fragmentaton$
Increasing infuence of non-state actors such as ISIS and various tribal militas
Contnuitr and change
Increasing globalieaton and mobilitr of ideas and people
Socio-politcal fragmentaton in Iraq, Sudan, Srria, Libra and Yemen and Lebanon
Decoding the Middle East: intermestcs
Can be done br Huntngton’s Clash of Civilieaton or intermestcs
o Denotes the organic interconnectedness and overlapping between internatonal
and domestc dimensions of socio-politcal processes and interactons
3
, refecton of the creeping globalieaton with the fragilitr of the state and its
traditonal sovereigntr and intensitr of trans-state societal interconnectedness
Food riots in Egrpt and Morocco show the pitalls of globalieaton
New problems: cultural invasion, identtr politcs and urges for
democrateaton
Prone to confict because of an increasing resource-gap (defcits in capital,
management capacitr, human resources and availabilitr of goods)
Oil: a mixed blessing?
Western Europe remains quasi-totallr dependent on Middle East for its oil supplies +
growing energr needs in emerging powers in Asia increase pressure on Middle Eastern
oil
Most oil states’ budgets have serious structural defcits and open or concealed internal
debt constant decline of oil prices
Populaton could growth could ofset anr increase in oil revenues
Populaton does not easilr accept hardships as it is accustomed to benefts from renter
state
Fluctuaton of fnancial fows are not allowed to afect ‘natonal securitr’ countries
‘recrcle’ a substantal sum of their petro-dollars in arms purchases from the West
Oil provides politcal infuence ‘petro-politcs’ GCC in the driver’s seat$
o Associated with the crisis of governance and social tension
o Egrpt and Algeria are paring huge subsidies to keep domestc energr prices low
populaton increases and domestc consumpton is eatng export and revenues
Traditonal (in)securitr: the geopolitcal context
The Arab-Israeli Confiic
Social confict, in which religious, politcal, cultural, economic, and psrchological
elements pile up and feed on each other to create a seeminglr indissoluble impasse
Shaped state-formaton, regime paierns, regional alignments and collectve psrchologr
Infuences the rise of the natonal securitr state most militarieed region
o Often presented as such, when it’s not
The dominance of such geopolitcal conficts leads to arms races
First collectve peace process, Madrid Conference 1991, failed
Informal diplomacr worked: secret Israeli-Palestnian negotatons Oslo 1993
o Two main protagonists announced mutual formal recogniton
o Agreement on a specifc programme of acton and tmetable for Israeli
withdrawal from Gaea and most of the West Bank
o Emergence of an internatonallr recognieed formal Palestnian authoritr
o Allowed other protoganists to join the peace process (e$g$ Jordan)
Border dispuces
Almost everr MENA countrr has a border-demarcaton problem with its neighbours
o GCC in transforming it into Union: lines in the sand becomes lines of dispute
4
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