Digest of Middle East Studies最新文献

{"title":"Regional deterrence, strategic challenges, and Saudi Arabia's missile development program","authors":"Fariborz Arghavani Pirsalami,&nbsp;Ehsan Shirzadi","doi":"10.1111/dome.12305","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12305","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The turbulent security environment of the Middle East has been the most crucial factor influencing the behavior of governments in this region. Saudi Arabia, as one of the most important countries in the area, has embarked on a nontransparent effort to develop its missile program in recent decades, raising significant concerns about the security of the Middle East. This article adopts the regional deterrence approach and strategically examines the various dimensions of Saudi Arabia's missile program to explain the driving factors behind its development. The research argues that the regional deterrence concept has been the primary impetus pushing Saudi Arabia to invest in its missile program, aiming to counter strategic challenges at the regional level. The findings indicate several key drivers motivating Riyadh, including the development of missile programs by Iran and Turkey, the balance of power concerning Israel, responses to transformational discourses, offering alternatives to expansionist approaches in the region, addressing Iran's nuclear program, and the desire to reinforce regional deterrence capabilities. Understanding these factors sheds light on Saudi Arabia's trajectory towards strengthening its missile program and its strategic outlook in the Middle East.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"32 4","pages":"281-299"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50120866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of the Middle East and Gulf states' involvement on the Horn of Africa's peace and security: Applying regional security complex theory","authors":"Micheale K. Gebru,&nbsp;Getachew Zeru,&nbsp;Yohannes Tekalign","doi":"10.1111/dome.12301","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12301","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Middle East and the Horn of Africa are distinct but interdependent Regional Security Complexes (RSCs) whose security interaction and beyond has increased over the last two decades. Recent interactions between the two RSCs, particularly the increased involvement of Middle Eastern and Gulf states, have raised concerns about the Horn of Africa's peace and security. This paper examines the impact of the Middle East and Gulf States' involvement on peace and security in the Horn of Africa using RSC Theory (RSCT). The findings indicate that the Middle East and Gulf States' involvement, rooted in rivalry and competition, has become a source of instability and conflict in the Horn of Africa. These extra-regional powers have played a critical role in escalating conflicts and instilling insecurity in the region by focusing solely on their national security, geopolitical, and economic interests. Their destabilizing impact is particularly visible in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"32 3","pages":"223-245"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50148375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Digest of Middle East Studies","authors":"Catherine Warrick","doi":"10.1111/dome.12302","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12302","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;Editor's Introduction&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this issue of the &lt;i&gt;Digest of Middle East Studies&lt;/i&gt;, we are pleased to present five articles on subjects both timely and important. From the theoretical and reflective to the practical and policy-developing, this issue offers, as always, works that engage both policy and social science concerns. This issue's articles have a broad geographical reach from Morocco to Iran and an equally broad range in terms of topical focus, but within this diversity they all address in one way or another issues of security, policy formation, and identity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Said Khanafira Mavadat's “Iran in the Sadrist Version of Iraqi Nationalism” investigates and explains Muqtada Sadr's construction of an Iraqi identity that is both specifically Arab and specifically Shiite, through the reshaping of the politically contingent narrative about Iran and Shiite identity and authority in the post-war Iraqi context. National identity issues are also the subject of Tuğçe Ersoy-Ceylan's article “Social Identities in Conflict: Israeli Palestinians and Israeli Jews.” Ersoy-Ceylan takes on a subject matter deeply familiar to observers to draw out new insights about similar identity dynamics in very differently-positioned peoples, offering an analysis grounded in recognition of the common human dynamics of security fears and their consequences.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In “Discursive Delegitimization of Rouhani's Nuclear Diplomacy and the Iran Nuclear Deal by Iranian Conservatives on Twitter,” Hossein Nourani, Mohammad Mohammadian, Reza Sarhaddi, Afsaneh Danesh, and Farzaneh Latifi present an interesting analysis of social media statements by Iranian public figures as a basis for understanding competing discourses with regard to domestic actors and nuclear policy. This research provides insight into both the discourse itself and the use of social media as a tool not only for popular protest but for what might be termed more ordinary political competition among public figures, as actors recognize the utility of Twitter for shaping public narratives of criticism of their opponents.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Micheale Gebru addresses security-related issues in “The Impact of the Middle East and Gulf States' Involvement on the Horn of Africa's Peace and Security,” making use of Regional Security Complex theory to analyze the growing Middle Eastern state presence in the Horn of Africa. This article offers a detailed account of external involvement in the region motivated by economic and foreign policy goals, the latter of which are both locally-centered and also at times connected to proxy competition with other Middle East actors. He finds that on balance, the effect of Middle East presence in the Horn of Africa has exacerbated local conflict and tended to destabilize rather than secure the region.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We are also pleased to offer an article in our occasional “scholarly commentary” category, Jack Kalpakian's “The Lack of Environmental Cooperation in the Maghreb.” As always, these are peer-rev","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"32 3","pages":"162-163"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dome.12302","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50118020","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Social identities in conflict: Israeli Palestinians and Israeli Jews","authors":"Tuğçe Ersoy-Ceylan","doi":"10.1111/dome.12300","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12300","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is generally referred as a territorial conflict, but it is also a conflict over the preservation of identity. This study analyzes the relations of Jews and Palestinians in Israel from an identity security perspective. It sheds light on how the communities perceive actions, discourses, and symbols as a mutual threat to their own identity. Adapting the concept of societal security dilemma (SSD), this study seeks to reveal the patterns of feeling insecure between the groups and to put forth the measures and countermeasures taken to secure identity. This approach contends that the measures and countermeasures taken to reduce the perception of threat do not lead to a feeling of security; on the contrary, it creates a cycle of constant threat perception, making the groups feel more insecure in terms of identity. I argue that this is the case for the Jews and Palestinians in Israel. The analytical dimensions of SSD are applied to the case via process tracing and historical analysis. However, I identify a gap unaddressed by these dimensions of the concept. The present study proposes an additional dimension—<i>confrontation</i>—to fill this gap.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"32 3","pages":"206-222"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50118021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Digest of Middle East studies","authors":"C. Warrick","doi":"10.1111/(issn)1949-3606","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/(issn)1949-3606","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75920551","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Discursive delegitimization of Rouhani's nuclear diplomacy and the Iran nuclear deal by Iranian conservatives on Twitter","authors":"Hossein Nourani,&nbsp;Mohammad Mohammadian,&nbsp;Reza Sarhaddi,&nbsp;Afsaneh Danesh,&nbsp;Farzaneh Latifi","doi":"10.1111/dome.12297","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12297","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The reformist-moderate and the conservative discourses have co-existed and contended for primacy in the Iranian foreign policy since the 1979 revolution. The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, has been at the core of this discursive contest in recent years. This article investigates how Iranian conservative tweeters delegitimized the JCPOA and President Rouhani's nuclear diplomacy. We use Van Leeuwen's discursive construction of legitimacy (2008) to analyze three popular conservative Twitter accounts. Findings show that the Iranian conservatives used the strategies of authorization, moral evaluation, and rationalization for legal and political criticism of the JCPOA, offending Rouhani's administration and allies, and questioning their political competence. This research partly reveals the conservatives' anti-negotiation and anti-West logic and their refusal to offer a diplomatic alternative to the JCPOA.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"32 3","pages":"184-205"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50133884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Iran in the Sadrist version of Iraqi nationalism","authors":"Said Khanafira Mavadat","doi":"10.1111/dome.12299","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12299","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Unlike many other Shiite political factions in Iraq, the Sadrist movement has become increasingly vocal in its criticism of Iranian influence in Iraq. Anti-Iran chants have become almost ubiquitous in Sadrist demonstrations over the past few years, and prominent Sadrist politicians have unabashedly pointed the finger of blame for Iraq's crises at Iran. The growing Sadrist criticism of Iran has simultaneously come with the gradual ascendance of nationalist narratives in the religious movement. This article aims to study these narratives and their correlation with Iran. It argues that the Sadrist version of Iraqi nationalism encompasses three components that aim to differentiate Iraqi Arab Shiite identity from Iran. It also studies how Sadrist nationalism contributed to the rise of the Iran-bashing trend among Iraqi Shiites.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"32 3","pages":"164-183"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50133883","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The lack of environmental cooperation in the Maghreb","authors":"Jack V. Kalpakian","doi":"10.1111/dome.12298","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12298","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This policy paper uses the Eightfold Path method developed by Bardach and Patashnik to study the problem that is the lack of Maghrebian trans-boundary cooperation on the environment. It argues that political conflict has been allowed to obstruct a field that should remain nonpolitical. The paper concludes with policy recommendations intended to generate debate among decision makers and lead to more effective water management policies.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"32 3","pages":"246-256"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50126232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Khalifa versus Prometheus: Green ethics and the struggle for contemporary sustainable urbanism","authors":"Agatino Rizzo,&nbsp;Attilio Petruccioli","doi":"10.1111/dome.12291","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12291","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In the last decades, contemporary urbanism in the global South has meant large urban transformations, tall architecture landmarks, and fierce city competition. However, cities and their planners are now confronting an ethical dilemma: how to grow and compete while caring for the disastrous impacts on Earth and human health caused by the mass extraction, processing, and consumption of resources linked to urbanization. In our article, we problematize the modern interpretation of technology, and in particular architecture and planning technologies, in society where sustainability is considered a product. By restudying the Quranic notion of the <i>khalifa</i> and the accidental, ecological formation of the <i>oasis</i>, we will argue for a postpromethean philosophy of <i>inhabiting</i> the Earth. We will exemplify this new ethical–technological shift by comparing planned and unplanned developments in Arabian Gulf cities.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"32 2","pages":"102-114"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dome.12291","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50120261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mobilizing religious differences and terrorism, negotiating civil rights in Egypt","authors":"Nevine Abraham","doi":"10.1111/dome.12292","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12292","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Egyptian state's publication of its first National Human Rights Strategy 2021–2026 (NHRS) (2021) on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks came at the crossroads of Western pressure to improve human rights and the state's use of counterterrorism to silence voices. The recent arrests of Coptic activists, dubbing them “terrorists” on the pretext of disturbing public peace and instigating sectarianism, follows the regime's capitalization on Egypt's history of battling Islamic radicalism and sectarian strife. The regime has additionally used societal instabilities post the 2011 revolution to demonstrate Egypt's unique case of human rights. This paper analyzes the ways in which the language of the NHRS entangles terrorism to negotiate the interpretation of civil rights and social justice. In doing so, the thesis of NHRS posits civil rights and social justice to be the responsibility of the collective in general, and religious institutions in particular, as preservers of public peace and national unity. While the publication of the NHRS is inscribed in the feigning of democratization to Western donors, assigning Coptic activists as terrorists, as this paper argues, plays up religious differences, broadens the purview of counterterrorism, and expands state power.</p>","PeriodicalId":43254,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Middle East Studies","volume":"32 2","pages":"84-101"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dome.12292","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50149161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}