Browsing by Subject "Regional politics"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Open Access
Alternative futures for the Middle East
(Pergamon Press, 2001) Bilgin, P.
This paper investigates alternative futures of security in the Middle East in an attempt to discover a path that could take the region from an insecure past to a more secure future. Looking at five scenarios about the future of world politics, namely, globalisation, fragmentation, clash of civilisations, democratic peace and the formation of a security community, the paper argues that although each scenario has its strengths (as well as weaknesses), it is the scenario that foresees the establishment of a security community that incorporates a more explicit consideration for shaping a more secure future for the Middle East.
Open Access
Hybrid hegemonic masculinity of the EU before and after the Arab Spring: a gender analysis of Euro-Mediterranean security relations
(Routledge, 2015-05-07) Bilgic, A.
In the academic literature on EU–southern Mediterranean relations, a focal point of neglect has been the gendered dimension of Euro-Mediterranean relations. This article argues that the Euro-Mediterranean space has been formed within the gendered global West/non-West relations with the purpose of promoting the West's security interests. Euro-Mediterranean security relations, thus, embody a gendered power hierarchy between the hybrid hegemonic masculinity of the EU (bourgeois-rational and citizen-warrior) and the subordinate (both feminized and hypermasculinized) southern neighbourhood. In addition, it shows that following the Arab Spring the EU has been determined to maintain the status quo by reconstructing these gendered power relations. This gender analysis contributes to the literature on Euro-Mediterranean relations through its specific focus on the (re)construction processes of gendered identities within the West/non-West context in tandem with the EU's competing notions of security.
Open Access
The ‘Rojava revolution’ in Syrian Kurdistan: a model of development for the middle east?
(Institute of Development Studies, 2016) Cemgil, C.; Hoffmann, C.
As the civil war in Syria continues, in the territory of Rojava - in Kurdish, ‘the West’ - the northern Syrian Kurdish political movement is attempting to implement ‘libertarian municipalism’, based on the thoughts of United States (US) anarchist Murray Bookchin. Since the withdrawal of Syrian regime forces in 2012, the movement has consolidated significant territorial gains as a US ally in the anti-Islamic State (IS) struggle, while simultaneously securing Russian support. Viewed with suspicion by Turkey, Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan, the geopolitical conditions of Rojava’s emergence are its greatest impediment. This article analyses Rojava’s model of rule and socioeconomic development, and its theory and practice in the context of the civil war, and regional Middle Eastern and wider global geopolitics. It reflects on Rojava’s place and meaning for contemporary geopolitics in the Middle East, and considers the territory’s prospects, discussing its transformative potential for an otherwise troubled region. © 2016 The Authors and Institute of Development Studies.