The myth of the reforming monarch: Orientalism, racial capitalism, and UK support for the Arab Gulf monarchies

Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 026339572110415
Author(s):  
David Wearing
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Cultural Difference ◽  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
The Political ◽  
Racial Capitalism ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Material Interests ◽  
Arab Gulf ◽  
Crown Prince

The narrative of ‘reform’ in Saudi Arabia, recently recurring in British political discourse around the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, is situated within wider Orientalist themes, wherein a progressive and modern West is juxtaposed with an Arabian peninsula mired in backwardness. In this context, the purported Arab ‘reformer’ is presented as the ideal ally of the West, attempting to haul his society up to the West’s supposed standards, for example on women’s rights. This racialising narrative serves to legitimise British support for authoritarian Gulf regimes, thus helping to sustain the political economy of this set of international relations at the political level. It does this by obscuring the important role the United Kingdom plays in sustaining authoritarianism in the Arabian peninsula by externalising the explanatory focus onto the terrain of cultural difference. This article contributes to the literature on UK relations with the Arab Gulf monarchies by critically analysing the ways in which racialising discourses dovetail with material interests to reinforce and sustain these ties. In doing so, it also contributes to the emerging literatures on ‘racial capitalism’ and ‘race’ in international relations, through its exploration of the role of Orientalist discourse in this significant empirical case study.

5. Oil and Political Economy in the International Relations of the Middle East

2019 ◽  
pp. 107-131
Author(s):  
Giacomo Luciani
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Rentier States

This chapter looks at the role of oil in the political economy and the international relations of the Middle East. Oil is commonly considered a political commodity. Because of its pivotal importance as a primary source of energy, governments are concerned with its continued availability and seek to minimize import dependence. Historically, interest in oil — especially in the United Kingdom and the United States — strongly influenced attitudes towards the Middle East and the formation of the state system in the region, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Oil also affects the power balance within the region. The polarization in the region between oil-rich and oil-poor states is thus an essential tool of analysis. The parallel distinction between rentier and non-rentier states helps to explain how oil affects the domestic political development of the oil-rich states and influences their regional relations.

Germany and Russia Since Reunification: Continuity, Change, and the Role of Leaders

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Image Analysis ◽  
International Relations ◽  
The Political ◽  
German Reunification ◽  
The Past ◽  
Personal Relations ◽  
Economic Trends ◽  
Economic Ties

How can we understand German-Russian relations since German reunification? Both the geopolitical positions of the two states and the political and economic ties between them have been transformed over the past twentyfive years. This paper will argue, however, that the role of the two countries’ leaders in shaping these relations has been surprisingly important. Building on the tradition of “first image” analysis in international relations, this paper shows that, along with larger political and economic trends, personal relations between these leaders have helped to set the tenor of bilateral ties. When the leaders were able to build trust and personal friendships, relations improved. Yet more recently, since 2012, relations have soured sharply. While there are obviously larger reasons for this, more negative personal ties between leaders have also played an important role. In short, just as issues of trust and friendship matter in personal ties, they also matter in International Relations.

scholarly journals Yemen Crisis after 2015: The Attitudes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (69) ◽  
pp. 717-734
Author(s):  
Seyedmohammad Seyedi Asl ◽  
Hazar Leylanoğlu ◽  
Ataollah Bahremani ◽  
Shalaleh Zabardastalamdari
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
The Political ◽  
Major Player ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Contradictory Behavior ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Crown Prince

In this study, using the descriptive-analytical method, we discuss the main factors in the formation of the Yemen crisis, as well as the attitudes of the two Arab states and of the two neighboring countries, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, in the Yemen crisis. It is concluded that this crisis stems not only from the role of local actors, but also from the role of regional and global actors, who played a decisive role in shaping and exacerbating the Yemen crisis. Regional players in the post-2015 crisis include the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which showed contradictory behavior. Saudi Arabia's targets in its attack on Yemen have a greater military and security dimension. The political and economic objectives of the United Arab Emirates, which is Riyadh's most important ally in this war, have been at a different level from those of Saudi Arabia. This can be seen in Abu Dubai Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed's aspirations to expand his country's influence, to become a major player in the region.

scholarly journals The role of Anglo-German Naval Agreement in escalation of crisis trends of the Versailles system (based on the materials of new archival documents)

2020 ◽  
pp. 75-84
Author(s):  
Alexander Naumov
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
World War ◽  
Systemic Mechanism ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World ◽  
Archival Documents

This article reviews the role of Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935 in escalation of crisis trends of the Versailles system. Leaning on the British Russian archival documents, which recently became available for the researchers, the author analyzes the reasons and consequences of conclusion of this agreement between the key European democratic power and Nazi Reich. Emphasis is placed on analyzing the moods within the political elite of the United Kingdom. It is proven that the agreement became a significant milestone in escalation of crisis trends in the Versailles model of international relations. It played a substantial role in establishment of the British appeasement policy with regards to revanchist powers in the interbellum; policy that objectively led to disintegration of the created in 1919 systemic mechanism, and thus, the beginning of the World War II. The novelty of this work is substantiated by articulation of the problem. This article is first within the Russian and foreign historiography to analyze execution of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement based on the previously unavailable archival materials. The conclusion is made that this agreement played a crucial role in the process of disintegration of interbellum system of international relations. Having officially sanctioned the violation of the articles of the Versailles Treaty of 1919 by Germany, Great Britain psychologically reconciled to the potential revenge of Germany, which found reflection in the infamous appeasement policy. This launched the mechanism for disruption of status quo that was established after the World War I in Europe. This resulted in collapse of the architecture of international security in the key region of the world, rapid deterioration of relations between the countries, and a new world conflict.

Environment in the Global Political Economy

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Haas
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Private Investment ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Resource Depletion ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Environmental Politics

The literature on the political economy of the global environment is a hybrid of political economy, international relations (IR), and international environmental politics, looking at the formal and informal institutional factors which give rise to unsustainable habits. The physical environment has long been the subject of social scientists, who recognized that patterns of social activity might contribute to environmental degradation. One of the most common formulations of environmental issues as a collective action is through the metaphor of the Tragedy of Commons, which argues that overpopulation worldwide would undoubtedly contribute to extensive resource depletion. Following the formulation of the core properties of environmental issues as lying at the interstices of a variety of human activities, implications followed for how to conduct research on international environmental politics and policy. Realist and neorealist traditions in international relations stress the seminal role of power and national leadership in addressing environmental problems. Neoliberal institutionalists look at the role of formal institutional properties in influencing states’ willingness to address transboundary and global environmental threats. On the other hand, the constructivist movement in international relations focuses on the role of new ecological doctrines in how states choose to address their environmental problems, and to act collectively. Ultimately, the major policy debates over the years have addressed the political economy of private investment in environmentally oriented activities, sustainable development doctrines, free trade and the environment, environmental security, and studies of compliance, implementation, and effectiveness.

The U.S. and Egypt: The Potential Crisis

Worldview ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 18-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Earl L. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Close Friend ◽  
The Political ◽  
Royal Court ◽  
The U.S

The clay feet of one of the main idols of contemporary international relations have been found and his collapse is awaited. Some observers even go so far as to suggest that the fall of the idol will also bring about the political demise of the land from whose soil he rose and upon which he now rests his laurels.Mohammed Anwar el-Sadat has a Bebe Rebozotype as a close friend and advisor whose very name has become a kind of “shorthand for corruption.” The president of a republic, he has created around himself the atmosphere of a royal court, an imperial and imperious presidency, and also pays little or no attention to his official advisors. Furthermore, his wife, unlike Nasser's, occasionally transcends the boundaries of convention regarding the- role of a woman and thus offends the sensibilities of Moslem society.

Defending International Norms: The Role of Obligation, Material Interest, and Perception in Decision Making

2001 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 621-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard K. Herrmann ◽  
Vaughn P. Shannon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Normative Reasoning ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Material Interest ◽  
Individual Perceptions ◽  
Material Interests ◽  
Feature Norms

States defend norms in some cases but not in others. Understanding this variation sheds light on both U.S. foreign policy and the role of normative reasoning. We report the results of four experiments embedded in a survey of U.S. elites. The experiments identified the effects of felt normative obligation (that is, the logic of what is appropriate) and concern for U.S. economic and security interests (that is, the logic of utilitarian consequence) as well as the role played by individual perceptions. We find that perceptions of another actor's motivation, of conflicts as civil or cross-border wars, and of the democratic nature of victims affect decisions to defend a prescriptive norm. This finding means that theories of international relations that feature norms as structural concepts need to consider actor-level cognition when examining the operation of norms. Moreover, we find that when U.S. economic and security interests are at stake there is a much greater inclination to defend norms than when simply normative obligation is present. Most U.S. elites appear to treat the presence or absence of U.S. material interests as a legitimate criterion for deciding whether or not to defend an international prescriptive norm.

scholarly journals GUAM TRANSPORT CORRIDOR: POLITICS VS. ECONOMICS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

2020 ◽  
pp. 15-24
Author(s):  
A. S. Nanavov ◽  
N. Sh. Mamishova
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Intergovernmental Relations ◽  
International Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Significance ◽  
Transportation Projects ◽  
International Transport ◽  
Key Policy ◽  
Significant Attention

The ODED-GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development (GUAM) was originated more than two decades ago as a friendly cooperative forum of a few post-Soviet countries committed to Euro-Atlanticism. In 2006 the grouping was transformed into a full-fledged international organization bringing together Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova. Notwithstanding the geostrategic role of cooperation within GUAM in terms of energy security, protracted conflicts, trade links and other key policy areas, the organization has been recurrently failing to create a common front for its member states. It has been mostly with the recent actualization of ambitious trade and transportation projects to engage the four states that GUAM started to “return to the big game” and attract significant attention from governments and scholars. This study explores the political and economic significance of international transport routes within the framework of intergovernmental relations exampling the origins and evolution, strengths and weaknesses of the GUAM Transport Corridor (GUAM TC) project, and also some insights on reingovirating the transport cooperation agenda in the GUAM region.

scholarly journals The practice of accountability in questioning prime ministers: Comparative evidence from Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
pp. 136914812110585
Author(s):  
Ruxandra Serban
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Text Analysis ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
The United Kingdom

This paper compares the practice of holding prime ministers to account in four case studies: Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Using text analysis, as well as research on prime ministerial responsibilities, it investigates oral questions asked in parliamentary procedures where prime ministers are questioned together with ministers (Question Period in Canada and Question Time in Australia) versus procedures where they are questioned individually (PMQs in the United Kingdom and Oral Questions to the Taoiseach in Ireland), and explores the degree to which they are questioned for matters that are within their remit. It argues that the practice of prime ministerial accountability is decisively shaped by procedural features such as whether written notice is required for questions, as well as by the broader role of the questioning mechanism in the political system, and less by the collective or individualised nature of questioning.

scholarly journals BREXIT AS A MANIFESTATION OF THE CRISIS OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World ◽  
Populist Movements

The publication is devoted to the analysis of the UK exit from the European Union as a manifestation of the systemic crisis of the liberal democracy model. The causes and difficulties of this process are analyzed under the conditions of the failure of the political system to make political decisions. The problematic issues of liberal ideology and the model of liberal democracy were examined. The differences in the ideological convictions of the two founders of liberalism – Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, as well as the role of these differences in the modern functioning of liberal democracy in the United Kingdom. The role of globalization processes in the world in the context of the development and functioning of liberal democracy is analyzed. Some features of the course of globalization processes in the world are highlighted. The features of the existence of the European Union as an international supranational organization in the context of its influence on the functioning and stability of the political system of the United Kingdom are examined. The features of the functioning of the model of liberal democracy under conditions of strengthening the international way of making political, economic and legal decisions are emphasized. Particular attention is paid to the political motives of organizing of start of the process of the UK’s exit from the European Union, as well as the consequences of such a decision. In addition, the role of populist movements in this process, that have Euro-skeptical positions, has been established. The features of the functioning of populist movements are highlighted. The essence of the crisis of the model of liberal democracy in the United Kingdom is determined. The author analyzes the risks of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union in the context of a peace settlement of the conflict in Northern Ireland as one of the indicators of the crisis of the liberal political system. In conclusion is performed analysis of some results of the referendum on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.

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