Asia
Iranian / Persianate Subalterns in the Safavid Period: Their Role and Depiction
Recovering ’Lost Voices‘
Andrew J. Newman – 2022
‘Subaltern studies’ refers to the importance of ‘subordinate’ groups in the making of history. The latter are usually defined as encompassing the urban and rural underclasses, the majority in any society, although generally the term is said to refer to all non-elites, including women. Most often the discourse concentrates on instances of social protest as points whereat the ‘subalterns’ make their ‘voices’ heard in response to, or even independent of, manipulations by the elite. The book draws on wide-ranging sources to b...
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The Arab Spring: Ten Years On
Sujata Ashwarya, Mujib Alam (eds.) – 2022
It has been a decade since people across the Arab world rose up in revolt against their governments in 2010/11, demanding political empowerment, social reform and economic improvement. Pro-democracy protests, as they were called in common parlance, which spread rapidly through the mobilisation of social media calls, ended up overthrowing long-standing authoritarian regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya. That gave rise to hope for a more representative future, as well as economic reforms, after decades of mismanagemen...
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Grand Strategy in the Contemporary Middle East
The Concepts and Debates
Tore T. Petersen, Clive Jones (eds.) – 2022
This unique volume explores the role that Grand Strategy has played in the shaping of the Middle East and why, conceptually, its core principles still have traction in explaining the shifting alliances and dispensation of power across the region. When so much of the spatial as well as the geo-political boundaries of the Middle East are in flux, it is now time to revisit the very ideas that inform Grand Strategy that once again, are enjoying a wider intellectual renaissance in world affairs. Through a longitudinal met...
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The Holy Land: Travels Through Galilee to Damascus and Baalbek.
And the Green Mosque of Bursa
Pierre Loti – 2022
First English translation of ‘La Galilée’, an account of Pierre Loti’s travels in the Holy Land from Jerusalem to Beirut, via Damascus and many other interesting places, in 1894. Pierre Loti (1850-1923) was born Louis-Marie-Julien Viaud into a Protestant family in Rochefort in Saintonge, South-West France (now Charente Maritime). He was an officer of the French Navy and a prolific author of considerable note in 19th-/early-20th-century France, publishing many novels and numerous accounts of his travels around the world. H...
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The Way to Isfahan and Passing through Muscat
An Account of a Trip to Persia and Oman in 1900
Pierre Loti – 2021
From 17 April, 1900, to 6 June of that year, Pierre Loti travelled in a private capacity from Bushire on the Persian Gulf, northwards through Shiraz, Persepolis, Isfahan and Tehran, before returning via the Caspian Sea to Europe. It is the personal day-by-day account of his journey, the hardships of the mountainous terrain and the empty desert. Loti excels in his descriptions of the world around him: the sky, the mountains, the fertile plains, the deserted desert. His descriptions of the people he meets, their dress and mann...
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The Arab Gulf’s Pivot to Asia:
From Transactional to Strategic Partnerships
N. Janardhan (ed.) – 2020
Over the last two decades the relations between the countries of the Gulf and Asia have expanded beyond the economic domain to include political and even security arrangements. While oil and non-oil trade are still the fulcrum of their association, ‘strategic’ partnerships are fast becoming the norm. The contributors of this book argue that, along with economic diversification, the Gulf countries have also diversified their foreign policies, especially with China, India, Japan and South Korea, among others. Together with Ru...
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Diplomacy of Quasi-Alliances in the Middle East
with a foreword by Tim Niblock
Degang Sun, Dandan Zhang – 2020
Quasi-alliance refers to the ideation, mechanism and behavior of policy-makers to carry out security cooperation through informal political and security arrangements. As a “gray zone” between alliance and neutrality, quasi-alliance is a hidden national security statecraft. Based on declassified archives and secondary sources, this book probes the theory and practice of quasi-alliances in the Middle East. Four cases are chosen to test the hypotheses of quasi-alliance: - the Anglo-French-Israeli quasi-alliance during the Suez...
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Iran’s Strategic Thinking:
The Evolution of Iran’s Foreign Policy, 1979-2018
Nikolay Kozhanov – 2018
What are the ideological motives behind Iran’s foreign policy? This new study examines Tehran’s twin desires to protect national interests and to project real power. Factors determining Iran’s foreign policy include: - Potential economic leader of the Middle East region - Key player in the oil and gas market - Centre of resistance against global Western domination - US and Israel policy - Syria as the bridge to Lebanon and Palestine There is a strong focus on primary sources, as well as interviews with EU, Russian and Middle...
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The Gulf States, Asia and the Indian Ocean: Ensuring the Security of the Sea Lanes
Tim Niblock, Talmiz Ahmad, Degang Sun (eds.) – 2018
Among the many strategic and economic issues facing the Gulf in the coming years, those relating to the Indian Ocean are set to be among the most challenging. In the re-ordering of global economic and political power which is currently underway, the Indian Ocean constitutes a key arena for regional and global competition and rivalry. With the leading Asian powers playing a more pro-active role in the region, sometimes with conflicting ambitions, and the United States intent on maintaining its established maritime hegemony th...
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Political Reforms in Qatar: From Authoritarianism to Political Grey Zone
Cihat Battaloglu – 2018
In the past decade, Qatar has emerged as one of the world’s most proactive mediators in the international arena. It has also experienced a number of domestic changes to its economic infrastructure, welfare system and political system, along with material improvement in its citizens’ standard of living. Nonetheless, despite such radical and rapid advances, political reform in Qatar has proved to be relatively tentative. This book examines political reforms in Qatar from an analytical, normative and ideological perspective. It...
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Gulfization of the Arab World
Marc Owen Jones, Ross Porter, Marc Valeri (eds.) – 2018
From projecting ideology and influence, to maintaining a notion of ‘Gulfness’ through the selective exclusion or inclusion of certain beliefs, cultures and people, the notion of Gulfization is increasingly pertinent as Gulf countries occupy a greater political and economic role in wider Middle East politics. This volume discusses the notion of Gulfization, and examines how thoughts, ideologies, way of life and practices are transmitted, changed, and transduced inside and outside the Gulf. From historical perspectives such as...
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Strategies of Knowledge Transfer for Economic Diversification in the Arab States of the Gulf
Rasmus Gjedssø Bertelsen, Neema Noori, Jean-Marc Rickli (eds.) – 2017
Diversification is the principal economic objective for the Gulf States. The steep and sustained fall in oil prices over the last few years has added to the collective urgency to seek new sources of revenue. As such, the overriding theme of regional economic summits in recent years has focused on the question, “how do we transition to a knowledge-based economy?” This is the central question taken up by the contributors to this volume. A growing body of literature has begun to address how state policy in conjunction with univ...
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Yemen and the Gulf States: The Making of a Crisis
Helen Lackner, Daniel Martin Varisco (eds.) – 2017
Yemen is the only state on the Arabian Peninsula that is not a member of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council). It is also the only local state not ruled by a royal family. Relations between Yemen and the GCC states go back for centuries with some tribes in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman tracing genealogy back to ancient Yemen. In this timely volume six scholars analyze Yemen’s relations with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Iran with a focus on recent developments, including the ...
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Conflict Resolution and Creation of a Security Community in the Gulf Region
Tim Niblock, Talmiz Ahmad, Degang Sun (eds.) – 2017
The bitter confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran is not only stoking conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, but now threatens the stability, security and well-being of the whole Gulf region. All the major global powers have significant interests in this area, and the pursuit of these interests adds further layers of division and conflict. This book goes to the heart of this issue, examining the critical modalities whereby the "Gulf Cold War" can be brought to an end. What is needed, the contributors argue, is th...
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Iran's Relations with the Arab States of the Gulf:
Common Interests over Historic Rivalry
Maaike Warnaar, Luciano Zaccara, Paul Aarts (eds.) – 2016
GCC-Iran relations are at the heart of important political dynamics in the Middle East today. This is not limited to the ongoing disputes in the Gulf, one of the most important strategic locations globally. Iran and the GCC states also find themselves on opposing sides.in the Syrian and to some extent the Iraqi conflicts. This volume traces the origins of the troubled relations between Iran and the majority of the GCC monarchies. It discusses not only geostrategic rivalries, but also matters of identity which have been of in...
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The Arab States of the Gulf and BRICS:
New Strategic Partnerships in Politics and Economics
Tim Niblock, Degang Sun, Alejandra Galindo (eds.) – 2016
How the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) relates to BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) is, in the light of the growing strength and importance of this organisation and the countries which comprise it, of critical importance. The issue is not simply how the GCC countries handle their relations with the individual BRICS countries, but more importantly how they relate to an alternative structure of coordination and perhaps power in the global order. Their established links and alliances may no longer be enough...
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The Arms Trade, Military Services and the Security Market in the Gulf States: Trends and Implications
David B. Des Roches, Dania Thafer (eds.) – 2016
The Gulf is in the first rank of potential global flashpoints. It is the largest market for weapons imports in the world, and is considered to be a vital interest of all the great powers. Iran is viewed as an expansionist threat by the Arab states of the Gulf, who have built considerable militaries in a historically short timeframe. Security in the Gulf, however, is a complicated matter. The Arab states of the Gulf have pursued different defense policies as well as different ways of building up their forces. In some instance...
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Wahhabism - Doctrine and Development
Set, Volumes 1-2 (Critical Surveys in Islamic Denominations)
Esther Peskes (ed.) – 2016
Saudi Arabian Wahhabism is the ultra-puritanical form of Sunni Islam which has been adopted by Islamist radicals, Salafists, and jihadists to legitimize and spread their extremist agenda. The scholarly articles in these two volumes throw fresh light on this messianic radicalism by tracing its origins in the 18th century up to its present role as the authoritative interpretation of Islam in the strategically vital Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. - Volume 1 focuses on the main tenets of Wahhabi doctrine that brought about the Wahhabi...
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Islamic Finance: Political Economy, Values and Innovation
Volume 1
Mehmet Asutay, Abdullah Q. Turkistani (eds.) – 2016
Islamic finance has had a transformational impact on markets well beyond the Muslim world. This development has been the outcome of various stakeholders and agencies interacting to develop a political economy based on Islamic values to generate religiously and culturally authentic financial institutions and instruments. The studies presented in this volume discuss these interactions through specific examples from the GCC countries, supported by comparative perspctives, in order to articulate the development and consequences...
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Islamic Finance: Risk, Stability and Growth
Volume 2
Mehmet Asutay, Abdullah Q. Turkistani (eds.) – 2016
In response to the recent global financial crisis, Islamic finance, as a religiously authentic proposition, has shown resilience throuh its inherited principles such as risk sharing and the avoidance of speculation. Such approaches have provided stability, which in turn has brought unprecedented growth to the sector. The studies in this volume focus on examples in the GCC countries to provide empirical analysis of the risk aspects of Islamic finance, to test its stability, identify its growth trajectories, and measure its im...
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Islamic Finance: Performance and Efficiency
Volume 3
Mehmet Asutay, Abdullah Q. Turkistani (eds.) – 2016
The growth, stability and resilience of Islamic finance is now a well established fact. However, in order to achieve sustainable growth the Islamic finance industry has to be able to maintain its competitive edge by generating higher efficiency and performance. The studies in this volume aim at providing empirical and comparative perspectives on the performance and efficiency of the Islamic finance industry through a number of econometric models, with a specific focus on the GCC countries supported by comparative cases....
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The Caliphate and Islamic Statehood: Formation, Fragmentation and Modern Interpretations
Set, 3 volumes
Carool Kersten (ed.) – 2015
Although the Caliphate was formally abolished ninety years ago, it had already ceased to exist as a unitary and effectively administered political institution many centuries earlier. The ever widening gap between political ideal and historical reality is also reflected in the varying conceptualizations and theories of the Caliphate developed by Islamic religious scholars and Muslim intellectuals past and present. However, recent events in the Islamic world show that the idea of a Caliphate still appeals to Muslims of varying...
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Islamic Finance - Political Economy, Performance and Risk.
Set, 3 volumes
Mehmet Asutay, Abdullah Q. Turkistani (eds.) – 2015
This collection of new research brings together state of the art thinking by 45 experts from academia and business on all key aspects of Islamic Finance. Individual volumes deal with the key issues of: Political Economy, Values and Innovation; Risk, Stabilty and Growth; Performance and Efficiency. - Volume 1 Political Economy, Values, and Innovation - Volume 2 Risk, Stability and Growth - Volume 3 Performance and Efficiency...
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The Politics of Food Security: Asian and Middle Eastern Strategies
Sara Bazoobandi (ed.) – 2014
The international food system is increasingly at risk. Increasing demand, limited and diminishing resources and rising volatility are putting new pressures on the agriculture sector globally. One of the growing critical threats to global stability and security is the inadequacy of food resources. This threat,exacerba-ted by global population growth, is illustrated by shifts in consumption patterns toward protein-rich diets and the growth of multinational food retail, which bring about a greater reliance on food imports. This...
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Security Dynamics of East Asia in the Gulf Region
Tim Niblock with Yang Guang (ed.) – 2014
The Gulf region’s primary economic relationships are rapidly shifting from West to East. Relations with China, Japan and South Korea are becoming increasingly strategic in nature: based on a degree of mutual dependence far greater than is present in Gulf-Western relations. The balance of global politics will be critically affected by this powerful emerging relationship. This book provides documentation of the trend and examines some of the political and strategic issues which follow from it....
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A New Gulf Security Architecture:
Prospects and Challenges for an Asian Role
Ranjit Gupta, Abubaker Bagader, Talmiz Ahmad, N. Janardhan (eds.) – 2014
This book explores how growing economic ties between Asian countries and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) could impact their future relationship. It postulates that the stage is now set for strategic partnerships and highlights how some Asian countries have been explicit about showcasing their power and influence in the Gulf region. While exploring an alternative and broad-based security architecture, it identifies the challenges that any probable Asian cooperative approach could face as the countries of the Arabian Gulf s...
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Asia-Gulf Economic Relations in the 21st Century. The Local to Global Transformation
Tim Niblock with Monica Malik (ed.) – 2013
Asia constitutes the hub of the transformation of global economic power today. The Gulf, itself part of Asia, is of increasing importance in this transformation. This book documents the growing interactions between the economies of the Gulf states and those of the rest of Asia. These relationships are critical to how the world economy develops over the next decade, and how economic (and perhaps strategic) power is distributed. This volume assembles cutting-edge thinking by 16 specialists on a wide variety of topics covering ...
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The GCC in the Global Economy
Richard Youngs (ed.) – 2013
Changing geopolitical realities have seen the Gulf region turning to Asia and Africa to build new economic links, while strengthening old ones. This proactive internationalism is visible not just in economics and energy, but also in politics and security where a host of new agreements has been developed. This work provides an overview of the ways in which the GCC states now need to move ahead with reforms that will reflect issues such as raised expectations from a period of high revenues and the region's demographics. T...
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Resources Blessed: Diversification and the Gulf Development Model
Giacomo Luciani (ed.) – 2013
The Gulf countries have adopted a unique combination of policies to encourage diversification with largely positive results, while there are significant distinctions between the individual cases. This work evaluates various examples to show the extent to which the Gulf economies have diversifed to date, and how results can be measured, taking into consideration factors such as composition of GDP or exports; government services; and the categorization of industrial activities downstream of resources extraction (oil refining, ...
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GCC Financial Markets: The World's New Money Centers
Eckart Woertz (ed.) – 2013
Bond markets in the GCC countries are underdeveloped, and the capital mix is heavily skewed towards banks, while ambitious development plans in fields like petrochemicals and infrastructure, as well as a rapidly growing population, create an increased need for finance. This study outlines the structure of various segments of GCC financial markets and points to regulatory challenges and future developments, ranging from capital market structures to the planned GCC Monetary Union, Islamic banking, and sovereign wealth funds. T...
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National Employment, Migration and Education in the GCC
Steffen Hertog (ed.) – 2013
This volume provides a cross-cutting analysis of the policy challenges related to GCC labor markets. It analyzes the different dimensions of segmentation of these markets, factors of change influencing labor supply such as trends in education and demography, as well as the impact of potential future reforms in areas such as immigration policy, labor sponsorship, taxation and minimum wages. The work therefore provides an overview of what arguably will be the core socio-economic challenge for the GCC in the coming years....
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The Gulf Region: Economic Development & Diversification.
Set, Volumes 1-4
Giacomo Luciani, Steffen Hertog, Eckart Woertz, Richard Youngs (eds.) – 2012
The four volumes in this major research collection address the key economic issues which affect the future development and diversification of the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman. Specifically, this recent research covers Economic Diversification, Development of Global Partnerships, Labor Markets and Migration, and Financial Markets as Global Players The work brings together state-of-the-art analysis by some 40 international scholars who participat...
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