Turkish Delight

Turkey learned the wrong lessons from the past years of war in the Middle East. Unmoored, Ankara is now more aggressive, more nationalist and more Islamist than at any other time in its modern history. Its foreign policy reflects this.   Under the spell of President Recip Tayyip Erdogan, double-speak is commonplace. Turkey professes multilateralism but pursues unilateral goals. It’s officially secular but wastes no opportunity to empower conservative Islamic groups. It screams its adherence…

Is the Arab Gulf stuck in 2011? Josh Rogin wants you to believe it is

Far too many journalists use 2011 as the reference-point for the internal dynamics of the states of the Arab Gulf. Old narratives are rehashed, polished and redeployed without the requisite reflection of how societies, economies and states have changed in the meantime. Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of Bahrain.   Bahrain’s chapter in the so-called Arab Spring was not defined by violence. Of course, violence did erupt in 2011; Hezbollah, the Youth of 14 February, Sacred Defence, Al…

Political Islam: A Critical Reader

What is the true meaning of Political Islam? And why do some followers of Islam prefer violence? Where exactly does this violence originate from? These are just a few of the questions raised in the book Political Islam: A Critical Reader, edited by Frédéric Volpi. This book is a collection of articles written by different authors about issues pertaining to Political Islam. Despite being published in 2011, this book continues to be relevant for those researching Political Islam, its rise,…

Would the World Be Better Without the UN?

The author tries to understand through the whole book whether or not the UN has improved the international scenario since 1945 and to do so, he tries to imagine a world without it, through counter factuality, through mental simulations and “opposing worlds”.In the first part of the book, the author meticulously probes some of the pathologies that afflict the organization born from the ashes of the Second World War. The limits identified are undoubtedly embedded, first of all, in the brakes…

Russia, the Arctic and Northeast Asia: The Strategic Importance of the Far North

Historically, the Arctic has been much more important to Russia than to other Arctic countries. In Soviet times, the development of the Arctic was of paramount importance and it was used by the Soviet government to legitimise its great power status to domestic and international audiences. It is argued in this paper that the administration of President Putin has re-established a narrative on Russia as an Arctic power. In this sense, Russia not only seeks to exploit natural resources and develop…

Hydro-Politics and the Dynamics of the Shifting Ethio-Egyptian Hydropolitical Relations

The foremost intent of this article is to investigate the major dynamics that are changing in Ethio-Egyptian hydropolitical relations. To attain this objective the researcher employed case study design, primary and secondary sources of data, and purposive sampling techniques. Despite the fact that perpetual national interests on Egyptian Nile water policy are a national security issue, dynamics in the Nile basin have fostered a shift in the relations of Ethiopia and Egypt hydro political…

Unregulated Migration and Nigeria-EU Relations

This article presents the social and political causes of Nigeria-EU migration issues concerning unregulated migration that has been affecting the EU. This was done through qualitative and quantitative methodology, which includes interviews, data gathering and documentary analysis. From the findings and discussion, the article submits that the main problems frustrating the effort of the EU interventions on migration is the political situation of Nigeria. If the political sphere in Nigeria is not…

The United States’ China Containment Strategy and the South China Sea Dispute

Evidentiary Thresholds for Unilateral Aggression: Douma, Skripal and Media Analysis of Chemical Weapon Attacks as a Casus Belli

Trends in Investment Treaty Making: Finding Balance between National Sovereignty and Investment Protection

From Negative to Positive Peace in Western Balkans: A Case for Eclectic Theory

The Democratization Potential of the Middle Class in Russia