Search results for ""Author Mehran Kamrava""

The Persian Gulf region has become home to some of the world's fastest growing, most impressive cities, many of them with global aspirations. Gateways to the World: The Rise and Fall of Port Cities in the Persian Gulf presents an in-depth, systematic, and multi-disciplinary approach to the study of these cities. It begins with a broader look at how the emergence and significance of cities along the Persian Gulf waterway should be contextualized. It then moves to historical examinations of the emergence of national borders and boundaries, how they became 'port cities' of various kinds, what are the semantics of studying them, and what the glittering skylines and cityscapes and their remaining traditional neighborhoods mean for the international political economy and for the identity of their residents. Alongside such aspiring global cities as Doha, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai there are port cities that appear to have their best days behind them, and others that have largely retained their traditional fabrics.This book presents a comprehensive, and much-needed, study of the nature and variety, the importance, and the domestic and international consequences of port cities along the Persian Gulf.

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Why has the West developed and modernized, while the Muslim world has lagged behind? Why has democracy not found a hospitable home in much of the Muslim world? And why have the opponents of innovation found their message so resonant with ordinary Muslims? Featuring essays by a multidisciplinary group of leading scholars, this volume offers in-depth analyses of the history, causes, consequences, and obstacles to innovation in Islam. Focusing on the ways and means through which the teachings of Islam have been produced and perpetuated over time, the contributors investigate such areas as the arts and letters, jurisprudence, personal status, hermeneutics and epistemology, and Muslims' perceptions of the self in the modern world. "Innovation in Islam" illuminates a debate that extends beyond semantics into everyday politics and society -and one that has ramifications around the world. Contributors: Nasr Abu-Zayd, Adonis, Mohammed Arkoun, Walter Denny, Nelly Hanna, Sherman Jackson, Patrick Laude, Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Tariq Ramadan, and John Voll.

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Inside the Arab State offers a comprehensive examination of contemporary Arab politics before and after the 2011 uprisings. Mehran Kamrava examines a broad range of political, economic, and social variables that shaped conceptions of power, functions and institutions of the state, the rise and evolution of social movements, the eruption of civil war in some countries and fragile polities in others, and evolving civil–military relations before and after the 2011 uprisings. Beginning with an examination of politics, and more specifically political institutions, in the Arab world from the 1950s on, the book traces the challenges faced by Arab states, and the wounds they inflicted on their societies and on themselves along the way. And at the crux of the book are the 2011 uprisings, states' responses to them, and efforts by political leaders to carve out new forms of legitimacy, as well as the reasons for the emergence and rise of the Islamic State. Power, and an increasingly narrow conception of it in terms of submission and conformity, remains at the heart of Arab politics, popular protests and yearnings for change notwithstanding. The 2011 uprisings changed much in the Arab world, but even more has stayed the same.

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Change occurs rapidly in the Persian Gulf. While some states have capitalised on the fast-paced nature of globalised fiscal transactions and have become important markets for foreign investment, others have fallen victim to such speculations. The 'Dubai Model' of economic diversification is being re-evaluated as the GCC states continue to seek the best means of organizing their economies and competing within the global order. Explaining the different ways in which globalising forces have shaped new dimensions to the political economy of the Persian Gulf states, this book evaluates the changes that have occurred, especially in light of the ongoing global economic crisis. Mutually beneficial rentier arrangements have guided the GCC countries formation of oil-based economies and labor relations in the past, but will this necessarily be the case in the future? This book addresses key issues including discussion on the future demographic aspects of the GCC; the feasibility of establishing a GCC monetary union; the effects of rentierism on state autonomy; and analysis of sovereign wealth funds and Islamic banking models.

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This book presents a comprehensive, detailed analysis of the establishment, evolution and current significance of different institutions in today's Islamic Republic of Iran. The volume draws on the insights of a number of Iran experts to examine their establishment, functions and evolution, as a means of understanding Iranian politics and society. 'The Sacred Republic's' specific focus is on the key formal institutions of the state through which the Islamic Republic exercises power, namely the 'velayat-e faqih': the judiciary, the presidency, the parliament, elections, the Revolutionary Guards, and the foreign policy establishment. Despite significant work on Iranian politics in recent decades, few studies have focused on state institutions, their resilience, or the reasons for and manner of institutional change. Through historical institutionalism and comparative historical analysis, the contributors to this book together fill a glaring gap in the study of Iran's political institutions, offering significant insights for the theoretical literature on comparative politics, Middle Eastern politics, and Iranian Studies.

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Troubled Waters looks at four dynamics in the Persian Gulf that have contributed to making the region one of the most volatile and tension-filled spots in the world. Mehran Kamrava identifies the four dynamics as: the neglect of human dimensions of security, the inherent instability involved in reliance on the United States and the exclusion of Iraq and Iran, the international and security policies pursued by inside and outside actors, and a suite of overlapping security dilemmas. These four factors combine and interact to generate long-term volatility and ongoing tensions within the Persian Gulf. Through insights from Kamrava’s interviews with Gulf elites into policy decisions, the consequences of security dilemmas, the priorities of local players, and the neglect of identity and religion, Troubled Waters examines the root causes of conflicts and crises that are currently unfolding in the region. As Kamrava demonstrates, each state in the region, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Qatar, has embarked on vigorous security-producing efforts as part of foreign policy, flooding the area with more munitions—thereby increasing insecurity and causing more mistrust in a part of the world that needs no more tension.

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The Persian Gulf state of Qatar has fewer than 2 million inhabitants, virtually no potable water, and has been an independent nation only since 1971. Yet its enormous oil and gas wealth has permitted the ruling al Thani family to exert a disproportionately large influence on regional and even international politics. Qatar is, as Mehran Kamrava explains in this knowledgeable and incisive account of the emirate, a "tiny giant": although severely lacking in most measures of state power, it is highly influential in diplomatic, cultural, and economic spheres. Kamrava presents Qatar as an experimental country, building a new society while exerting what he calls "subtle power." It is both the headquarters of the global media network Al Jazeera and the site of the U.S. Central Command's Forward Headquarters and the Combined Air Operations Center. Qatar has been a major player during the European financial crisis, it has become a showplace for renowned architects, several U.S. universities have established campuses there, and it will host the FIFA World Cup in 2022. Qatar's effective use of its subtle power, Kamrava argues, challenges how we understand the role of small states in the global system. Given the Gulf state's outsized influence on regional and international affairs, this book is a critical and timely account of contemporary Qatari politics and society.

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The Arab Spring occurred within the context of the unraveling of the dominant 'ruling bargain' that emerged across the Middle East in the 1950s. This is being replaced by a new and in- choate system that redefines sources of author- ity and legitimacy through various devices (such as constitutions), experiences, and processes (mass protests, civil wars, and elections), by reassessing the roles, functions, and at times the structures of institutions (political parties and organisations, the armed forces, the executive); and by the initiative of key personalities and actors (agency). Across the Arab world and the Middle East, 'authority' and 'political legitimacy' are in flux. Where power will ultimately reside depends largely on the shape, voracity, and staying power of these new, emerging conceptions of authority. The contributors to this book examine the nature and evolution of ruling bargains, the politi- cal systems to which they gave rise, the steady unraveling of the old systems and the structural consequences thereof, and the uprisings that have engulfed much of the Middle East since December 2010.

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The nuclear age is coming to the Middle East. Understanding the scope and motivations for this development and its implications for global security is essential. The last decade has witnessed an explosion of popular and scholarly attention focussed on nuclear issues around the globe and especially in the Middle East. These studies fall into one of four general categories. They tend to focus either on the security and military aspects of nuclear weapons, or on the sources and mechanisms for proliferation and means of reversing it, or nuclear energy, or the logics driving state policymakers toward adopting the nuclear option. The Nuclear Question in the Middle East is the first book of its kind to combine thematic and theoretical discussions regarding nuclear weapons and nuclear energy with case studies from across the region. What are the key domestic drivers of nuclear behaviour and decision-making in the Middle East? How are the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council seeking to employ nuclear energy to further guarantee and expedite their hyper-growth of recent decades? Are there ideal models emerging in this regard that others might emulate in the foreseeable future, and, if so, what consequences is this development likely to have for other civilian nuclear aspirants? These region-wide themes form the backdrop against which specific case studies are examined.

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The Persian Gulf state of Qatar has fewer than 2 million inhabitants, virtually no potable water, and has been an independent nation only since 1971. Yet its enormous oil and gas wealth has permitted the ruling al Thani family to exert a disproportionately large influence on regional and even international politics. Qatar is, as Mehran Kamrava explains in this knowledgeable and incisive account of the emirate, a "tiny giant": although severely lacking in most measures of state power, it is highly influential in diplomatic, cultural, and economic spheres. Kamrava presents Qatar as an experimental country, building a new society while exerting what he calls "subtle power." It is both the headquarters of the global media network Al Jazeera and the site of the U.S. Central Command's Forward Headquarters and the Combined Air Operations Center. Qatar has been a major player during the European financial crisis, it has become a showplace for renowned architects, several U.S. universities have established campuses there, and it will host the FIFA World Cup in 2022. Qatar's effective use of its subtle power, Kamrava argues, challenges how we understand the role of small states in the global system. Given the Gulf state's outsized influence on regional and international affairs, this book is a critical and timely account of contemporary Qatari politics and society.

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The Great Game in West Asia examines the strategic competition between Iran and Turkey for power and influence in the South Caucasus. These neighbouring Middle East powers have vied for supremacy and influence throughout the region and especially in their immediate vicinity, while both contending with ethnic heterogeneity within their own territories and across their borders. Turkey has long conceived of itself as not just a bridge between Asia and Europe but in more substantive terms as a central player in regional and global affairs. If somewhat more modest in its public statements, Iran's parallel ambitions for strategic centrality and influence have only been masked by its own inarticulate foreign policy agendas and the repeated missteps of its revolutionary leaders. But both have sought to deepen their regional influence and power, and in the South Caucasus each has achieved a modicum of success. In fact, as the contributions to this volume demonstrate, as much of the world's attention has been diverted to conflicts and flashpoints near and far, a new great game has been unravelling between Iran and Turkey in the South Caucasus.

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'Triumph and Despair' tells the dramatic story of post-revolutionary Iran's first four decades, from its establishment in 1979 until today. The revolutionary coalition that overthrew the monarchy was at once democratic, populist and Islamic. The Islamists, and the Khomeinists in particular, were able to capitalise effectively on prevailing conditions on the ground; to frame the new republic's constitution, capture nascent institutions, and consolidate their power by eliminating opponents through a reign of terror. Once the war with Iraq was over and after the death of the new order's charismatic founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic was consolidated: first by tweaking its institutional arrangements, and then by fostering economic development and post-war reconstruction. A reformist interlude then followed, reversed unceremoniously by a return of populism and a broader authoritarian retrenchment. Today Iran remains at odds with itself, its economy too deeply political to yield meaningful developmental results, its foreign relations too conflicted to allow it a productive place in the community of nations. As Iran's nationalities and its women and youth carve out spaces for themselves in the broader narrative, competing identities--religious, national and otherwise--abound. After forty years, the Islamic Republic remains a country in search of itself.

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The 2011 Arab uprisings precipitated the relatively quick collapse of a number of Middle Eastern states once perceived as invincible. The Tunisian and Egyptian states succumbed to revolution-ary upheavals early on, followed by that of Qadhafi's Libya. Yemen's President Saleh was also eventually forced to give up power. A bloody civil war continues to rage in Syria. These uprisings highlighted weaknesses in the capacity and legitimacy of states across the Arab Middle East. This book provides a comprehensive study of state weakness - or of 'weak states' - across the Greater Middle East. No other book examines the subject of weak states in the Middle East. Fragile Politics begins with laying the theoretical framework for the study of weak states, examining the theoretical controversies surrounding the topic, the causes and characteristics of weak states, and their consequences for the Middle East. It then looks at a series of case studies, examining various themes within the study of weak states in relation to each case study.

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From the fall of the Ottoman Empire through the Arab Spring, this completely revised and updated edition of Mehran Kamrava's classic treatise on the making of the contemporary Middle East remains essential reading for students and general readers who want to gain a better understanding of this diverse region.

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In some countries of the Persian Gulf as much as 85 to 90 per cent of the population is made-up of expatriate workers.Unsurprisingly, all of the concerned states spend inordinate amounts of their political energies managing the armies of migrant labourers employed in their countries, and there are equally fundamental social, cultural, and economic consequences involved as well. Despite the pervasive and farreaching nature of the phenomenon, to date there have not been any comprehensive, easily accessible studies of labour migration in the Persian Gulf. Migrant Labour in the Persian Gulf is a multi-disciplinary examination of the manifold causes, nature, processes, and consequences of labour migration into the Persian Gulf. It critically analyses the effects of migration for native communities, looking at the types and functions of informal - and at times formal - bi-national and multinational networks that emerge from and in turn sustain migration patterns over time, the role and functions of recruitment agencies, and the values, behaviours, and plans of migrants workers prior to and after setting off for the Persian Gulf.

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