Saudi Arabia

Thursday 19th January

Post-BICI Bahrain: between reform and stagnation

Elham Fakhro and Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, 19 January 2012
As the first anniversary of the February 14 uprising approaches, the regime and the country at large find themselves at a crossroads in which there is dangerously little space for a strong middle ground.

Sanctioning Iranian oil

Reyhaneh Noshiravani, 19 January 2012
With increasing geopolitical instability in oil producing states and the barriers that stand in the way of reaching a multilateral policy, the threat of sanctions in Iran only serves to intensify uncertainty surrounding oil price forecasts for 2012

Counter-balancing Saudi Arabia: why the US should not abandon Bahrain’s reformists

Hasan Tariq Alhasan, 19 January 2012
Rather than calling upon the United States and other western powers to abandon the Bahraini leadership at this time, we should instead be calling upon them to increase their ever-so vital support of the kingdom’s reformists through a series of different aid and development packages.
Sunday 15th January

The quiet war in Saudi Arabia

Joshua Jacobs, 15 January 2012
There are good reasons not only for the media, but for western governments to begin taking an active interest in the ongoing street conflict in Eastern Province
Tuesday 10th January

The Saudi response to the ‘Arab spring’: containment and co-option

Madawi Al-Rasheed, 10 January 2012
Saudi Arabia’s response to the ‘Arab spring’ has been an attempt to co-opt movements for change in a bid to maintain the status quo. Madawi Al-Rasheed talks to Deniz Kandiyoti about the contradictions of a ruling elite that promotes a conservative Islam, that threatens women’s existing rights abroad – as in Tunisia and Egypt – while it poses as the emancipator of women at home
Wednesday 21st December

Holding on to the status quo, Gulf States seek political unity

Ahmed E. Souaiaia, 21 December 2011
If the Gulf Cooperation Council wanted to support democracy and stability, they would have invested in Tunisia and Egypt. Instead, they are investing in regimes that mimic their own Umayyad model of governance.

The Arab revolution: tensions and challenges

Mariano Aguirre, 21 December 2011
The second year of the Arab uprisings opens a complex period in which the potential of the Arab world to move towards democracy and human security will be acutely tested. This makes careful assessment and policymaking by leading actors more essential than ever, says Mariano Aguirre.
Monday 12th December

Wars of Decline: Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya

David Held and Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, 12 December 2011
This article assesses the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya in terms of their legality, their consequences - local, regional and global - and their impact. It describes the growing impotence of western powers in reshaping global politics by force. Rather, it argues, the flawed application of organised violence as a tool in the defence and projection of western power has dissolved the grandiose project of the ‘American century.’

The Middle East on the brink: an urgent appeal for common sense

Karabekir Akkoyunlu, 12 December 2011
This is an appeal to the global citizenry to wake up to the dire situation unfolding before our eyes and to raise our voice. It is time to put concerted pressure on our respective governments, who are complicit in this cynical spectacle, and urge them to act responsibly for the benefit of all nations.
Tuesday 6th December

A dangerous transition in the 'greater Middle East'

Hall Gardner, 6 December 2011
Revolutions have overthrown post-colonial regimes throughout the Middle East and north Africa, but the region is still in a delicate phase of transition. Rivalry between Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey could destabilize the region further, with dire consequences
Monday 5th December

Is the GCC deal democracy for Yemen?

Abubakr Al-Shamahi, 5 December 2011
The GCC deal presents possibly the most realistic short term resolution to the Yemeni quagmire. It lessens the chance of civil war that would set Yemen back by decades. Nevertheless, it does not meet the demands of the vast majority of those who started the revolution.
Monday 17th October

Iran's message in a bottle

Arash Falasiri, 17 October 2011
Allegations of an Iranian assassination attempt to be carried out in Washington has prompted diverse responses and analyses. Here, Arash Falasiri depicts an Islamic Republic fighting for its life in increasingly unfavourable circumstances and a Revolutionary Guard determined to capture still more of the public and economic sphere under the spectre of war.
Wednesday 5th October

The United States and Pakistan – beyond the verbal division

Humayun Saleem, 5 October 2011
The United States and Pakistan engage in a war of words. Iraq to strengthen air sovereignty with the acquisition of 18 F-16 jets. Protests continue in Andhra Pradesh as demands increase for Telangana state. Unguarded weapons depots in Libya cause concerns. Anwar al-Awlaki is killed, but his legacy remains. All this in today’s briefing…
Tuesday 27th September

The Arab 1989 revisited

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen and David Held, 27 September 2011
The establishment and deepening of a democratic culture is a long-term project and is intergenerational. As divisions open up between the elites and the street as well as within the elites, the events of 2011 across the Middle East and North Africa represent a powerful first step in a larger process of transformation.
Sunday 25th September

Arab Revolutions: double standards all round

Hayder al-Khoei, 25 September 2011
Extremist Islamists may only be one small part of a wide cross-section of disenfranchised Libyans who could no longer bear the tyranny of Gadaffi, but they pose the question whether reactions to the Arab Revolutions are ever entirely innocent of double standards.
Wednesday 7th September

After 9/11: a painful lesson

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, 7 September 2011
The inspiring Arab protesters of 2011 bring hope that the tragic cycle of animosity opened by 9/11 can end, says Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi.

9/11: the memory of violence

Madawi Al-Rasheed, 7 September 2011
The atrocity of 11 September 2001 entrenched an imaginary polarisation between “the west and the rest” - and buried a deeper reality that is only now emerging to light, says Madawi al-Rasheed.
Thursday 21st July

Critical thoughts on critical thinking in Saudi Arabia

Bobby Thomas Cameron, 21 July 2011
Saudi Arabia's government is infusing billions of riyals into programmes and services, much of which is oriented towards education. There is a fundamental contradiction in this endeavour.
Monday 25th April

Gulf States: studious silence falls on Arab Spring

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, 25 April 2011
New demands for political reform in the Gulf are meeting a repressive response by regimes especially panicked when pro-democracy protests swell into cross-sectarian movements for meaningful political reform. This brutality polarises opinion between advocates of reform and proponents of repression. It also poses a dilemma for western policy makers in their engagement with their strategic partners in the region.
Tuesday 19th April

The Saudi complex: power vs rights

Madawi Al-Rasheed, 19 April 2011
Saudi Arabia's rulers are deploying a mix of force and largesse to contain the threat of democratic protest. But an emerging civic movement is determined to persist, says Madawi Al-Rasheed.
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