نشریه مطالعات خاورمیانه
سال یازدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 37، بهار 1383)

US policy towards the Middle East region is faced with significant obstacles and challenges and the United States attempts to stabilize the Middle East within the framework of its goals and interests by overcoming these obstacles. The author attempts to explain the new regional situation (the post-Saddam Iraq) and to assess US plans for countering anti-hegemonic challenges. To him, the depth and extensiveness of US threats to the Middle East and its challenging leaders will not be simply limited to Iraq, notably because it wishes that the existing hierarchical international system continues to prevail. Hence, all forces that disrupt this situation in the Middle East have to be controlled. In the author’s opinion, a number of countries like Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have been successful at adapting themselves with the new conditions and taking advantage of the new atmosphere, but states such as Iran and Saudi Arabia have to adapt a new mindset and rebuild their internal and external orientations.

The longstanding and strategic Saudi-US relations have undergone certain changes because of the September 11th events which can, in their turn, affect the political position and the importance of the Middle East region. In this article, considering US concerns on the phenomenon of Wahhabism and Saudi Arabia’s conduct, the author considers the options before US policy-makers regarding Saudi Arabia and identifies three policies of decapitating, ignoring and democratic prevention. In light of the problems resulting from the US invasion of Iraq on the one hand and Saudi Arabia’s strategic importance for the United States on the other, it appears that the democratic prevention policy has been placed at the agenda of the U.S. statesmen. As a result of this policy, targeted and controlled changes are made to reduce resistance and ultimately the new regional order is established.

The study of the consequences of the Soviet bloc’s collapse and geopolitical developments in the 1990s, in particular their impact on the changes in the Middle East, still draws the attention of scholars focusing on regional issues. This article which seeks to explore the effects of such developments on the Iranian national interests and security, and attempts to understand Iran’s regional setting, examines the following hypotheses:1) Following the Soviet collapse, the contraction of Russian sphere of influence has caused the expansion of US strength and the coincidence of the US geopolitical boundaries with the Russian geographical borders; and2) The US spatial expansion has led to Iran’s physical encirclement and consequently has increased the country’s security costs. In the author’s opinion, it is advisable to adopt the alliance and coalition strategy in order to reduce the security costs in Iran’s current circumstances.

The difference between the US and EU in views toward the Middle East peace process is rooted in the clash of interests found between the two parties and the different backgrounds of their presence in the region. Thus, the United States focuses largely on the peace process per se between Arabs and Israel and the two parties’ determination rather than the result of the process, whereas emphasizing the achievement of a positive result, Europe seeks to play a more active role in the region and to eradicate US monopoly. Disagreement between the European Union and the United States is entirely evident in the two parties’ positions particularly within the Venice and Luxembourg declarations. Referring to the background of the subject, this article examines the points of difference and divergence within the two powers’ attitudes and the reasons thereof. It also assesses their capacities and capabilities for the accomplishment of their ends.

The existence of various ethnic, linguistic and racial leanings is among the problems in which the Israeli statesmen have long confronted and they have tried to place the society’s demographic and cultural fabric under their control. The authors, in this article, reexamine Israel’s policies towards the Arabs, drawing on statistical data on demographic changes. Furthermore, they reconsider the Israeli policies towards the Arabs and scrutinize the religious minorities’ demographic distribution and political status in Israel. This study demonstrates the reasons why the Arabs within Israel have failed to reach a kind of convergence and what obstacles have existed in this respect.

Nasr Hamed Abu Zayd, the well-known Muslim thinker, maintains that a distinction should be made between the concept of the Western civilization and the modern civilization, just as the Western civilization differs from the political West. He views modernity a human phenomenon which has flourished in the Western part of the world and all cultures and civilizations have played a part in its appearance. To Abu Zayd, Islam had been a modernist religion at its time and it is obviously a religion that does not contravene the bases of modernism in the current time. But the West lacks a proper perception and understanding of Islam and the Islamic World. Although human rights are also desirable and do not contradict the Islamic fundamentals, the expression has become an instrument for the West to secure its benefits. In his opinion, the world has not, unfortunately, reached a moment when it can set human rights as its preferred norms and observe them properly. Terrorism, moreover, which is often proposed as a problem in the relations between the West and the Islamic World, arises from the one-dimensional perceptions and interpretations of the religious texts and to solve it needs regulating the interpretation of the texts.

The landslide victory by the Justice and Progress Party in Turkey in the November 2002 elections caused a new political space and unfolded significant questions on the future of secularism as well as Islamism in the country. Exploring the signs and characteristics of this victory, this article explains the reasons for the failure of the rival parties and examines the challenges and horizons ahead of the Justice and Progress Party. To the author, the Party’s leaders face a variety of challenges in the country’s domestic scene the most important of which include: To soften the suspicion and anxiety on the part of the military; to improve Turkey’s economic hardships; and to preserve the trust of the Islamist constituency. The author is of the belief that the Party’s success will depend on the reciprocal reactions of seculars and Islamists.

Turkey’s efforts to become a member of the European Union have a long precedent with numerous fluctuations. Turkish politicians, after the Ankara agreement and the creation of a customs alliance, perceived that they have passed the last obstacles to their accession to the European Union, and even they applied for full membership in April 1987. However, the fact was that each of the two parties held its particular outlooks and objectives. For example, Greece tried to use this issue as an instrument to put pressure on Turkey. In recent years, EU authorities have put forth such questions as the resolution of bilateral disputes with Greece or of the Cyprus question, cultural and identity differences, as conditions to facilitate membership. In this writing, a history of Turkey’s efforts and achievements thereof especially in the post-Cold War era is presented.