نشریه مطالعات خاورمیانه
سال بیستم شماره 1 (پیاپی 72، بهار 1392)

The Arab World is currently faced with unstable domestic and international conditions. The ubiquitous social movements which shook the region in the early second decade of the 21st century have made it clear that a future characterized with instability in comparison to the age of global dominance of two ideological adversaries can be predicted for most of the regional nations. Egypt, which is viewed as the heart of the Arab World, because of its historical-cultural status and the prestige arising from its military capabilities, will experience such a future. The main question of this paper revolves around the causes of the anticipated instability. The article’s hypothesis is based on the argument that the ruling political establishment is extremely vulnerable due to lack of control over all leverage of power and weakness of political structure. From the international perspective, it is obvious that American statesmen do not regard the preservation of political stability at any cost an unquestionable principle; hence these circumstances will dictate if the policy of supporting or halting to support the ruling regime is designed.

After three decades, Iran and Egypt still lack formal diplomatic relations. Bilateral diplomatic relations had been severed in 1979 and the other time in 1960. The main question raised by the article is what factors are involved in divergence in Iran-Egypt relations since the advent of the Islamic Revolution to the Arab revolutions. Within the past three decades, the orientation of the two states towards the United States and Israel, Egypt’s support for Iraq during the latter’s imposed war on Iran, and Iran’s sponsorship of Hamas and Hezbollah have given rise to creation of a threat perception in the two states about each other and subsequently divergence between the two states. It appears that the 2011 revolution in Egypt has brought about delicate changes in Egyptian foreign policy, paving the way for the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two nations.

Consecutive successes of the Justice and Development Party in Turkish parliamentary elections in the first decade of the third millennium have raised many questions within the political and academic circles in some countries. Evolution of the Islamist current in the period after the establishment of the secular system in the country has been among the questions that has attracted the attention of these circles. The most striking issue for the scholar is how long the victorious Islamist current in the past decade could be considered an extension of the same Islamist current in the decades after the establishment of the secular system in the country. More importantly, how different the Justice and Development Party’s Islamist current is from the Islamist current in the past? Is the discourse offered by the Islamist current in the 1990s a continuation of the same discourse of the past Islamist current, or has a totally new discourse appeared in Turkey’s political scene?

Contrary to what the Middle East scholars predicted, Syria was suddenly caught in the domestic crisis and tension; thus the Syrian crisis cannot be looked at like the other crises in the Arab World in 2011. One of the salient, unique aspects of the Syrian crisis is the significant presence of multiple foreign actors each seeking their own interests and objectives; thus making any prediction about the future of politics and government in the country particularly complicated. Like many other political systems in the Arab World, the Syrian government system suffers from huge deficiencies, making popular protests for reforming such a political structure quite natural. What is unnatural involves the interference of many foreign players in Syria’s domestic affairs with different goals, which are examined in this article. Apparently most of the foreign actors intend to undermine the axis of resistance, whereas the developments in the Arab World have further enhanced the axis; hence the opposing front tries to prevent further strengthening of the axis by removing Assad from power.

Possessing more than 200 tribes and clans, different racial groups and diverse religions, Sultanate of Oman encompasses a wide range of communities and cultures. This research seeks to study ethnic differences and resultant challenges as well as Muscat government’s policy in dealing with these social realities. On this basis, undertaking aseries of political, cultural, social and notably economic reforms, Sultanate of Oman has sought to reduce violence and centrifugal currents while establishing infrastructures of development. It intends to prevent the outbreak of what is known as the Arab Spring.

The rise of religious extremism in the Middle East is ascribed to a multitude of factors. This article addresses religious extremism in the 21st century in light of a crisis arising from the application of modern political categories such as national identity and security in Muslim countries. From this perspective, modern and realistic version of Islamic identity is rooted in the imperfect process of formation of nation-state which has taken place in the 21st century in most of Muslim territories. The placement of Islamic identity in this framework has finally brought about a dualist narrative of Islam, giving a doctrinal tone to political radicalism. For this reason, the experience of the formation of nationstate and the definition of national identity in such countries as Pakistan are analyzed within the context of its politicization and then radicalization of Islam (as the doctrinal and social ground for extremist groups).