Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has fractured a long-standing pillar of Israeli foreign policy that dictated it always needed to ensure the backing of the United States. Fixing the pillar may prove easier said than done.

Netanyahu And Ultraconservatives Jeopardise Israeli Security

Diaspora Jews, Palestinian Israelis, and Turkish Kurds have more in common than meets the eye.

What Jews, Israeli Palestinians, And Turkish Kurds Have In Common

By James M. Dorsey
The Greater Middle East is a ticking time bomb. 
Simmering at the surface in Gaza and across much of the Middle East and North Africa is social, economic, and political anger and frustration that could erupt at any moment but may not immediately manifest itself publicly.

The Greater Middle East Is A Ticking Time Bomb (Part 1)

US President Joe Biden doesn’t fit the mould of a high-risk gambler.
Yet, gambling is the crux of his velvet glove dealings with Israel. With one eye on Israeli politics and the other on presidential elections in the United States in six months, Mr. Biden is walking a tightrope.

US President Biden Plays High - Risk Poker With Israel’s Netanyahu

It goes without saying that the Palestinian issue touches many across the Greater Middle East. 
Israel and the world’s inability or unwillingness to help Palestinians secure their rights and Palestinians’ sense of not being accorded the dignity and respect accorded to others mirrors a quest for recognition and dignity across the region.

The Greater Middle East Is A Ticking Time Bomb (Part 2)

This episode explores the link between technology, warfare and nationalism. Turkey and Israel are two countries in the region who have developed their technological capabilities for both domestic and international conflict. We speak to two researchers who have been tracing the use of military technologies and the effect they have had on a sense of nationalism amongst their populations. 

Digdem Solaytin Colella speaks to the regime-boosting effects of drone production in Turkey whilst Sophia Goodfriend provides a more granular analysis of how military technology has transformed a new generation of Israeli soldiers’ views of Palestinians and Israeli occupation. 

Digdem is Assistant Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the University of Aberdeen. Her research concentrates on the politics of corruption, mechanisms of state capture and regime survival, autocratic bureaucracies & illiberal governance, and Southeast European and Turkish politics. 

Sophia is a PhD candidate at Duke University’s Department of Cultural Anthropology and Fulbright-Hays Dissertation Fellow. Her academic work examines the ethics and impact of new surveillance technologies in Israel and Palestine.

War Tech and Nationalism in Turkey and Israel

For more than two decades, jihadists took pride in place as symbols of extremism and illustrations of the need for religious reform. They made Islam the focus of post-9/11 calls for religious change and moderation.
Today, Islam no longer stands alone. One of the world’s foremost faiths, Islam has been joined by most major religions that have long flown under the radar.

The Quest For Religious Reform Goes Global.

Israel’s territorial claims, West Bank policies, and Gaza war conduct shine a spotlight on problematic Jewish religious legal precepts, much like the 9/11 Al Qaeda attacks did with Islam.

Antisemitism Threatens Jews, And Occupation Threatens Judaism

Jordan's King Abdullah is caught between a rock and a hard place.

King Abdullah Of Joran Caught Between A Rock And A Hard Place

This webinar was a launch of 'Industrial Policy in Turkey: Rise, Retreat and Return' by William Hale, Mustafa Kutlay and Mina Toksoz published by Edinburgh University Press.

At a time when many advanced and emerging economies are adopting more active industrial policies, this book provides an in-depth historical–empirical account of industrial policy in Turkey – its rise, retreat and return.

This study adopts a multidisciplinary approach and covers the role of the state in Turkey’s initial industrialisation to the current period of restructuring and potential technological upgrading of its manufacturing base. The analysis traces how industrial policy has been shaped by state capacity, the waves of reforms following economic crises, the dearth of long-term finance for industrialisation and, more recently, the need to address issues such as low-tech industrial structure and pre-mature de-industrialisation.

The book aims to answer questions of what worked and what went wrong with previous policies. It asks how current policies could be shaped to overcome the problems of cronyism and corruption, and also achieve new objectives of technological upgrading and socio-environmental sustainability.

William Hale is an Emeritus Professor at SOAS, having retired as Professor of Politics with Special Reference to Turkey in 2006. His main interests are the modern politics and international relations of Turkey.

Mustafa Kutlay is a senior lecturer in the Department of International Politics at City, University of London. His current research focuses on the comparative politics and political economy of developing countries (with particular reference to Turkey, Turkish politics and foreign policy), institutions and development in the global South, and political risk analysis.

Mina Toksoz is an International Economist having worked at the Economist Intelligence Unit variously as Editorial Director of the Middle East, Europe, and the Country Risk Service.

Arda Bilgen is a Research Officer at the LSE Middle East Centre, where he works on the PeaceRep project ‘Surface Water Changes in the Euphrates-Tigris Basin since 1984 and their Governance Implications for Iraq’, led by Dr Michael Mason. His work mainly focuses on water politics, transboundary water resources management, and hydraulic infrastructure development.

Industrial Policy in Turkey: Rise, Retreat and Return

Dr. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and co-host of the New Books in Middle Eastern Studies podcast. James is the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog, a book with the same title as well as Comparative Political Transitions between Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa, co-authored with Dr. Teresita Cruz-Del Rosario and  Shifting Sands, Essays on Sports and Politics in the Middle East and North Africa.

The Greater Middle East Is A Ticking Time Bomb (Part 1)

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