Emerging Trends in West Asia: Regional and Global Implications

About the Book

The West Asian region has been weathering waves of volatility and instability for the last five years. The political storm that slammed into Tunisia in late 2010 gradually engulfed the entire region under the umbrella of ‘Arab Spring’.These developments have had both global and regional implications. With the growing economic and energy ties between Asia and the Gulf region, several Asian countries particularly, India, Japan, China and South Korea have developed major stakes in the security and stability of the West Asian region. Thus, the desire to understand the West Asian region from a global and regional perspective has been at the heart of inquiry in this edited volume.

The book provides an in-depth assessment of socio-political, economic and strategic trends unfolding in West Asia. It also explores options for India to enhance existing relations with the West Asian region in a much more meaningful manner. The complexities of West Asia have been systematically explored by scholars, diplomats and specialists to advance the understanding of West Asia’s political and strategic architecture.

Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
About the Editor/Contributors
Welcome Address by Director General, IDSA
Keynote Address by Shri A.K. Antony
Special Address by Shri Shiv Shankar Menon

PART I – POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION IN WEST ASIA: PROSPECTS FOR PEACE, STABILITY AND PROSPERITY

1. Islamist Politics after the Arab Spring
— Talmiz Ahmad
2. West Asia in Transitional Period of International Order
— Ahmed Salem Saleh Al-Wahishi
3. The Future of Political Transformation in West Asia and North Africa
— Timothy C. Niblock

PART II – FUTURE OF POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION IN WEST ASIA

4. Potential Strategic Cooperation among Pivotal States in Western Asia in the Light of Current Changes
— Muhammad Abdul Ghaffar
5. Global Elites and Media in West Asia
— Atul Aneja
6. Emerging Trends in West Asia: Regional and Global Implications
— Ahmed A. Saif
7. West Asia: The Changing Political and Strategic Environment 84
— Amin Saikal

PART III – WEST ASIA’S SECURITY DYNAMICS-I: ROLE OF EXTRA-REGIONAL POWERS

8. Russia in the Middle East: Battle for Principles?
— Fyodor Lukyanov
9. US Foreign Policy in the Middle East: Combatting the Realist Resurgence
— Julie E. Taylor
10. Emerging Trends in West Asia: A Syrian Perspective
— Waiel Awwad
11. Realpolitik of the ‘Self-Appointed Frontrunner’ for the UNSC Seat
— P.R. Kumaraswamy

PART IV – WEST ASIA’S SECURITY DYNAMICS-II: ROLE OF EXTRA-REGIONAL POWERS

12. Security Implications of the “Arab Spring”
— Efraim Inbar
13. Arab Uprisings as Regional Events with Global Effects: An Iranian Perspective
— Mohammad Hassan Khani
14. Security Dynamics in West Asia and the Role of Regional Powers: An Egyptian Vision for Gulf Security
— Adel Soliman

PART V – INDIA AND THE GULF

15. Reconstructing India-Gulf Relation in the Context of Arab Uprising
— Girijesh Pant
16. Conflict in WANA Region: Impact on Energy Markets
— Shebonti Ray Dadwal
17. India and the GCC: Prospects for an Enhanced Security Partnership
— Sami Alfaraj

PART VI – NUCLEAR ISSUES IN WEST ASIA

18. Nuclear Issues in West Asia: Egyptian Perspective
— Mahmoud Karem
19. Nuclear Issues in West Asia: An Indian Perspective
— Rajesh Rajagopalan
20. The Iranian Nuclear Challenge
— Ephraim Kam
21. US Missile Defence in the Gulf
— Rajendra Abhyankar and Weston Merrick

PART VII – ROLE OF ASIA IN EVOLVING SECURITY DYNAMICS AND ARCHITECTURE OF THE GULF REGION

22. Role of Asia in the Evolving Security Dynamics of the Gulf Region
— Ranjit Gupta
23. India-West Asia Relations: Building Inclusive Partnership in the Future
— Meena Singh Roy

Index

About the Editor/Contributors

Editor
Meena Singh Roy is a Research Fellow and Coordinator of the West Asia Centre at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. She has done her Ph.D. from University of Delhi and has been senior research scholar in the Department of African Studies, Delhi University.

Contributors
Talmiz Ahmad joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974 and served as Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (2000-03; 2010-11), Oman (2003-04), and the United Arab Emirates (2007-10). He was also Additional Secretary for International Cooperation in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas from 2004-06.

Ahmed Salem Saleh Al-Wahishi is currently serving as Executive Director of the Yemen Centre of International Affairs. He has served as Chief Representative of the League of Arab States in New Delhi.

Atul Aneja is currently the West Asia/Middle East correspondent for The Hindu newspaper and is based in Dubai. He has reported extensively on West Asia from the region for the last 10 years.

Waiel S.H. Awwad is a journalist based in South Asia since 1979. He has covered Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Afghanistan, West Asia and the Gulf Region as a war correspondent.

Shebonti Ray Dadwal is a Research Fellow with the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. She has worked as Senior Editor in The Financial Express and she has also served as Deputy Secretary at the National Security Council Secretariat.

Sami Al Faraj heads the Kuwait Centre for Strategic Studies (KCSS), which he established in 1997 as the first private consulting centre on strategic issues in the Gulf region.

Muhammad Abdul Ghaffar served as Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the European Union and as the non-resident Ambassador to Luxemburg.

Serhat Güvenç is Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations as well as Coordinator for Graduate Studies in International Relations at Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Efraim Inbar is a Professor in Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University and the Director of its BESA Center for Strategic Studies. He serves on the Academic Committee of the History Department of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

Ephraim Kam is the Deputy Director of The Institute for National Security Studies (formerly The Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies), Tel-Aviv University. He served as a Colonel in the Research Division of Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) Military Intelligence.

Mahmoud Karem served as the Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to Japan, Belgium and Luxembourg, Head of Mission of Egypt to the European Communities and Permanent Representative of Egypt to NATO till 2009.

Mohammad Hassan Khani is Associate Professor of International Relations at Imam Sadiq University (ISU), Tehran, Iran. He has been a Staff Member of the Faculty of Politics and Islamic Studies at ISU since 1998.

P.R. Kumaraswamy is Professor, Centre for West Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. He was a research fellow at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Jerusalem from 1992-99.

Fyodor Lukyanov is Editor-in-Chief of the Russia in Global Affairs journal published in Russian and English with participation of Foreign Affairs.

Timothy C. Niblock is Emeritus Professor, Chair of the Management Board of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (2008-11), and Special Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor on the Middle East, University of Exeter (2008-present).

Girijesh Pant is Dean, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Professor Pant has been Director of Gulf Studies programme and Chairman, Centre for West Asian and African Studies, JNU.

Rajesh Rajagopalan is Professor in International Politics at Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Ahmed A. Saif is the director of the Sheba Centre for Strategic Studies. Dr Saif received his PhD (2000) in Politics from the University of Exeter, UK. He taught at Exeter, AUS and Sanaá universities.

Amin Saikal is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (the Middle East and Central Asia) at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.

Adel Soliman is Director of the International Center for Strategic Dialogue and Future Studies, Egypt and Executive Director of the International Center for Future and Strategic Studies, Egypt.

Julie E. Taylor is a political scientist at the RAND Corporation. She served as a trustee for the American Institute for Iranian Studies from 2005 to 2008, and was a Strategic Studies Fellow at Harvard’s Olin Institute.

Ranjit Gupta is a retired Indian Foreign Service officer and is currently a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi and a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi.