As the Libyan people see renewed prospects for peace, subnational governance may represent an integral part of a resolution to protracted instability.
Middle East and North Africa
Subnational governance is key to peace
Resolving subnational conflicts is ultimately about governance because their drivers are frequently linked to grievances and perceived injustice associated with access to power and resources, and to feelings of ethnic, social and / or geographic exclusion and marginalization.
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Reflections on the Politics of Stalemate
Co-authored with Karl Cordell, this Introduction to a Special Issue on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict offers a broad...
Al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch adds Paris attacks to list of successes
Al-Qaeda’s alleged involvement in the Paris attacks not only highlights the continuing threat from al-Qaeda in general, which must not be underestimated; it also underscores the similarities and differences between al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
The threat posed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)
In a joint submission to the UK Parliament’s Defence Select Committee, my colleagues Paul Schulte, Chris Wyatt and I address counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation policy, including the ideological threat; the role of air power; and the need to consider ongoing operations and policy in the Strategic Defence and Security Review and the associated National Security Strategy.
A Proposal for the Syria Crisis – Safe Havens and “Internal Containment”
International crisis management in Syria requires a re-direction of strategic thinking towards internal containment.
Al-Qaeda: thinking local in regional turmoil spells trouble for the West
Al-Qaeda may not have regained the global threat potential that it posed a decade or so ago – at least, not yet. But its local and regional efforts have made it, in many cases, a powerful and entrenched source of instability. If left unchecked, such local and regional power can grow into something altogether more terrible.
Iran’s nuclear weapons deal will rebalance the Middle East
Signed by the P5 + Germany and mediated by the EU’s foreign policy chief, Baroness Catherine Ashton, the deal achieved with Iran on the latter’s nuclear programme has important implications for regional and international security dynamics that go well beyond nuclear weapons.
Recovery from the Arab Spring will take a generation or more
Predictions that may take a generation or more for the Middle East to recover from the turmoil that the Arab Spring are clearly a sobering assessment. But they are hardly surprising given that there has been no significant improvement in people’s living conditions, that political tensions and repression persist and that levels of violence are on the up.