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Begin New Search Topic Geopolitics Publication Year within 3 Years

271. The Role of the Geopolitical Position of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Towards American Foreign Policy from 1990 to 2017

Author:
Ala Alkhawaldeh, Mohammad Ahmad Nayef Alakash, Hani A. M. Akho-Rashida, Ziad Mohammad Al Wahshat, and Mohammad Saleh Bani Issa
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Liberty and International Affairs
Institution:
Institute for Research and European Studies (IRES)
Abstract:
The role of the geopolitical location of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan towards United States (US) foreign policy from 1990 to 2017 is the focus of this study, which addressed the impact of important regional and international political events, positively or negatively, on the development of relations between the two countries in terms of political and security aspects. The study adopted a qualitative approach, and primary data was collected through interviews with 16 participants from political, economic, and security experts in Jordan and the US. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data obtained. The study concluded that US foreign policy recognizes Jordan as a close ally and considers its stability extremely important; Jordan has a suitable location to defend Israel because critical Arab countries surround it, and Jordan enjoys a unique geographical location in the Middle East. Some political events play an essential role in US foreign policy concerning security aid to Jordan, as the US links its aid to Jordan to political events.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Politics, Geopolitics, and Strategic Interests
Political Geography:
Middle East, Jordan, and United States of America

272. Here are Four Things the West gets Wrong about Africa

Author:
Nina Wilén
Publication Date:
04-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
EGMONT - The Royal Institute for International Relations
Abstract:
External powers are intensifying their efforts to woo African states and their leaders in a context of Great Power Competition. Russian, Chinese and Western leaders are upping their game with new visits, initiatives, investments and strategies aimed at increasing their influence on the continent. Yet, while Western states spend comparatively large financial and human resources in Africa, these investments do not always seem to translate into the intended effects. This brief looks at four things that the West gets wrong about Africa and argues that to create long-term and credible partnerships with African partners there is a need to go beyond the Great Power Competition lens, lower the ambitions, and dial down on the normative language. This, while realising that presence does not equal influence, but absence almost certainly excludes it.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Partnerships, Geopolitics, and Strategic Competition
Political Geography:
Africa, Russia, China, and Europe

273. Uncovering uncomfortable truths: the geopolitics of EU gas imports in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine

Author:
Moniek de Jong
Publication Date:
05-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
EGMONT - The Royal Institute for International Relations
Abstract:
With the conclusion of the winter season, it appears that the European Union (EU) has successfully avoided the anticipated gas shortages and blackouts. This outcome can be attributed to a mild winter, a decrease of 13% in gas consumption, and a substantial influx of LNG imports. While the EU can breathe a sigh of relief, there is no room for complacency. The unprecedented LNG imports and significant decline in Russian gas imports have altered the EU’s gas import profile, and the potential security risks associated with these “new” gas suppliers have received little attention. This begs the question of whether this new natural gas import portfolio is truly advantageous and what alternatives the EU has.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, European Union, Geopolitics, Gas, Imports, and Russia-Ukraine War
Political Geography:
Europe

274. Rethinking Geopolitical Strategies: from Conflict Management to Conflict Resolution in the Middle East

Author:
Bernard Siman
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
EGMONT - The Royal Institute for International Relations
Abstract:
The Gaza war, the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Yemeni civil war, the Syrian civil war, and the Nagorno-Karbach conflict, to name a few conflicts on the edges of Europe, have one thing in common: the various actors, regional and international, opted, over decades, for conflict management rather than for conflict resolution. This has clearly failed. Transactional geopolitics, history has demonstrated, almost always end up in armed conflicts erupting typically from the periphery of the contested geopolitical spheres of influence to subsequently make their way towards the centres of the competing powers. The ‘July Crisis’ of 1914 is a good example. Sergei Sazonov, the last tsarist Russian foreign minister, recorded in his memoires that WW1 started in 1909 when Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia. The intervening five years (to the start of the war in 1914) amounted to no more than attempts at ‘conflict management’ rather than ‘conflict resolution’. Transactionalism is synonymous with conflict management and, in the view of this writer, almost always leads ultimately to armed conflict.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, European Union, Geopolitics, and Conflict Management
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

275. Catch-27: The contradictory thinking about enlargement in the EU

Author:
Piotr Buras and Engjellushe Morina
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)
Abstract:
Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine has reenergised the enlargement debate. Most member states now see enlargement as a way to respond to the geopolitical reality and strengthen the EU in its immediate neighbourhood. However, while the geopolitical arguments in favour of enlargement are even stronger today than they were 20 years ago, the process is likely to face more obstacles than it did back then. In most member states, the interest in enlargement is outweighed by concerns about the transformation that institutional reforms could bring about. Possible changes in the EU’s balance of power, the unresolved issue of the protection of the rule of law, and bilateral conflicts are major obstacles. To make a credible offer to candidate countries, the EU should agree on an internal reform process alongside a timeline for the next steps in the enlargement process at the EU summit in December. Regardless of the outcome of the internal reform debate, it should be ready to offer candidate countries at least participation in the single market, access to the EU’s budget, and observer status in EU institutions by 2030.
Topic:
Reform, European Union, Geopolitics, Russia-Ukraine War, and Enlargement
Political Geography:
Europe

276. Transnational Crime and Geopolitical Contestation along the Mekong

Author:
International Crisis Group
Publication Date:
08-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Over the last fifteen years, an illicit economy – comprising everything from unregistered casinos to online scamming operations – has boomed along a stretch of the Mekong River separating Laos and Myanmar. Regional states will need to work together to rein in the criminal syndicates behind it.
Topic:
Geopolitics, Economy, Transnational Actors, Organized Crime, Illicit Financial Flows, and Casinos
Political Geography:
Southeast Asia, Laos, Myanmar, and Mekong River

277. The European Union’s major enlargement to the East and Western Balkans

Author:
Vicente Palacio
Publication Date:
10-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Fundación Alternativas
Abstract:
The geopolitical urgency created in Europe by the Russian invasion and the war in Ukraine has moved the project of a ‘major enlargement’ to the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) and to the East (Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia) at the top of the European political agenda. This new enlargement could transform the EU in a fundamental way. After the Informal European Council of June 2002, the recent informal European Council summit held in Granada on 6 October under the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU expressed consensus on the intention to undertake that enlargement. That set off a long process in which this ‘major enlargement’ needs to be addressed in terms of four aspects: how it is done (institutions and reforms); how and how much is invested in it (resources); what it is invested in (policies) and where it is invested (geographical areas).
Topic:
European Union, Geopolitics, Regional Politics, and Russia-Ukraine War
Political Geography:
Europe and Western Balkans

278. Ukrainian Innovation in a War of Attrition

Author:
Seth G. Jones, Riley McCabe, and Alexander Palmer
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
Russia suffered more combat deaths in Ukraine in the first year of the war than in all of its wars since World War II combined, according to a new CSIS analysis of the force disposition and military operations of Russian and Ukrainian units. The average rate of Russian soldiers killed per month is at least 25 times the number killed per month in Chechnya and 35 times the number killed in Afghanistan, which highlight the stark realities of a war of attrition. The Ukrainian military has also performed remarkably well against a much larger and initially better-equipped Russian military, in part due to the innovation of its forces.
Topic:
Defense Policy, NATO, Geopolitics, Innovation, Defense Industry, and Russia-Ukraine War
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe

279. Analyzing China’s Escalation after Taiwan President Tsai’s Transit through the United States

Author:
Bonny Lin, Brian Hart, Samantha Lu, Hannah Price, and Matthew Slade
Publication Date:
06-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
As Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen transited through the United States in March and April 2023, China embraced significant military and diplomatic measures to coerce and punish Taiwan and, to some extent, the United States. This is reminiscent of Chinese actions after then-speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022, though there were differences between China’s behavior. While some elements of China’s actions in April 2023 appear less escalatory than those in August 2022, there was considerable continuity and even progression with respect to People’s Liberation Army (PLA) operations, tactics, and reach vis-à-vis Taiwan. This brief analyzes Chinese activities in August 2022 and April 2023 and explores the factors impacting Beijing’s decisionmaking.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, International Security, and Geopolitics
Political Geography:
China, Taiwan, and Asia

280. NATO’s Role in Protecting Critical Undersea Infrastructure

Author:
Sean Monaghan, Otto Svendsen, Michael Darrah, and Ed Arnold
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
NATO is not ready to mitigate increasingly prevalent Russian aggression against European critical undersea infrastructure (CUI). Despite its depleted ground forces and strained military industrial base, Russian hybrid tactics remains the most pressing threat to CUI in northern Europe. Despite its current limitations, NATO is the primary actor capable of deterring and preventing hybrid attacks on its allies and has expedited its approach to CUI protection by establishing new organizations to that aim. At the 2023 NATO Vilnius summit, allies agreed to establish the Maritime Centre for the Security of Critical Underwater Infrastructure within NATO’s Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM), which focuses on preparing for, deterring, and defending against the coercive use of energy and other hybrid tactics. To help NATO planners and staff at the new center conceptualize and prioritize their efforts, this issue brief provides immediate and long-term recommendations to set the new center up for success.
Topic:
Defense Policy, NATO, International Security, Infrastructure, European Union, and Geopolitics
Political Geography:
Russia and Europe