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| Volume IX, December 2002, Number 4 |
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| EXCERPT: Impact of 9/11 on the Middle East |
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The following are summaries of papers presented by members of the Middle East Working Group on a program of panels at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in Boston, MA, August 31, 2002. The panels were organized by Augustus Richard Norton of Boston University and Louis J. Cantori of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
The following topics are covered:
U.S.-EGYPTIAN RELATIONS
Mustapha Kamel Al-Sayyid, Cairo University
IRANIAN FOREIGN POLICY
Bahman Baktiari, University of Maine
THE ARAB STATE SYSTEM AFTER SEPTEMBER 11
Michael Barnett, University of Wisconsin at Madison
A MOMENT OF INCLUSION: REACTIONS IN THE ARAB WORLD
Sonja Hegasy, Centre for Modern Oriental Studies, Berlin
THE PERILS OF A SECULAR FOREIGN POLICY: THE CASE OF TURKEY
Elizabeth S. Hurd, Northwestern University
DECLINE OF THE "RADICAL" STATE: JORDAN AND SYRIA
Ellen Lust-Okar, Yale University
HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE RULE OF LAW IN ARAB POLITICS
David Mednicoff, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
PALESTINIAN POLITICS AND SEPTEMBER 11
Mouin Rabbani, Palestinian-American Research Center, Ramallah, West Bank; Sara Roy, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University
ISLAMIST PARTIES AND REGIME RESPONSES: JORDAN AND YEMEN
Jillian Schwedler, University of Maryland, College Park
KUWAIT: ISLAMIST-LIBERAL POLITICS
Kristin Smith, Harvard University
EGYPTIAN DOMESTIC POLITICS: CONTINUITY OR CHANGE?
Denis Sullivan, Northeastern University
U.S. ASSESSMENTS OF ARAB THREATS SINCE 1945
Salim Yaqub, University of Chicago
EVALUATING MIDDLE EAST FOREIGN POLICY SINCE 9/11
Anthony F. Lang, Jr., Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs
Since the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, there have been many attempts to evaluate the foreign policies of the Middle East, usually amounting to condemnations for refusing to support U.S. goals in the region. Guided by political and moral theory, an alternative form of evaluation might assess foreign policy by laying out criteria that support the creation of a just and peaceful regional and international system.
Before laying out specific criteria for evaluation, structural features of the international system need clarification. The most important of these is the existence of the sovereign-state system. States have been, and continue to be, the most powerful political agents in international affairs. The sovereign-state system gives to states the capacity not simply to act but to act militarily, a structural feature not available to other agents in the system. Transnational organizations also have power to change the system, although usually not militarily. Groups like Amnesty International, Greenpeace and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) can force change by advancing new norms. The example of Al Qaeda suggests that some transnational movements may be challenging the sovereign state’s monopoly on violence, although legitimate uses of violence remain with the state.
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