La política exterior saudí

Arabia Saudí es uno de los actores más influyentes del mundo árabe e islámico, y actualmente, está transformando con rapidez su política exterior como resultado de la renovación generacional de sus dirigentes, así como por el vacío de autoridad en la región de Oriente Medio. Mantiene unas relaciones estrechas con potencias occidentales clave, especialmente con Estados Unidos, Reino Unido y Francia, lo que genera tensiones entre su persistente dependencia de poderes externos en materia de la seguridad, y su creciente deseo de seguir un curso político independiente. La política exterior saudí –especialmente en Yemen y en Siria– es muy polémica a ojos de la opinión pública europea. Esto seguirá creando dificultades a aquellos gobiernos europeos que persigan ampliar sus relaciones de defensa y seguridad con la que es una potencia regional clave

Regaining NATO's southern neighbours: the alliance should seize the opportunity to jointly reshape southern partnerships

NATO's 2023 summit in Vilnius was dominated by Russia's war against Ukraine. The summit in Washington, D.C., in July 2024 will be influenced by an additional major con­flict in NATO's neighbourhood: the war in Gaza and the related heightened tensions in the Middle East. These have also negatively impacted attitudes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region towards many of the Alliance’s members. The Vilnius summit decision to reflect deeply on NATO's southern neighbourhood turned out to be timely. An independent expert group appointed by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg contributed towards this reflection process. The group, which included the two authors of this paper, found there are shared security interests between NATO and countries in the south, including on counterterrorism and maritime security. Yet, secu­rity perceptions are far from identical, especially when it comes to the role of strategic competition. NATO needs to adapt its mindset to take advantage of opportunities for problem-solving cooperation with partners who may not share its views about inter­national order, and who have concerns about the risk of importing a new Cold War. (author's abstract

The novels of Wyndham Lewis

The thesis attempts to re-examine the novels of Wyndham Lewis, emphasising language, style and general artistry in the novels. The introduction looks briefly at some of the confusion which surrounds criticism of Lewis and makes the case for close textual criticism of his novels to balance the excessive tendency to value his novels in terms of his philosophical and political ideas. Lewis was always conscious of his novels as works of art and they often possess a balance which, his polemics lack. It may be also that close textual scrutiny will shed a different light on some of his ideas. After a general look at Lewis's first widely published ventures - Vorticism and the publication of Blast, each of the novels is examined in turn, and an interpretation based as closely as possible on the text is offered. Tarr is interpreted with more emphasis on the satirisation of Tarr himself than has formerly been the case and the implications of this satire are considered. The Apes of God is seen mainly as a linguistic triumph, commanding admiration on every page, but failing to move effectively in several places. At the same time an examination of the language employed shows that the external approach of which Lewis boasted is not employed as exclusively as many have believed. Snooty Paronet is completely revalued, soon as a satire on the main character, and the break which this represents from Lewis's earlier work is emphasised. The Revenge For Love is assessed as one of Lewis's finest novels and the complexity of motif and imagery is looked at in some detail. The assertion of values not hitherto present in Lewis's work is also discussed and theme is pursued in The Vulgar Streak where Lewis's imagery appears in its most concise form. A strong contrast is made between the manner in which language denoting hollowness and falseness is employed here as opposed to the manner in which it is employed in earlier novels such as The Ape of God. Self Condemned, Lewis's bitter post-war novel is similarly examined in terms of its language and the implications of severe criticism of the intellect are considered. The Human an incomplete tetralogy is next considered. The first part of this, The Childermass 1. was written in 1928 and the subsequent parts in the early fifties, so the work provides a useful opportunity to examine the ways in which Lewis's work had changed in the interim. Lastly, The Pad Priest, Lewis' s final novel is examined. It is held to be inferior, though interesting, and while it makes intriguing use of some of Lewis's thematic ideas, it appears to have loose ends boat explained by Lewis's blindness and ill-health at the time of writing. Lewis had in fact been blind throughout the writing of Monstre Gai and Malign Fiesta, the last two books of the existing parts of The Human Age but his writing in these is a model of clarity, contrasting; strangely with the linguistic brilliance of of his early work. In both cases, the early novels and the late, much important detail has hitherto been ignored and erroneous interpretations of Lewis's novels have become widely current. This thesis hopes to remedy some part of this injustice

New Petro‐aggression in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia in the Spotlight

That hydrocarbon abundance may lead to more violence is an established truism in the literature on the resource curse. Looking at the Middle East, however, the literature relates bellicose state behaviour entirely to oil-producing revolutionary republics. Instead, dynastic monarchies are claimed to be the more peacefully behaving actors. Current developments turn this conclusion upside down, however. Since 2015 at the latest, the foreign policy of Saudi Arabia, the leading monarchy in the Middle East, has transformed from multi-dependence to petro-aggression. By discussing this striking transformation, the paper puts forward a framework looking at the interaction of three crucial dimensions: first, the decreasing power projection towards the Middle East by the United States, the decade-long hegemon, due to gradual changes in world energy markets and war fatigue at home; second, the lasting fiscal potency of the Saudi regime; and, third, the personalization of the Saudi monarchy under King Salman as a historically contingent result of transferring power to the generation of Ibn Saud's grandsons

'Bread, dignity and social justice': the political economy of Egypt's transition

Jane Kinninmon

Kuwait's parliament : an experiment in semi-democracy

Jane Kinninmon