Iran—US relations are in a state of flux due to President Trump’s draconian sanctions, what is dubbed the ‘maximum pressure’ campaign, to force Iran to renegotiate the 2015 nuclear deal. Iran’s ‘counter pressure’ policy, in contrast, has sought to blunt the effects of sanctions and compel the Trump administration to return to the nuclear deal. This article examines the basic thrust, goals and shortcomings of Trump’s anti-Iran campaign, and also explores Iran’s policy choices and responses to face off Trump’s campaign of ‘maximum pressure’.
In recent years, especially after the 9/11 attacks on America, Western academics and policy-makers have increasingly viewed Islam as an inherently violent religion and Muslims as terrorists.
Traditionally, the Shi’a–Sunni divide and the associated dynamics of the geopolitical struggle for power and dominance, between the minority Shi’as and the majority Sunnis, have defined intra-Islamic relations. Often sidelined were the political differences between and among groups and movements within Shi’a as well as Sunni Islam.
The post-2003 Persian Gulf sub-region has witnessed intensified geopolitical conflicts and competition between Iran and the Gulf Arab states, particularly between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Scholars and experts have mostly analysed the conflicts through political and strategic prisms while neglecting their economic dimensions. This article analyses the various post-2003 conflicts between Iran and the Gulf Arab states with a focus on how economic integration or the lack thereof creates the incentives to resolve or sustain the conflicts.
Saudi Arabia is a country the West loves and hates simultaneously. Often termed a ‘mysterious land’, Westerners largely view Saudi Arabia as a country ‘defined by oil, terrorism and veiled women’ (p. 1). The vast oil resources of the country unfailingly increase its strategic importance which helps to foster closer ties with the Americans and the Europeans who otherwise scorn its strict religious orientations, undemocratic and closed system of governance, and the excessive social and cultural dominance of the Wahhabi religious establishment.
The Arab Spring was ignited by an undeniable human security goal of achieving freedom from want, freedom from fear and freedom to live in dignity. This article analyses how human security concerns have figured in the Arab Spring and shaped its course.
The post-2003 Persian Gulf sub-region has witnessed intensified geopolitical conflicts and competition between Iran and the Gulf Arab states, particularly between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Scholars and experts have mostly analysed the conflicts through political and strategic prisms while neglecting their economic dimensions. This article analyses the various post-2003 conflicts between Iran and the Gulf Arab states with a focus on how economic integration or the lack thereof creates the incentives to resolve or sustain the conflicts.
