Middle East Dossier

In this episode, Dr Adam Moore discusses his latest book Empire’s Labor: The Global Army that Supports U.S. Wars. He draws on his research with Filipino and Bosnian migrant labour to sketch out the vast transnational logistical infrastructure employed in running day to day US military affairs around the world. This podcast series is presented by Dr Alessandro Arduino, Principal Research Fellow and...

The Biden administration’s decision to pull all troops out of Afghanistan has added to the chorus of discussion on the evolution of America’s Middle East policy from a boots-on-the-ground orientation towards that of an offshore balancer. But with tens of thousands of troops still based in the Gulf, is the American role really shifting? Are Washington’s mixed signals forcing GCC countries to review...

On 18 May 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) published a landmark report on a pathway to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Among the many proposals in the report is the call to immediately end investments in oil and gas exploration and development. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies still depend heavily on oil and gas for their national income, government budgets and social order....

Economic diversification strategies to wean Gulf economies away from a dependence on hydrocarbon revenues have existed for decades. Ongoing state-led investments in strategic non-oil industries have produced varied results. Recent development initiatives involving culture, renewable energy, and technology-oriented industries appear promising; however, the return on investment is neither immediate...

In this episode, Dr Noah Coburn discusses his latest book Under Contract: The Invisible Work of America’s Global War. He elaborates how colonial era structures for recruiting Gurkha soldiers from Nepal came to be remobilised for providing low-cost precarious labour for the American war in Afghanistan. This podcast series is presented by Dr Alessandro Arduino, Principal Research Fellow and Dr Ameem...

What is the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Indonesia? For centuries, Indonesians have travelled to Saudi Arabia and been deeply involved in education, scholarship and the creation of centers for Islamic learning in the country. Yet, the impact of this migration has not  been the focus of scholarly research and little is known about the important intellectual connections that currently exist...

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi unveiled a five-point plan to secure and stabilize the Middle East during a six-nation tour of the region. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of China-Turkey relations, Yi held out the prospect of elevating ties between the two countries to a comprehensive strategic partnership. China already has strategic partnerships with several states in the region, including Ira...

The engineering of president-elect Ebrahim Raisi’s victory in Iran’s recent election on 18 June 2021 constitutes a potential domestic and foreign policy watershed. Designed to ensure conservative control of all levers of power in Iran and help Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei manage his succession, manipulation of the election swept aside the Islamic republic’s long-standing democratic preten...

Qatar has taken the first steps to effect reconciliation with its Gulf neighbours, having recently welcomed Saudi Arabia’s new ambassador to Doha. Elsewhere, reports indicate that Bahrain invited Qatar for bilateral talks to strengthen Gulf co-operation. Yet, against the backdrop of a  diplomatic freeze from 2017 to 2021, Doha found it vital to transit via Iran’s airspace and territorial waters in...

Did you know that the Hawk of Quraysh is a symbol featured in numerous emblems, coat of arms and flags of various Arab states? In the recorded history about the Quraysh, a mercantile tribe that inhabited the city of Mecca, claims have been made about the falcon as their clan symbol. Falconry, once at the heart of Arabian desert life, has undergone transformations due to rapid urbanisation in the G...

Pop nashid (or nasheed) refers to a vocal music work either sung a cappella or with instruments, according to a particular Islamic tradition or style. Such music and Islamic pop artistes generally celebrate Allah, Prophet Muhammad and an Islamic lifestyle in lyrics. At times, these lyrics address the importance of freedom or the situations for refugees or Palestinians. Artistes and companies alike...

Qatar, a young state with a commensurately small population has emerged as an influential powerbroker in the Middle East. What are the tools that have enabled it to project power, soft or otherwise, on the international stage? How can we better understand Qatar’s “maverick” diplomacy that has enhanced its branding? Since its independence in 1971 and following a period of “high modernism,” the Qata...

This event is jointly organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) & the Middle East Institute (MEI) at the National University of Singapore.   Around one-sixth of the global oil supply moves through the Strait of Hormuz, making this chokepoint perhaps the most crucial 21 miles in the world. Any minor disturbance or turmoil in these narrow waters can create ripples strong enough to roc...

This event is jointly organised by Political Economy and Diffusion of Ideas-Gulf Cluster of the Middle East Institute NUS, in collaboration with the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI). Abstract In a recent phone conversation between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the former expressed support for the kingdom’s initiatives in climat...

In this episode, Dr Andreas Krieg illustrates how private security companies are a response to an emerging global phenomenon: surrogate warfare. Military surrogacy involves not only human stand-in’s such as proxies, local militias and private contractors; but also with machine or technological surrogates as such drones, AI, and cyber-tech. This podcast series is presented by Dr Alessandro Arduino,...

Did you know that the UAE is a federation of seven emirates which are governed by six ruling families? How did Dubai achieve global prominence to an extent that many rave about its economic model? This webinar approaches the UAE’s evolution through a socio-historical lens in the following order: - The UAE as a federal government - The prehistoric times (3000 B.C to 600 A.D), the Islamic era (600 t...

Against the backdrop of two interlinked events – the increased Arab-Israeli closeness resulting from the Abraham Accords and the attempts to resurrect the Iran nuclear deal, this webinar will explore the current nature and future dynamics of the relationship between Iran and the GCC states under the paradigm of regional security.  Panelists will delve into two important dimensions of the Iran-GCC...

About the Webinar Asia is one of the most diverse regions in the world, with a variety of different environments within its vast lands. Several countries within Asian, including Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, and Qatar, are at risk of weather extremes and rising sea levels due to climate change. There is a growing realization that past efforts will not be enough to thwart future threats. Jo...

Among the Gulf states, did you know that Oman possesses arguably the greatest amount of raw and scenic beauty? What makes Oman geographically critical is its control over a finger of land in the southern coast, called the Musandam Peninsula, which has allowed the sultanate to pursue an independent foreign policy straddling between its neighbours, Iran and Western governments. What makes the same p...

In 1949, at the end of  long periods of wars, one of the biggest challenges facing leaders of the new People’s Republic of China was how much they did not know. The government of one of the world’s largest nations was committed to fundamentally re-engineering its society and economy via socialist planning while having almost no reliable statistical data of the country. Making It Count is the histo...

Bridging the Gulf Episode 4 — Answering the Five “W”s of Kuwaiti Democracy (Friday, 14 May 2021): Speaker: Dr Tahani Al Terkait, Kuwait Did you know that Kuwait began adopting democracy as a system of government since its independence in 1961? By shedding light on the old ruling traditions of Islamic shura (consultation) and joint governing, we trace Kuwait’s path towards a civil and constitutiona...

The past five years have witnessed tremendous changes in Saudi Arabia affecting the line of royal succession, the business class, the religious establishment and the social scene. This week's episode of Bridging the Gulf will explain the significance of these changes in the context of the kingdom’s foundation, the decades-long intertwining of religion and political power, the discovery of oil, and...

Andrea Ghiselli, author of the book Protecting China’s Interests Overseas: Securitisation and Foreign Policy, will discuss Chinese foreign and security policymaking with Raffaello Pantucci, a researcher at RSIS whose work looks at security dynamics in the Eurasian heartland. Focusing on the broad territory that lies between MENA and South and Central Asia, Ghiselli and Pantucci will discuss China’...

In this podcast Dr Joshua Reno, Professor of Anthropology at Binghamton University, discusses how the pressure of constant war-readiness produces military waste which in turn animates places and people far from the battlegrounds. He argues that rejected designs, outdated planes, scrapped ships, and space debris, should be central to calculations of social, political, and economic costs of war. Thi...

Episode 2 — Top 5 Myths about Energy in the Gulf (Friday, 30 April 2021)   Speaker: Dr Li-Chen Sim, Khalifa University One of the more enduring myths in the   Gulf is that oil is so plentiful – every household has an oil well in their backyard. This webinar will explore the reality behind the five most common myths about energy in the Gulf. It will also consider how these myths impact upon percept...