Introduction
There are potentially three provinces of thought or general frameworks that can, if we invest in them well, provide us with effective solutions and real successes in the face of extremist behaviour, culture and practice. These provinces deal with the culture of extremism that preceded it on the one...
Iraq’s massive needs for reconstruction, after more than 35 years of conflict, cannot be met by current revenues from its considerable hydrocarbon resources alone, and thus it needs to resort to debt to augment funding this reconstruction.
However, discussions within Iraq about the country’s debt are emotionally influenced by several...
“The history of international water treaties dates as far back as 2500 BC, when the two Sumerian city-states of Lagash and Umma crafted an agreement ending a water dispute along the Tigris River - often said to be the first treaty of any kind.”
Today, international water partnerships in the...
By Ali Ziad al Ali, researcher specialising in international and strategic affairs.
The phenomenon of terrorism is little more than a synthetic hybrid construct that combines several contradictory components and strands. Some analysts have argued that the term is both structurally and conceptually vague, whether intentionally or otherwise. However, if...
Introduction
Land border-crossings represent a very important economic asset for neighbouring countries because of the income generated through cross-border commercial trade, as well as, providing a tourist corridor for the transit of visitors and tourists between countries. Border-crossings are also an important security gateway for the country.
The greater the number...
Abstract
The challenges faced by Germany’s recent experience in Iraq reflect the complex and dynamic nature of engaging in conflict zones in the Middle East. An overlap between humanitarian concerns and national security interests formed the basis of Germany’s initial decision to deploy soldiers to northern Iraq, but once there,...
By Ali Ziad al Ali, researcher specialising in international and strategic affairs.
At the beginning of 2016, Canada announced, in the words of its Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, a strategy called the "Middle East Strategy", which focused on ways of enhancing Canadian interests in the region, in general, and in...
By Ali Ziad al-Ali, researcher specialising in international and strategic affairs.
In general, arbitrary or unsystematic threats to national security are a direct menace to the intrinsic values and underpinnings of any society. Iraq’s national security faces an unprecedented number of visible threats that form a direct menace to the...
Summary
Neoliberal thinking provides a broad-spectrum interpretation of the role of resources in regional rivalries, and issues such as identity, energy and water resources are considered legitimate reasons for rivalry in international politics. Strategists argue that in the years following the Cold War, there was good reason for new regional...
1. Introduction
This report primarily concentrates on the oil sector in ‘federal’ Iraq, i.e. that outside the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). It can be read in conjunction with my earlier study for the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES) of the petroleum industry in the KRI.
The defeat of ISIS...
