Notions

  "Power is not an institution, and not a structure; neither is it a certain strength we are endowed with; it is the name that one attributes to a complex strategical situation in a particular society". Michel Foucault An Iranian ship carrying fuel reached Lebanon a few days ago after passing through Syrian territorial waters and unloading on Syrian lands. Parades of gasoline-filled trucks entered Lebanon amidst an ambiance of delight and relief. Hezbollah emerged ever-so-defiant and victorious, and a sigh of relief could be heard across the tiny nation. The arrival of Iranian fuel shipments to Lebanon coincides with the US congressional statement that the US sought to resolve the Lebanese fuel crisis, whilst reiterating the importance of its “no Iranian oil” policy.   Months of economic downturn and fuel shortages have left the country at a brisk of complete collapse. Beirut has been struggling to survive an economic crisis that has seen prices skyrocket and the...

  The great German sociologist and political economist Max Weber defined three types of legitimate authority : traditional, charismatic, and legal-rational. Whether any form exists in its purest form is questionable, as each of the types can rely on the other two for support and further legitimisation. Such types were identified by Weber at the turn of the century, with the rapid changes that happened in the industrial and economic spheres that impacted the political scene. Questions about authority, legitimacy, and efficiency accompanied the developments that Europe was witnessing, conciliating with them the forms of governments populating across the continent and its vicinity. In the 21 century, it is hard to believe that charismatic rule – as a source of legitimate authority – is still considered a valid source. A sole valid source. Most leaders in the Middle East beg to differ. One example is that of the Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who announced in July 2021 that h...

  President George Bush was famously quoted for a phrase he did not coin but one that summed up his presidency style: 'You are either with us or against us'. This logic applies in international relations, and is evident in the Middle East, were there is no place for neutrality. Since 2014, Hamas and Israel have been building new regional alliances in an effort to balance the unbalanced. Hamas turned to wealthy Qatar for funds, Iran for weapons, and Turkey for political support. Meanwhile, and under the auspices of Donald Trump, Israel found new allies in the Arab world by signing the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. You either support Hamas, or Israel, not both. Unless you are Egypt. Egypt was the first country in the Arab world to sign a peace deal with Israel. Its economic ties with Israel cannot be denied, and the agreement on several files that affect the interests of both countri...

  Joseph Ernest Renan : L’essence d’une nation est une plebiscite de tous le jours People and nations, are we talking about the same thing? The use of the two terms is at times interchangeable, sometimes  inadvertent ly, but mostly purposefully. “People”, as a group, refers to the political totality of a group individuals living together and share a political destiny. The term encloses all the members of a given political community. The diversity and homogeneity is not a determining factor: the political aims are. The transformation of feudally-controlled regions into a consolidated state between the 16 th  and 17 th  century was accompanied by the crystallization of a common political identity of the individuals residing in the centralized, modern state, irrespective of the cultural, linguistic, or geographical differences. A nation however transcends the political and economic boundaries of a state and the people. People convert into a nation because they are...

  The Vienna nuclear negotiations between the six major countries and Iran have collapsed, and subsequently so did the prospect of reaching a settlement regarding the nuclear program. Yet again, the Middle East region is at a cross roads with two options: a regional war, or Iran joining the global nuclear club. There are main developments that must be taken into account if we are to stabilize the Middle Eastern regional scene. Israel has recently reiterated that it will do everything necessary to ensure that Iran does not possess nuclear weapons, and it will continue countering extremists that jeopardise the Middle East’s stability and regional peace. Ali Khamenei, the Iranian Supreme Leader, meanwhile, sent the Army Commander, Major General Abdel Rahim Mousavi, a message in which the former stressed that the army must be present in the field and ready to carry out the tasks assigned to it. This coincided with the disclosure of General Yusef Qurbani that Iran has the largest ...