US Policy and the Geopolitics of Insecurity in the Arab World

Bibliographic Data

ID3948522
AuthorsWaleed Hazbun (0000-0003-0370-1382, Johns Hopkins University, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume15
Issue2
Pages239-262
Publication date2010-05-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeopolitics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1465-0045 • E-ISSN: 1557-3028
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14650040903486918
OpenAlexW2005701899
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited13

In the wake of 9/11, President George W. Bush downplayed traditional ‘realist’ security concerns by defining America's goal as countering threats generated by the internal characteristics of Arab societies. Bush advanced a strategy of regional transformation based on regime change in Iraq and economic, social, and political reform across the Arab world. This strategy, however, failed to address the security interests of regional governments while generating insecurity for Arab societies. To explain these results, the article develops a framework for understanding the Middle East regional system that recognises the role of societal discourses of insecurity and the system's multipolar structure. The framework is used to suggest an alternative strategy for US Middle East policy. Rejecting both a renewed project of regional transformation and a return to neorealism, the paper outlines a strategy based on managing a multipolar, pluralist system

Development economics · Economic system · Economics · Geopolitics · International relations · Middle East · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Central Asia Education and Culture · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East