Rob Geist Pinfold
Biographic Data
| ID | 4447772 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rob Geist Pinfold |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rob Geist |
| FAMILY NAME | Pinfold |
| SIGNATURE | PINFOLD R G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Haifa |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0856-6327 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Grand strategic change after critical situations
This article examines whether strategic narratives and grand strategies exhibit continuity or change after traumatic geopolitical events. It scrutinises Israel’s response to the 7 October 2023 attacks and Czechia’s reaction to Russia’s February 2022 Ukraine invasion. Through (i) qualitative content analysis of leaders’ speeches and (ii) delineating Israeli and Czech grand strategies, it finds that the degree of change was proportional to the leve…
Collision Course
This policy analysis asks: what has caused and now sustains the violent escalation cycle that is re‐defining the Middle East and how will this all end? It analyses Iran and Israel's grand strategies. It argues that both employ force to achieve strategic depth and both bifurcate the region into two blocs doomed to constantly fight for hegemony. Equally, they both share the same flaws. Israel and Iran alike prioritise conflict management over confl…
The US Facing Israel
For decades, US–Israel relations survived and thrived at least partly because of the two states’ commitment to the regional status quo. In 2020, the Trump administration’s promotion of the Abraham Accords demonstrated its ideological sympathy with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government and reinforced Israel’s determination to pressure the Palestinians to relinquish their sovereign ambitions. Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attac…
Failure of Containment
Myth Busting in a Post‐Assad Syria
This article challenges common misconceptions about the fall of Syrian President Bashar al‐Assad. It debunks the notion of a simplistic rebel/regime dichotomy and instead delineates the diversity of actors and interests in a post‐Assad Syria. It also critiques the perception that Hayat Tahrir al‐Sham won a decisive battlefield victory and illustrates that this was as much a political triumph as it was a military one. It then assesses how genuine …
Routledge Handbook on Israel's Foreign Relations
Since the 1970s, Israel’s strategic interest in Africa has waxed and waned, mirroring its regional concerns in the Middle East. While Israel tried to reestablish itself in Africa during the 1980s, its interest in the continent declined after the end of the Cold War and only re-emerged once again in the late 2000s, against the background of its rivalry with Iran and the Palestinians. Throughout this period, Israel’s activities in Africa went throu…
Annexation Attempts as a Two-Level Game
Annexation attempts threaten international security and the rules-based world order. Yet, studies of annexation are rare, whilst the scant relevant literature is great-power centric. This article therefore asks why some non-great power annexations succeed, whereas others do not. Applying Putnam's two-level game framework, it analyses an occupier's: (1) domestic politics; (2) international relations; and (3) interactions between these two levels o…
Security, Terrorism, and Territorial Withdrawal
In contemporary Israel, the apparently negative consequences of the 2005 “unilateral disengagement” from the Gaza Strip have fueled a perception that leaving territory harms national security. Three claims underlie this framing: (1) domestic Israeli political considerations—not national security concerns—caused the disengagement; (2) Israel abandoned territory without receiving any compensation; and (3) leaving Gaza only precipitated further terr…
Territorial withdrawal as multilateral bargaining
This essay tests competing scholarly approaches to territorial withdrawal in two cases seldom scrutinised by theorists: the Israeli exits from the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon. The dominant framing of these cases as ‘unilateral’ suggests Israel withdrew without bargaining with actors in the international system. These cases therefore apparently illustrate the primacy of domestic politics in facilitating or precluding withdrawal. Yet, this essa…
The limits of Israel’s periphery doctrine
Recently, Israel has resuscitated its ‘periphery doctrine’: the attempted circumvention of Arab hostility, by cultivating relations with other nearby actors. Despite the expanding literature on the periphery doctrine, no study has delineated Israel’s contemporary relations with the Caucasus and Central Asia. This deficit is conspicuous, because earlier works noted Israel’s employment of the periphery doctrine to create durable relations, across b…
Theorizing Territorial Withdrawal
This article examines what factors cause states to withdraw from foreign territorial interventions. Scholarly analyses of withdrawal are rare, whilst within the broader research area of territorial conflict, studies are often dichotomized into neorealist or constructivist-inspired works, emphasizing a select few variables and one level of analysis alone. We argue these excessive simplifications of international politics lack utility for understan…
Understanding Israel
The State of Israel is an unlikely powerhouse in a troubled region. Since 1948, Israel has retained its status as a democratic state without interruption. An investor-friendly environment and skilled workforce has led to a thriving economy, whilst the Israel Defence Forces are one of the most powerful armed forces in the world. Yet Israel is also blighted by a plethora of foreign, domestic and security challenges, some of which threaten the very …
Consolidating right-wing hegemony
Following the premature collapse of an eclectic right-wing and centre-left government, Israelis went to the polls on the 17 March, 2015. Despite what appeared to be a clear-cut right-wing victory, the thirty-fourth government of Israel was constituted 14 May, 2015, over two months after incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apparent electoral triumph. This profile examines the contours of Israel’s recent election campaign and formation of…
Territorial withdrawal as multilateral bargaining
This essay tests competing scholarly approaches to territorial withdrawal in two cases seldom scrutinised by theorists: the Israeli exits from the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon. The dominant framing of these cases as ‘unilateral’ suggests Israel withdrew without bargaining with actors in the international system. These cases therefore apparently illustrate the primacy of domestic politics in facilitating or precluding withdrawal. Yet, this essa…
Consolidating right-wing hegemony
Following the premature collapse of an eclectic right-wing and centre-left government, Israelis went to the polls on the 17 March, 2015. Despite what appeared to be a clear-cut right-wing victory, the thirty-fourth government of Israel was constituted 14 May, 2015, over two months after incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apparent electoral triumph. This profile examines the contours of Israel’s recent election campaign and formation of…
Understanding Israel
The State of Israel is an unlikely powerhouse in a troubled region. Since 1948, Israel has retained its status as a democratic state without interruption. An investor-friendly environment and skilled workforce has led to a thriving economy, whilst the Israel Defence Forces are one of the most powerful armed forces in the world. Yet Israel is also blighted by a plethora of foreign, domestic and security challenges, some of which threaten the very …
The limits of Israel’s periphery doctrine
Recently, Israel has resuscitated its ‘periphery doctrine’: the attempted circumvention of Arab hostility, by cultivating relations with other nearby actors. Despite the expanding literature on the periphery doctrine, no study has delineated Israel’s contemporary relations with the Caucasus and Central Asia. This deficit is conspicuous, because earlier works noted Israel’s employment of the periphery doctrine to create durable relations, across b…
Theorizing Territorial Withdrawal
This article examines what factors cause states to withdraw from foreign territorial interventions. Scholarly analyses of withdrawal are rare, whilst within the broader research area of territorial conflict, studies are often dichotomized into neorealist or constructivist-inspired works, emphasizing a select few variables and one level of analysis alone. We argue these excessive simplifications of international politics lack utility for understan…
Territorial withdrawal as multilateral bargaining
This essay tests competing scholarly approaches to territorial withdrawal in two cases seldom scrutinised by theorists: the Israeli exits from the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon. The dominant framing of these cases as ‘unilateral’ suggests Israel withdrew without bargaining with actors in the international system. These cases therefore apparently illustrate the primacy of domestic politics in facilitating or precluding withdrawal. Yet, this essa…
Security, Terrorism, and Territorial Withdrawal
In contemporary Israel, the apparently negative consequences of the 2005 “unilateral disengagement” from the Gaza Strip have fueled a perception that leaving territory harms national security. Three claims underlie this framing: (1) domestic Israeli political considerations—not national security concerns—caused the disengagement; (2) Israel abandoned territory without receiving any compensation; and (3) leaving Gaza only precipitated further terr…
Routledge Handbook on Israel's Foreign Relations
Since the 1970s, Israel’s strategic interest in Africa has waxed and waned, mirroring its regional concerns in the Middle East. While Israel tried to reestablish itself in Africa during the 1980s, its interest in the continent declined after the end of the Cold War and only re-emerged once again in the late 2000s, against the background of its rivalry with Iran and the Palestinians. Throughout this period, Israel’s activities in Africa went throu…
Annexation Attempts as a Two-Level Game
Annexation attempts threaten international security and the rules-based world order. Yet, studies of annexation are rare, whilst the scant relevant literature is great-power centric. This article therefore asks why some non-great power annexations succeed, whereas others do not. Applying Putnam's two-level game framework, it analyses an occupier's: (1) domestic politics; (2) international relations; and (3) interactions between these two levels o…
Collision Course
This policy analysis asks: what has caused and now sustains the violent escalation cycle that is re‐defining the Middle East and how will this all end? It analyses Iran and Israel's grand strategies. It argues that both employ force to achieve strategic depth and both bifurcate the region into two blocs doomed to constantly fight for hegemony. Equally, they both share the same flaws. Israel and Iran alike prioritise conflict management over confl…
The US Facing Israel
For decades, US–Israel relations survived and thrived at least partly because of the two states’ commitment to the regional status quo. In 2020, the Trump administration’s promotion of the Abraham Accords demonstrated its ideological sympathy with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government and reinforced Israel’s determination to pressure the Palestinians to relinquish their sovereign ambitions. Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attac…
Failure of Containment
Myth Busting in a Post‐Assad Syria
This article challenges common misconceptions about the fall of Syrian President Bashar al‐Assad. It debunks the notion of a simplistic rebel/regime dichotomy and instead delineates the diversity of actors and interests in a post‐Assad Syria. It also critiques the perception that Hayat Tahrir al‐Sham won a decisive battlefield victory and illustrates that this was as much a political triumph as it was a military one. It then assesses how genuine …
Grand strategic change after critical situations
This article examines whether strategic narratives and grand strategies exhibit continuity or change after traumatic geopolitical events. It scrutinises Israel’s response to the 7 October 2023 attacks and Czechia’s reaction to Russia’s February 2022 Ukraine invasion. Through (i) qualitative content analysis of leaders’ speeches and (ii) delineating Israeli and Czech grand strategies, it finds that the degree of change was proportional to the leve…
Political science (9 works) · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies (8 works) · History (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Ancient history (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Economics (4 works) · History (4 works) · International Relations and Foreign Policy (4 works) · Political economy (4 works)