Flashcards
Constructed Identities and the Middle East
Cards in this deck (27)
- 1Historical background of constructivism- End of Cold War
- Breakdown of Soviet Union
- What to do with NATO?
- Transformation of International system
- Waves of democratisation and cooperation
- Realism couldn't explain - 2Cold War showed that- Theories needed as form of organising framework to make sense of complex world
- Theories reflect time created - realism when material gains for state key
- Theories cannot explain/prescribe 'right' policy option
- Constructivism may offer more nuanced understanding of pol. developments in world - 3How does world work?- Constructivism challenges liberalism & realism
- Investigates how states construct their interest through interactions w one another
- 'World is our making' challenges realist & liberal perspectives
- Ontologically, against rational conceptualisation of human nature/activities - things can change
- Can 'reality' be de/reconstructed
- Constructivism too abstract - 4Core assumptions- World as social system
- States are social constructs
- Social rules define rel. between states
- Anarchy not inherent
- Belief in social construction of reality & importance of social facts
- Focus on ideational/material structures & norms/rules important
- Role of identity in shaping pol. action
- Mutual constructiveness of agents & structure - 5Significance- cooperation & trust matter
- in self-help system bc we made it that way
- Wendt (1992) - 'anarchy is what states make of it'
- Structures influence agents & agents influence structures (Giddens)
- States interests subjective
- Identity not static
- 'Security communities' based on cooperation (Adler & Barnett) - 6Perception- Emphasises meanings assigned to material objects, rather than objects themselves
- Social facts only exist through human agreement (money, borders)
- Nuclear weapon in UK vs in N. Korea material identical but diff meaning for US
- Greater role placed on norm devpt, identity, ideational power
- Kemalist Turkey portraying itself separate from ME - modernise, part of W world but change of ruling elite (AKP came to power) - has Islamist vision - diff state identity - 7pan-Arabism- Ideology emerged post-WW1
- Peak in 1950s/60s under Nasser
- Believed Arab states part of Arab nation
- Shared identity - ethnicity, language, trad.
- Shared interests - anti-Imperialism, anti-Zionism
- Focus on shared interests/identity, not military capabilities
- Was religion part of identity? - 8Main historical events behind idea of Arab unity- Most Arab part of ME were parts of Ottoman Empire
- Towards end of Ottoman Empire - decline in power, unhappy w Ottoman govt, run by Turks - educated in Europe/nationalist ideas
- Emphasises Turkish identity over Islamic - 9McMahon-Hussein Correspondence (1915-1916)- Arab entities belonging to Ottoman Empire felt insecure about position bc Turks wanted to take autonomy from Arab leaders
- Weakened Ottoman - lost Balkans 1912
- Turks entered war - Arab leaders considered uniting Arab lands & gaining independence
- Hussein Ibn Ali allied w British forced & asked for help - Lawrence of Arabia
- Corresponding w McMahon
- 10 letters exchanged in period
- Blurred lines - meant diff things for Hussein & McMahon - 10Skyes-Picot Agreement (19160- British & French had diplomats, Skyes & Picot
- Discussing behind closed doors how ME would be carved up between two & they will have spheres of influence in ME post-Ottoman collapse
- Conflicting to McMahon-Hussein - Hussein unaware
- Hussein given assurances so started revolt vs Ottoman in 1916 - 11The Balfour Declaration (1917)- Found out wouldn't be given territory they wanted
- Declaration as statement of British support for establishment in Palestine of national home for Jewish people
- From James Balfour - British f secretary
- Promised Palestinian peoples' civil & religious rights would be protected
- Nothing about pol. rights
- British mandate established in Palestine
- Formally approved by L of N in 1922
- Arab leaders felt betrayed by British
- 1920 - French claimed Syria as French mandate, Faisal sent to exile.
- Start of anti-Imperialist/Zionist feelings - 12Creation of Israel (194)- Beginning of era for pan-Arabism
- Something to unite against
- From constructivist perspective is shared history - felt betrayed and wanted to take fate into own hands by nation coming together to form one state - 13Leader & Aspirations- Gamal Abd el Nasser - pioneered idea of pan-Arabism
- Involved in coup vs monarch 1952
- Anti-Western
- Wanted to force British out of Egypt & then whole of ME
- Unite all Arab nations into one state w one govt.
- 1950s/60s - ME dominated by 4 interlinked conflicts - CW, Arab-Israeli, Arab rivalries for hegemony, colonial struggles - 14Is Arab Nationalism dead? NoIran-Iraq War & Arab states
Palestine case: seen as Arab affair - 15Is Arab Nationalism deD? YES- Kuwait War: Arabs vs Arabs
- Syria Crisis
- Yemen Crisis
- Qatar Blockade
- Normalisation w Israel
- Not all Arab states can unite in 1 front - diff stances/change
- Normalisation of rel. w Israel
- Rise of pan-Islamism - took over vacuum created by decline of pan-Arabism - 16Constructivist lens on pan-Arabism- Cooperation, shared values & interests, identity, power in discursive terms (norms, ideas, culture)
- Idea of state created - social fact of Arab nation
- Leaders acting according to that - some went against state interest to create pan-Arab unity e.g., Syria giving sovereignty & uniting w other state
- Realism cannot explain
- realist - military expenditures, military arm deals w Soviets/US - 17Dennis Hiebert on Social Construction of reality- Process wherebyb people continuously create, through actions/ineractions
- Shared reality that is experienced as objectively factual & subjectively meaningful
- Social world not given - made by us
- Even intuition shaped by what others have told is
- Can be deconstructed & reconstructed
1. Externalisation - individuals create social world
2. Objectivation - individuals apprehend everyday life as ordered, prearrange reality
3. Internalisation - humans learn legitimations of institutional order - led culture define who we are - 18Telhami, S & Barnett, M on identity & foreign policy in ME- Majority of pol history of ME told w reference to pol. identities
- Rise/decline of pan-Arab movement, weakness of states in region, lack of fit between boundaries imposed by colonial
- Post-9/11 - alignment between US/ME - due to Islamic identity
- Ebb & flow of identity politics key
- Regime changes from long-serving Arab leaders - 19"" them on constructivism- Systemic & rationalist perspective cannot account for fp of ME states
- Constructivism posits that social structures are alloyed w normative/material elements - social structures constitute actors' identities/interests
- Practices of actors embedded in that social structure reproduce it
- Challenge realist assumption that interests are homogeneous in all contexts
- Need to consider unique nature of ME
- Consider social construction of Arab national interests
- Effect of Arab & sovereignty norms on interaction among survival-seeking leaders
- Shifts in interests of Arab states caused by transformations in national identities
- Continuous debate over collective identity
- Arabism vs Islamism, conservative vs radical Arabism, Zionist-religious vs Zionist-secular - 20Identity debate- Some see it as ideological device to justify self-interested politics - Arabism as ideological prop in hands of self-interested/power-seeking Arab leaders
- Q of state identity central to pol. debate Syria rise of Ba’ath and advocacy of Arabism over nationalism/Islamism led to definition of state as an Arab republic
without reference to Islamic character.
- Jordan severing of ties with West Bank in 1989 signalled a further detachment of
Palestinian component of Jordanian identity. Meaning of Israel’s - 21Competing Perspective on Identity Formation & Change- Identities are social - influenced by interactions w others
- National identities formed in rel. to other states
- State identity - corporate/demarcated
- Nation - group of people aspiring to have historical homeland
- State institutional, national cultural/pol.
-State identities can differ to national identities of local people - instability
- Clashes between rivals for power
- Ideology, not identity, used by dominant class to their advantage - justification - 223 primary sources of pol. national identity1. power elite & instrumental forces --> nationalism manufactured/manipulated by pol. savvy & power-hungry pol. elites
2. Societal force - bottom-up. Undertow of nationalism. Social movements
3. Intl. forces - catalyst for local discussions/debates. End of empire - debates over boundaries. Colonialism/imperialism triggered domestic backlash & growing demand for national self-determination
Globalisation - defence of local cultures threatened by Westernisation.
CW West pressure Arab countries to use containment fanned Arab nationalism flames - Baghdad Pact - 23Many National Identities in ME- Statism, Islamism, Arabism
- Transnational alternatives to national identities
- few subnational groups success contend to define national identity except Kurds in Iraq
- Arab Nationalism vs Statism:
Palestinian considers himself 'first Arab, second Arab & third Palestinian'
- Not mutually exclusive
- History of region - identities conflict as actors forced to choose- norms call for opposing behaviours - 24How does identity affect foreign policy- Interests driven by ideational factors
- Identities source of interests
- Arabism shaped Egyptian national interest & shaped fp events - intervention in Yemen 1960s, unity w Syria
- Transformation of Palestinian priority once PLO recognised as national movement - PLO interests mutually exclusive w Israel's. Changed goal to est. state rather than reclaiming Palestine
- Arab identity treated Israel as taboo but shift towards state-national identity made peace w Israel thinkable - 25Information Revolution- Tech/econ exchange - increased interaction - deepened mutual identification
- Common Arab language, media of comms, nascent symbols of identity, print tech - possible to comm - gen Arab pol. consciousness
- New pol. vocab of nationalism - colonialism Zionism threat
- Prospered post-WW2 - creation of Israeli state - defenders of Arabism
- Decline of Arabism, rise of statism - role of IT in rise of Islam
- Arab leaders no longer found useful to compete over Arabism symbols, stabilised around sovereignty norms
- 1990s proliferation of internet/external news - competing sources of info - govt. lost control - 26More ...- Information market in Arab world defined by langauge
- Caters to Arab tastes/interests rather than to specific countries - Al-Hayat, Al-Jazeera
- creates common world view in Arab world
- E.g., Common public/elite reaction to Doha conference on Arab-Israeli cooperation - opposition from elites
Emergence of Arab political consciousness enabled individuals to mobilise more easily to issues threatening Arabs - 27Barnett & Lynch- Lynch on Jordan
- rise of dominant Jordanian identity for Hashemite Kingdom due to public debate involving rival Arabist/Palestinian/Jordanian identity frames, definition of what Jordanian identity is not, strategic interests of Jordanian state
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- Constructivism in IR - why important - Key tenets - How approach is different - Not theory but ontological approach to understand IR
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- Isla Duguid
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