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This article explores the relationship between international‐relations theories and Cold War and post‐Cold War historical dynamics in the Middle East, in particular the Gulf. It first identifies the theoretical approaches that have been applied or that have failed to be applied to the region's changing geopolitics, then delves into Cold War history and its impact on the Middle East and the Gulf by examining the crucial changes to the Gulf security system sparked by developments in the 1970s and the Iran‐Iraq War of 1980–1988. The article next investigates the extent to which the interplay of post‐Cold War regional conflicts and key events, from the Iraq wars of 1991 and 2003 to the Arab Spring, have impacted the Gulf subregional system. The final part scrutinizes the shifting intra‐ and extraregional Gulf politics and how theoretically informed approaches inspired by international political economy can accommodate these geopolitical changes. The article is part of a special issue examining the responses of Gulf countries to rising Sino‐American competition, edited by Andrea Ghiselli, Anoushiravan Ehteshami, and Enrico Fardella. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The civil conflicts that erupted in the Middle East and North Africa as a consequence of the failure of the 2011 Arab uprisings show the limits of mediation as a tool for conflict resolution and of negotiated settlement based on power-sharing as a solution to conflict. The article examines mediation processes in Libya and Syria, problematising the role played by the nature of mediators as well as the broader ideational framework in which they have been operating. We show that in both contexts there has been a declining influence of pure mediators, exemplified by the sidelining of the United Nations, in parallel to a gradual but steady dispersion of mediation efforts in favour of 'power' and biased mediators. This trend reflects a broader rise in arguments in favour of stability, often interpreted in authoritarian shapes at both the local and the international level, a development that normatively and politically undermines the existing international regime dealing with civil wars. Taken together, mediation attempts in Libya and Syria point to the hollowing out of the liberal peace consensus and the consolidation of an alternative framework for conflict resolution based on authoritarian settlement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every actor who commands coercive resources plays a relevant role in the complex processes of state restructuring following regime change. The role of armies in the 2010-2011 Arab uprisings has been widely explored, but limited attention has been devoted to how different agents with coercive power have been involved in the restructuring of political order. This contribution presents the theoretical framework within which the remaining empirical contributions are situated. The central insight is that better understanding of the emerging political orders requires moving away from binary notions of hierarchy and anarchy as ordering principles and look at how, within heterarchical political orders, coercive agents behave within fluid state-society relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In post—2011 Tunisia, the reform of the security sector has proceeded haphazardly, hindering security efficiency and lowering the overall effectiveness in countering threats. Since 2015, the combination of three factors — external shocks, international actors' pressures and domestic configurations of political power — have paved the way for a progressive overhaul of the efficiency of security agencies. Following the 2015 terrorist attacks, that destabilized the political system and risked derailing the trajectory of democratic consolidation, European powers exerted pressure to improve efficiency in the security sector. Lastly, these push factors needed an enabling condition, a strong presidency of the republic, to make the changes happen. The measures adopted reflect a technical and supposedly depoliticized view of reforms, in line with a broader post‐interventionist trend in Security Assistance. Based on process-tracing, the analysis of primary documents and several in‐depth interviews carried out between 2015 and 2017, the article illustrates the workings of the policy process in the security arena. It sheds light on the conditions that made possible the adoption of reforms, the role external actors played in pushing for change and in creating a new multilateral mechanism, the G7+, which produced an unintended set of domestic consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims at analysing different, partly overlapping and partly competing European security discourses that have emerged on the Iranian nuclear issue since 2003. Three main discursive themes have been singled out exemplifying the main identity representations of Iran and Europe, the main stances towards Iran and the representations of the nature of European foreign policy. Over the years, the coercive-securitisation discourse has become hegemonic over democracy promotion and cultural diplomacy-inspired discourses and European policies have consistently followed suit. In terms of security governance, the European Union (EU) has created a format for negotiations, which has undergone subsequent enlargements, consistent with its securitised but multilateral discourses. While the nature of the collegial security governance espoused has brought positive effects in terms of reinforcing the EU's own identity as an international actor both inside and outside, the resilience of the first discursive theme throughout the process despite other international actors' dissonance signals that a more comprehensive and inclusive discourse towards the Iranian nuclear issue has failed to emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]