Let us discuss Roger Owen=
217;s
observation (pp 66-67) that “the close involvement with events a=
nd
processes across Arab borders means that there is less of a difference
between domestic and foreign policy than in other parts of the world.&=
#8221;Why may regional developments=
in
the Arab world have a greater impact upon the internal politics of a g=
iven
country in the region than, say, some regional developments in Latin America or Southe=
ast Asia
upon one of their respective states?&=
nbsp;
Why may even a regime’s legitimacy be at stake in the Arab
world?
Do you think that the Arab world or at least part=
s of
it constitute what Karl Deutsch called a security community (Hudson, p.
6)?
What about economic cooperation?Can Arab countries gradually =
deepen
their economic ties, following in the footsteps of the European Union,
moving from specific projects like the European Coal and Steel Communi=
ty
to a free trade area and eventually to political union?What are the conditions for
developing supranational institutions?What do you think of BassamTibi’s
“middle way” of sharing “a political culture of
policymaking within a civil society” (p. 103)?
What complementary economic interests do various
states in the region share? In
what ways are their economic interests conflicting?
How has the balance of power (the “Arab bal=
ance
of weakness” discussed by BahgatKorany) changed in the region since the third Gu=
lf
war?
What are the similarities and differences between
radical Islamism today and Arabism a half century ago?Does radical Islamism today p=
ose a
greater threat to existing state orders than Arabism (Gamal
Abdul Nasser vs. the Ba’ath) in the 1950s and 1960s?
Now to the final question that we did not answer =
last
week, but given our better understanding of regional politics, can the
oil-rich GCC regimes afford, even with plenty of revenues to meet their
implicit welfare commitments, to continue to minimize political reform=
and
investments in political infrastructure?How would you advise them to
proceed?
Will the (contradictory) tendencies of US-led
globalization pressure the Arab world toward greater integration or
disintegration, or will they in the final analysis have little impact =
upon
the region? And what are=
the
possible impacts, respectively, of the EU, Russia, and China?