Saudi Arabia and Iran: Executive Summary
This report examines the impact of the increasingly fractious rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran upon politics across the Middle East, focussing upon Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. It…
Post-Brexit: What could a transformative, values-based EU and UK partnership in Foreign Policy look like?
As like-minded partners, sharing many policy traditions, norms and standards the EU and UK have every strategic interest in working together on a values-based foreign policy post-Brexit. In the ongoing…
Saudi Arabia and Iran: The Struggle to Shape the Middle East
The fractious rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran and its impact on the Middle East.
12/11/18
Featured Publications
Saudi Arabia and Iran: The Struggle to Shape the Middle East
The fractious rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran and its impact on the Middle East.
12/11/18
The rise of illiberal civil society in the former Soviet Union?
Charting the rise of illiberal groups in Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Moldova and Kyrgyzstan.
18/07/18
Closing the Door: the challenge facing activists from the former Soviet Union seeking asylum or refuge
The challenge facing activists from the former Soviet Union seeking asylum or refuge.
04/12/17
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Events
Hungary and Poland: Democracy and rule of law under pressure
The Foreign Policy Centre is hosting a Westminster seminar to explore the current political situation in Hungary and Poland. This event will comprise an expert panel discussion and the first UK presentation of a 35 min documentary film, ‘State Capture: The story of Hungary 1988-2018’. The event will examine the growing concerns about rule-of-law (including judicial freedom), media freedom, protection of minorities, commitment to democratic pluralism and the rise of ...
More info
Speakers
Dr Gabor Scheiring, Research Fellow University of Cambridge
Dr Marcin Matczak, Associate Professor, Institute of State and Law Studies, University of Warsaw
Clare Algar, Director- Europe Regional Office, Amnesty International
Chair: Alex Sobel MP
When
November 22, 2018
November 22, 2018 7pm-9pm
Where
Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, House of Commons, London, SW1A 2LW
Strategic Partners or Drifting Apart? British-Turkish Relations in the Age of Brexit
As Britain prepares to leave the European Union, London is looking to develop bilateral relations with non-EU countries. Turkey has been identified as an important trade and strategic partner. British-Turkish relations are worth $16 billion and there are 3,000 British companies, which operate in Turkey. Both are NATO members and are part of the Global Coalition against ISIS, while the UK has traditionally been an advocate for closer collaboration with Turkey. However, ...
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Speakers
Dr Simon Waldman, Mercator-IPC Fellow, Istanbul Policy Center
Dr Ayla Göl, Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy
Dr Natalie Martin, Senior Lecturer in Politics and IR, Nottingham Trent University
Further speaker : TBC
Chair: Catherine West MP
When
November 27, 2018
November 27, 2018 18:00-19:30
Where
Committee Room 11, House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA
Global Britain: Myths, Reality and Post-Brexit Foreign Policy
This seminar organised by the Foreign Policy Centre and Aston University seeks to explore the UK’s role in the World post-Brexit. In the post-war era the traditional view of the UK’s international influence was rooted in its membership of NATO, the UN Security Council, the European Union and its close relationship with the United States, enabling it to claim that it was ‘punching above its weight’ on the world stage. ...
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Speakers
Dr Judi Atkins, Lecturer in Politics
Dr Andrew Glencross, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations
Rt Hon John Whittingdale MP, former Culture Secretary and FPC Political Council Member
When
January 15, 2019
Tuesday January 15th, 6pm-7.30pm
Where
Room TBC, House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA
Latest Articles
View all articles
Saudi Arabia and Iran: Executive Summary
This report examines the impact of the increasingly fractious rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran upon politics across the Middle East, focussing upon Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. It…
Introduction: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the struggle to shape the Middle East
On 22nd September 2018, an attack on a military ceremony in Ahvaz, a city in the southwest of Iran, resulted in the deaths of 25 people and left many more…
The view from Riyadh
Most analysis of the Saudi-Iranian rivalry seems to miss the fundamental points that underline the tension.[1] Iran is trying to save itself from either foreign intervention or domestic unrest[2] while…
Religion and geopolitics in Iranian foreign policy
Saudi Arabia and Iran, as key power brokers in the Middle East, continue to couch their bilateral relations in antagonistic terms as they chafe against each other in a battle…
Sectarianized geopolitical contests and the rise of armed sectarian nonstate actors
The rise of armed sectarian nonstate actors (NSAs) is one of the main consequences of the grand Saudi-Iranian contest over regional dominance unleashed in the wake of the 2003 US…
Iraq and Muhasasa Ta’ifia; the external imposition of sectarian politics
In the aftermath of invasion and regime change in 2003, Iraq’s political field was deliberately and overtly restructured around an informal version of consociationalism, the Muhasasa Ta’ifia (sectarian apportionment) system.…
The different risks of Saudi and Iranian aid to Lebanon
Lebanon is a battleground of Saudi-Iranian rivalry. Both provide aid. While Iranian aid to Hizballah creates a military fighting force, Saudi aid is notable for its economic impact. Iranian aid…
Bahrain: The epicentre of the Saudi-Iranian rivalry?
For many, the archipelago of Bahrain is at the epicentre of the geopolitical and sect-based struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Situated 16 kilometres from the eastern coast of Saudi…
The Yemen war: a proxy sectarian war?
The diffusion of protests against authoritarian regimes across the Arab world in 2011 reinvigorated Yemen’s marginalized social movements and united different geographical and political factions in Yemen, such as the…
Sectarianism as Plan B: Saudi-Iranian identity politics in the Syria conflict
Saudi Arabia and Iran have both been deeply involved in the Syrian civil war from its beginning in 2011, each sponsoring rival sides. Both have utilised sectarian identity politics to…
The securitisation of the ‘Masculinist’ other in the Syrian conflict
Amidst the violence that has spread across Syria since 2011, most scholarship concerned with the Syrian conflict has focused on questions related to how the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and…
Conclusion and recommendations
Understanding the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran goes some way in understanding the uncertainty and instability that plays out across the contemporary Middle East. There is little doubt that…
More efforts from the EBRD required to mainstream gender in Kyrgyzstan
The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has invested more than €650 million in support of the Kyrgyz Republic since the Central Asian country gained its independence following collapse…
FPC Briefing: Rule of Law in China: A priority for businesses and Western Governments
On the eve of China’s ‘4th of May Day’ in 2017, President Xi Jinping announced that “the rule by law is our historical mission.” It is a sentence which harks…
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Post-Brexit: What could a transformative, values-based EU and UK partnership in Foreign Policy look like?
As like-minded partners, sharing many policy traditions, norms and standards the EU and UK have every strategic interest in working together on a values-based foreign policy post-Brexit. In the ongoing…