Turkey’s Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP): a qualitative review of the literature

ABSTRACT

The Southeastern Anatolia Project (Güneydo?u Anadolu Projesi, GAP) is one of the largest regional development projects ever implemented in the Middle East. Launched officially in the 1970s to develop the water and land resources of southeastern Turkey, GAP has over time evolved from a predominantly technical, largely state-led and mainly infrastructural and economic development-oriented project into a primarily social, largely market-friendly and chiefly sustainable and human development-oriented project. Parallel to this evolution, GAP has grown more visible in political and public discourses. The implications of the project, for instance, on the ecology and cultural heritages, on the Kurdish Question, and on water issue among Turkey, Syria and Iraq have become clearer. However, despite growing academic and policy interest on GAP, there has been no attempt to provide a literature review on the project. Even more than 40 years after GAP was begun, a bird’s eye view of researched and under-researched topics in the literature has not been introduced yet. This article seeks to present a qualitative review of GAP-related literature. In this way, it seeks to constitute an initial step to establish a base for more expansive reviews and to provide guidance to interested and involved researchers, practitioners and policymakers.     

Yarmouk,Jordan, and Disi basins: Examining the impact of the discourse of water scarcity in Jordan on transboundary water governance

Extensive literature has shown the impact of water scarcity discourses on national policies, however the impact of water scarcity discourses on transboundary water governance has been overlooked. This article contributes to filling this gap by investigating the impact of the water scarcity discourse in the case of Jordan, specifically on three cases of transboundary water governance: the Yarmouk River, the Jordan River and the Disi Aquifer. This article shows that the water scarcity discourse is not enough to explain transboundary water governance, as it needs to be contextualized in the broader context, considering national security, regional geopolitics, inter-sectorial interests, and power asymmetries. This is particularly true when considering that the Arab region has most of its surface waters originating outside of its countries, and transboundary waters represent over two thirds of its overall water resources.     

Civil society participation in regional integration in Africa: A comparative analysis of ECOWAS,SADC, and the EAC

There is an undeniable trend towards civil society participation in virtually all issue-areas of global governance, yet civil society participation varies widely among international organisation (IOs). While this trend has inspired a voluminous academic literature, empirically-based, comparative studies of IO-civil society interaction in Africa remain largely absent. This article therefore examines civil society participation in three African subregional organisations – the East African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). What are the factors that have made regional integration in ECOWAS relatively more people-driven, and that have thus far hindered effective civil society participation in the affairs of SADC and the EAC? Support from member states, allies in the respective organisation’s bureaucracy, and characteristics of civil society itself, the research shows, affect participation in regional integration, with the latter aspect apparently more salient in SADC and the EAC than in ECOWAS.     

DROUGHT: THE ACHILLES HEEL OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

Approximately 97% of the country is experiencing drought conditions. Due to gross water mismanagement and its damaging impact on the country, Iran faces the worst situation in water resources of any industrialized nation. Tens of thousands of villages have been deserted and most of the major urban centers have passed their limits to absorb new rural migrants. Some officials predict that in less than 25 years, 50 million Iranians would be displaced from their current homes because of the pressing ecological conditions. This is happening at the time that the gap between the grassroots and the state has widened and there is increasing dissatisfaction with governance plagued by corruption, nepotism, economic mismanagement, unaccountability and a foreign policy which has produced various regional and trans-regional adversaries. This paper evaluates the pressing ecological challenges in Iran and by conceptualizing political resilience it critically evaluates whether the Islamic Republic is prepared to face the devastating ecological crisis and its socio-economic consequences.     

The EU and Asia Within an Evolving Global Order: What is Europe? Where is Asia?

The papers in this special edition are a very small selection from those presented at the EU-NESCA (Network of European Studies Centres in Asia) conference on "the EU and East Asia within an Evolving Global Order: Ideas, Actors and Processes" in November 2008 in Brussels. The conference was the culmination of three years of research activity involving workshops and conferences bringing together scholars from both regions primarily to discuss relations between Europe and Asia, perceptions of Europe in Asia, and the relationship between the European regional project and emerging regional forms in Asia. But although this was the last of the three major conferences organised by the consortium, it in many ways represented a starting point rather than the end; an opportunity to reflect on the conclusions of the first phase of collaboration and point towards new and continuing research agendas for the future.     

A Leader Without Followers? The Growing Divergence Between the Regional and Global Performance of Brazilian Foreign Policy

Brazilian diplomats and academics alike have long regarded regional leadership as a springboard to global recognition. Yet Brazil's foreign policy has not translated the country's structural and instrumental resources into effective regional leadership. Brazil's potential followers have not aligned with its main goals, such as a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and Directorship‐General of the World Trade Organization; some have even challenged its regional influence. Nevertheless, Brazil has been recognized as an emergent global power. This article analyzes the growing mismatch between the regional and global performance of Brazilian foreign policy and shows how both theoretical expectations and policy planning were “luckily foiled” by unforeseen developments. It argues that because of regional power rivalries and a relative paucity of resources, Brazil is likely to consolidate itself as a middle global power before gaining acceptance as a leader in its region.     

Contesting Landscapes in Thailand: Tree Ordination as Counter-territorialization

Recently, authors Vandergeest and Peluso have discussed the process of territorialization in Siam/Thailand, where the state has gradually expanded its control over natural resources through its legal machinery and associated classifications of the natural environment. While Vandergeest and Peluso focus on the process of territorialization from the perspective of the Thai State, this article examines the same process from the perspective of nongovernmental organizations and forest--dwelling farmers. Of particular interest is a project launched by the Northern Farmer's Network to “ordain” 50 million trees in community forests throughout Northern Thailand in 1996 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the king's accession to the throne. This essentially Buddhist ceremony has since been conducted in numerous Buddhist as well as non-Buddhist rural communities. The authors argue that these communities apply the tree ordination ceremony as a tool to counter the territorialization of the Thai state by reasserting local identities and environmental responsibilities. By invoking Buddhist symbols and the honor of the king, the rural groups–many of which fear eviction from forested areas classified as national parks–identify themselves positively with modern Thai society in order to contest their public depiction as “enemies of the nation.” This article analyzes the process of territorialization and counter-territorialization in Thai society by discussing classifications and associated landscapes in the environmental debate in Thailand. Furthermore, the tree ordination project undertaken by the Northern Farmers' Network is analyzed based on cases from the Mae Chaem district in Chiang Mai Province.     

Hope and reality in Vietnam and Myanmar

When IIPS Senior Research Fellow Hisahiro Kanayama embarked on this project, he found that information on Vietnam and Myanmar was often biased or insufficient. This article is based on a month‐long factfinding trip to Southeast Asia, where he interviewed analysts in government, international organizations, research institutes, and diplomatic circles. Kanayama notes that Vietnam and Myanmar may become—as part of an enlarged ASEAN—a force ranking fourth in regional political clout after the US, Japan and China. Neither excessive expectations nor indifference to neighbors is an appropriate response from Japan, he states. His research was conducted prior to Myanmar's release of Aung San Suu Kyi. The article has since been updated.     

Regional power South Africa: Co-operative hegemony constrained by historical legacy

This article argues that regional powers can be distinguished by four pivotal criteria: claim to leadership, power resources, employment of foreign policy instruments, and acceptance of leadership. Applying these criteria to the South African case, the crucial significance of institutional foreign policy instruments for the power over policy outcomes at the regional and global level is demonstrated. But although Pretoria is ready to pay the costs of co-operative hegemony (capacity building for regional institutions and peacekeeping for instance), the regional acceptance of South African leadership is constrained by its historical legacy. Additionally Pretoria's foreign policy is based on ideational resources such as its reputation as an advocate of democracy and human rights and its paradigmatic behaviour as a ‘good global citizen’ with the according legitimacy. The Mbeki presidency was more successful in converting these resources into discursive instruments of interest-assertion in global, than in regional bargains. In effect the regional power's reformist south-oriented multilateralism is challenging some of the guiding principles of the current international system.     

The New Geo-Economics of a “Rising” India: State Transformation and the Recasting of Foreign Policy

With a focus on India, and drawing on critical scholarship on geo-politics and geo-economics and “relational” state theories, this article examines the ways in which ideational and material processes of state transformation have shaped India’s international engagement in different periods. Prior to 1991, geo-political social forms linked to a national developmentalist state project shaped India’s engagement with global and regional multilateralism and the nature of this engagement fluctuated according to shifts in the legitimacy and viability of this state project. The erosion of the developmentalist state project from the 1970s laid the path for a deeper shift in the national social order in the 1990s with the recasting of statehood wherein India’s future was thought to be best secured through policies of economic openness, growth and competitiveness. This shift in India’s state project has given rise to new forms of global and regional engagement that are distinct to older forms of international engagement and reflect and further processes of state transformation in India. This is illustrated through a case study on energy policy.     

Narratives of Islam in Uzbekistan: authoritarian myths and the Janus-state syndrome

ABSTRACT

Under the late Islom Karimov, the authoritarian regimes in Uzbekistan created dual myths of Islam. On the one hand, Islam was encompassed in the larger context of manaviyat (spirituality), and on the other, a myth of an Islamic ‘extremism’ that challenges security and stability on a regional scale was cultivated. This ‘threat’ is so pervasive and pernicious that it commands the authoritarian nature of governance that characterizes the Karimov era, leading to a Janus-state syndrome in which Islam is simultaneously cast as a sine qua non of national myth and an existential threat to state security. This article examines the mythology of political Islam in Uzbekistan and the Janus-state syndrome resulting from the duality of Islamic myth. It argues that a civil society cannot flourish in Central Asia unless moderate Islamic groups are allowed to build the very social structures that provide the foundation for interaction, peaceful coexistence, toleration and pluralism.     

Turkey's Hydropolitics: Building Order in the Middle East

Water resources have evolved into a major tool for expanding a country's regional influence. The dynamic interactions of hydraulics strategies have thus been regarded as critical factors in Middle Eastern politics. As Turkey controls upstream water resources in the region, this study attempts to answer this question: What goals does Turkey pursue with its water-control policy? The article demonstrates that Turkey is seeking to become the dominant power in the Middle East by regulating hydropolitics.     

Survival Strategies Among the Mexican Rural Elite

This article focuses on a sector of society that has received comparatively little attention in the recent historiography of post‐revolutionary Mexican rural society: the local elite. Using the district of Zacapoaxtla in the Sierra Norte de Puebla as a case study, it explores the ways in which external agents of change challenged pre‐existing relationships between communities, classes, and ethnic groups. It shows how, in trying to retain their positions of local dominance, the elite displayed remarkable degrees of pragmatism and willingness to compromise on long‐standing prejudices. Above all, the article offers a detailed example of how political patronage at national and regional levels enabled local factions to overcome formidable opposition.     

Writing history: flow and blockage in the circulation of knowledge

ABSTRACT

Historical writing in Tanzania has had highly serious goals from the early days of the history department at the University of Dar es Salaam. Historians have aimed at the decolonization of intellectual life, the construction of a national historical identity, and the achievement of a just society. This body of well-contextualized historical writing has circulated widely within the country, but does not reach readers outside east Africa as fully as it deserves. The article explores parallels with African genomic science as a way of getting at inequalities between northern and southern countries in access to resources for academic research and publication.     

Neo-Liberalism,Mining and Labour in the Indian State of Odisha: Outlining a Political Economy Analysis

In a context of mining privatisation and a drive towards labour informalisation in India, this article investigates the implications for labour of the neo-liberal agenda in the mining sector of the Indian state of Odisha. This is part of a broader research project investigating the social dynamics underlying the neo-liberal project in Odisha. The article initially summarises previous analysis of the political economy of mining privatisation policies in order to provide the background for understanding the implications of neo-liberal mining policies for labour. Acknowledging the complexity of labour’s situation and future, the article focuses first on mining labour relations and labour conditions in private iron ore mines; and second, the article seeks to detail the implications of the expansion of opencast mining in forest areas on the livelihoods of that part of the population – mainly consisting of Scheduled Tribes or Adivasis and partially of Scheduled Castes or Dalits – who in some measure depend on forest resources and/or agricultural land in mining areas. In sum, the article attempts to raise the issue of the dynamic interaction between the reproduction of a specific, local, socially and politically dominant class, and the reproduction of labour fragmentation within the neo-liberal turn of capitalism.     

The National Wages Council of Singapore: Issues for consideration

There are important regional dimensions to Australia's globalisation. This article focuses on Australia's developing relations with Southeast Asia and argues that the increasing interdependence between the two regions is weakening Australia's liberal democracy while at the same time highlighting the fundamental differences in legitimacy that exist between Australia and its Southeast Asian neighbours. In this context, this article considers important aspects of Australia's military and foreign relations with the region, the state's role in weakening civil society, and the emerging pattern of conflict with Southeast Asia.     

On race,sport, and politics in South Africa’s past and present

There has been a steady emergence of quality writing about sport, politics, and the intersection between them in South African society in recent decades. This review essay looks at a number of recent works on soccer, rugby, and cricket, placing them within a larger context of race, sport, and politics in South Africa’s past and present.     

Somalia: federating citizens or clans? Dilemmas in the quest for stability

This paper is concerned with the theoretical analysis of the legitimacy challenges faced by the federalist structure of the Somali state, as established with the 2012 constitution. Understanding federalism in Somalia, I argue, is not a simple question of political power distribution: there is also a dichotomy between a predominant European-based conceptualisation of the state and the bulk of often-neglected Somali notions of communitarian organisation, to which the clan is a part. If the decentralised structure of clans in Somali tradition seems to realise a certain convergence with the current federalist project, the dichotomy is rather evident when it comes to the definition of ‘(civil) society’ in Somalia. Thus, in order to assess both the progression of the federalist project, more than four years after its launch, and the factual legitimacy it holds among the Somali population, this paper will focus on the complex relation between state and citizens.     

New Security Dimensions in the Asia–Pacific

The rise of China provides a major challenge to the United States, the undisputed hegemon in the Asia-Pacific region since the second world war. This development provides regional states with an opportunity to shape the regional security architecture by adopting an inclusive approach to China. The role of the Association of Southeast Asian States (ASEAN) tends to be under-estimated by Western scholars who often see the European model as the only approach to regional integration. This paper discusses the significant achievements of ASEAN in serving as a catalyst for the establishment of regional institutions. Such institutions could serve as instruments for the management of China's relations with Japan and India. It is contended that the emergence of Asian powers, especially China, will result in a challenge to the Washington Consensus of Western norms and values focusing on individual rights which have governed international institutions. The rise of China is likely to see the application of a Beijing Consensus emphasising the balance between individual rights and social obligations, which would resonate positively in the region. In the twenty-first century, global institutions will need to reflect the norms, values and practices of global society and not just Atlantic perspectives.     

从“北溪-2”项目看德俄关系及俄美欧三方博弈

作为两个重要的地区大国,德国与俄罗斯的关系对彼此和欧洲都有着重要影响。在双边关系中,能源因素因其对国民经济生产的决定性意义长期发挥着“稳定器”的作用。2018年9月,由德俄牵头,法国、奥地利与荷兰合资建造的“北溪-2”天然气管道项目正式动工铺设。该项目将使输往欧洲的俄罗斯天然气绕开乌克兰,经过波罗的海海底直接连通德俄两国,德国由此成为俄罗斯天然气最重要的转运国。此举虽然在双边层面上保证了德俄的能源经济安全,但在多边层面却招致欧盟、美国等多方反对。因担心会进一步加深对俄罗斯能源的依赖,欧盟委员会及中东欧国家欲诉诸法律对该项目施以约束;美国在制裁项目企业的同时转而向波兰、乌克兰等国出口液化天然气,在利用政治机遇抢占欧洲市场的同时试图制衡俄罗斯的影响力。在多方力量博弈中,德国需要在平衡俄美欧关系中付出更多努力。