Of cats and lions : Egypt and regional security governance in the Middle East

The paper assesses the role of Egypt as a regional security provider since its readmission into the Middle Eastern system in the 1990s. It introduces the main security threats in the region as perceived by both regional and extra-regional actors and it discusses the five main sources of power and status of contemporary Egypt, before addressing in detail its contribution to regional security. The paper argues that, despite its “leadership identity”, Egypt at best contributes as a power sharer in some areas of regional security but is largely unable (and arguably unwilling) to act as single security provider

Middle eastern middle powers: The roles of norms in mediation and conflict prevention

This chapter analyzes a selection of mediation and conflict-prevention initiatives promoted by Middle Eastern middle powers since the 1980s. It begins by noting that behavioral approaches to middle power status consider systematic engagement in mediation and conflict prevention as one of the key traits of “middlepowerness, and reflects on how the literature on middle power mediation and norm-based international behavior can be applied specifically to the Middle East. It then turns to the analysis of three case studies of norm-based mediation or conflict resolution initiatives promoted by three Middle Eastern middle powers-Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt-since the 1980s

Civil War in Ancient Egypt? A Case Study of the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2120-1970 BC)

The First Intermediate Period (FIP – ca. 2120-1970 BCE) is often described by Egyptologists as a period of “civil war.” In the Egyptological literature, however, little attention is paid to defining this notion (which was first introduced only in the Late Roman Republic, almost 2,000 years later) and to explaining how it could be applicable to ancient Egyptian history. This thesis contributes to this debate by analyzing the FIP through the lenses of contemporary approaches to civil war, drawn from political science and other cognate disciplines. It first discusses how if the events of the FIP comply with contemporary definitions of “civil war” and how other concepts, such as those of “state collapse” and “economics of war,” may be relevant for explaining Egypt’s political and social predicament during this period. It then applies a hermeneutical approach to the analysis of epigraphic, literary and visual sources from the FIP and Middle Kingdom in order to understand if ancient Egyptians made sense of this phase through interpretive and cognitive strategies comparable to those documented in Roman history. The thesis concludes that the notion of “civil war” may be applicable to some phases of the FIP, but not to this period as a whole. In applying contemporary social science concepts to the FIP, it also suggests that the early phases of the FIP are best described as an instance of “state collapse” rather than as a “rebellion.” The sections of the thesis on the hermeneutics of civil war develop a model for unpacking such interpretive strategies, focused on the analysis of the language of warfare, the ethical dilemmas raised by internecine violence, and the memory of war. This analysis concludes that the ancient Egyptians did approach the events of the FIP differently from both foreign wars and internal rebellion, even if such difference was arguably articulated through the ethical and ontological concept of ma’at rather than through a notion comparable to the Roman idea of citizenship

Peace negotiations and time: Deadline diplomacy in territorial disputes

© 2013 Marco Pinfari. This book discusses the role of time in peace negotiations and peace processes in the post-Cold War period, making reference to real-world negotiations and using comparative data.Deadlines are increasingly used by mediators to spur deadlocked negotiation processes, under the assumption that fixed time limits tend to favour pragmatism. Yet, little attention is typically paid to the durability of agreements concluded in these conditions, and research in experimental psychology suggests that time pressure can have a negative impact on individual and collective decision-making by reducing each side’s ability to deal with complex issues, complex inter-group dynamics and inter-cultural relations.This volume explores this lacuna in current research through a comparative model that includes 68 episodes of negotiation and then, more in detail, in relation to four cases studies - the Bougainville and Casamance peace processes, and the Dayton and Camp David proximity talks. The case studies reveal that in certain conditions low time pressure can impact positively on the durability of agreements by making possible effective intra-rebel agreements before official negotiations, and that time pressure works in proximity talks only when applied to solving circumscribed deadlocks.This book will be of much interest to students of peace processes, conflict resolution, negotiation, diplomacy and international relations in general.https://fount.aucegypt.edu/faculty_books/1052/thumbnail.jp