The Arms Race in the Middle East : Contemporary Security Dynamics / Mohammad Eslami, Alena Vysotskaya Guedes Vieira.

Intro -- Foreword: Human Security in the Age of Artificial Intelligence -- Acknowledgment -- Contents -- Contributors -- Acronyms -- Part I: Contemporary Dynamics of the Arms Race in the Middle East -- Introducing the Arms Race in the Middle East in the Twenty First Century: A "Powder Keg" in the Digital Era? -- 1 What Are the Characteristics of the Contemporary Arms Race in the Middle East? -- 2 What Does This Edited Volume Offer? -- References -- The Security Order in the Persian Gulf and Its Challenges -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Concert of the Persian Gulf -- 3 Collective Security System -- 4 Hegemonic Stability -- 5 Balance of Power -- 6 Conclusion -- References -- Hybrid Deterrence in the Middle East -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Hybrid Deterrence and the Regional Geopolitical Dynamics -- 3 Militia Forces and Hybrid Deterrence -- 4 Hybrid Deterrence and Regional Security Dilemma -- 5 Hybrid Deterrence in the Iran-Israel Possible Confrontation -- 6 Hybrid Deterrence and the Regional Nuclear Proliferation -- 7 Conclusion -- References -- The Challenges and Implications of Military Cyber and AI Capabilities in the Middle East: The Geopolitical, Ethical, and Technological Dimensions -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The Geopolitical Dynamics of the Military Technology Race in the Middle East -- Turkey and Iran: Igniting the Arms Race -- Saudi Arabia -- The United Arab Emirates -- Egypt -- The North African States: Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, and Algeria -- The Sino-American Rivalry -- 3 Usage of Military Cyber and AI Capabilities: Ethical Questions and Technological Challenges -- International Law on Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Weapon Systems -- Warfare at Machine Speed, Nonhuman Decision-Making and Automation Bias -- Cybersecurity Vulnerability of AI Military Applications -- 4 Conclusion: Reflections on the Race for Military AI and Cyber Capabilities.

References -- A New Arms Race Frontier: The Emerging Drone Competition Between Iran and Its Regional Rivals -- 1 Introduction -- 2 A Sacred Migrant: The Mohajer-6 and Its History, Specifications, and Competition -- 3 Iranian Involvement and Regional Drones in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh -- 4 Iranian Drones and Other Military Aid to Ethiopia During the Tigray War -- 5 Conclusion -- References -- The Evolution of Missile Politics in the Middle East -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Advanced Missile Programs in the Middle East -- Israel -- Iran -- Turkey -- Saudi Arabia and Other GCC -- Egypt -- Regional Non-state Actors -- 3 Making Sense of Regional Missile Politics -- Critical Reflections on the Study of Regional Missiles -- Waves of Regional Interest in Missiles -- Diverse Regional Drivers and Motives -- The Rise of Regional Cruise Missiles -- Thinking of Missiles Beyond WMDs -- The Rise of Missile Defense -- 4 Conclusion -- References -- Part II: Arms Race in the Middle East from the Perspective of Regional States -- The Cold War in the Middle East: Iranian Foreign Policy, Regional Axes, and Warfare by Proxy -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Resistance Versus Compromise Axes: Saudi-Iran Relations and Sectarian Ideational Foreign Policies -- 3 Arms Proliferation and Non-state Actors -- The Quds Force and Its Proxies -- 4 Conclusion -- References -- Israel and the Regional Arms Race in the Digital Era -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Israel's Defense Innovation System -- 3 IDF's Vision of a Digital Army -- 4 Israeli Arms Development and Regional Arms Race -- 4.1 AI-Powered Arms Development -- 4.2 Conventional Arms Race -- 4.3 Nuclear Arms Race -- 5 The USA in the Regional Arms Dynamic -- 6 Conclusion and Implications -- References -- Neoclassical Realist Perspective on Militarization of Turkish Foreign Policy -- 1 Introduction.

2 A New Player in the Region? Turkish Defense Sector Development -- 3 Militarized Turkish Foreign Policy and Pivotal Changes in the Last Decade -- 4 The Turkish Armed Forces: From the Role of Sentinel of Secularism to the Role of the Armed Wing of the Muslim Regime -- 5 Gulenists Infiltrating the State Apparatus -- 6 National Weapons for Autonomy and Foreign Policy -- 7 A Fundamentalist Mercenary Army: SADAT -- 8 Conclusion -- References -- The Gulf Cooperation Council Alliance: Leading Causes and Consequences of an Unending Regional Arms Race -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The Iranian "Threat" in Perspective -- 3 GCC Preparations to Confront Threats -- 4 Galloping Military Budgets -- 5 Recent Military Acquisitions -- 6 GCC Arms Race: Who Sells to Whom? -- 6.1 Bahrain -- 6.2 Kuwait -- 6.3 Oman -- 6.4 Qatar -- 6.5 Saudi Arabia -- 6.6 United Arab Emirates -- 7 Changing Global Footprint -- References -- Arming Palestine: Resistance, Evolution, and Institutionalisation -- 1 Introduction -- 2 PA Security Forces -- 2.1 Funding and Training PA Security Forces -- 2.2 The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas -- 2.3 War in Gaza -- 2.4 International Support and Funding -- 3 Conclusions -- References -- Weapons, Rentier Governance, and Identity Dynamics in Iraq -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Iraq as an Arms Importer: Changing Dynamics -- 2.1 Strong Civilizational-Nationalist Military Tradition -- 2.2 Iraq's Increasing Sensitivity to the Issues of Encirclement and Intervention -- 3 Rentier Governance -- 4 Religious, Ethnic, and Tribal Divide as a Core Security Concern of Iraq -- 4.1 Shiite Arab Cluster (Nine Blocs Such as Fatah Coalition, Sadr Movement, Government of Law, and National Hikmat Movement) -- 4.2 Sunni Kurdish Cluster (Democratic Sunni Kurds, Sunni Kurds of the Patriotic Union Bloc).

4.3 Sunni Arab Cluster (Hizb al-Azm al-Iraq, Al-Taqam al-Vatani, and Jabhat al-Anqaz) -- 5 Iraq's Weapons Policy and Its Regional and International Consequences -- References -- Yemen: Civil War as a Driver of Regional Arms Dynamic -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The Yemeni Civil War: Historical Background -- 3 The Weaponization of Yemen by External Actors -- 4 The Yemeni Civil War as a Driver of Regional Armament -- 5 Conclusion -- References -- Part III: The Role of External Actors in the Arms Race in the Middle East and Its Implications for Extra-Regional Countries -- Between Arms Control and Arms Transfer: The US Arms Policy Toward the Middle East -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The Soviet Union's Collapse and US Military Superiority in the Region -- The US Security Policy in the Region: From the Soviet Union's Collapse to the Trump Era -- 3 The US Arms Policy in the Middle East -- The US and Arms Control in the Middle East -- The US Arms Transfer to the Middle East -- 4 Conclusion: The US Role in the Middle East's Arms Race -- References -- Arms Sales as an Instrument of Russia's Foreign Policy and the Shifting Security Dynamics of the Middle East -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Russia's Reorientation Away from the West and the USA: The Arms Sales Dimension -- 3 Arms Sales Policy of a Normal Great Power -- 4 Arms Sales in Russia's Quest for Geopolitical Relevance in Syria -- 5 The Challenges of War in Ukraine -- References -- China's Growing Presence in the Middle East's Arms Race and Security Dynamics -- 1 Introduction -- 2 China Trajectory as an Arms Supplier -- 3 China's Arms Sales in the Middle East -- 4 Discussion and Implications of China's Military Engagement in the Middle East -- References -- Competition, Harmonization, and Security Dilemmas: Europe's Contribution to the Arms Race in the Middle East -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Security Dilemma and Arms Trade.

3 Arms Exports to the Middle East -- Arms Exports, 1980-1991 -- Arms Exports, 1992-2020 -- Benefits of Competitive Regional Markets -- 4 Arms Export Harmonization in the EU -- 5 Conclusion -- References -- Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Pakistan's Foreign Policy, Saudi Arabia, and Iran -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Pakistan's Bilateral Relationships with Iran and Saudi Arabia -- 2.1 Pakistan and Iran: History, Suspicions, and Potential -- 2.2 Pakistan and Saudi Arabia: Security, Economy, and Possibilities -- 3 Impact of Middle East Arms Race on Pakistan -- 3.1 The Security Challenge -- 3.2 The Economic Challenge -- 4 Conclusion: Pakistan's Neutrality in the Iran-Saudi Conflict -- References -- Conflict in the Insulator State: The Roots of the War in Afghanistan and Prospects Ahead -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The Buffer State Versus the Insulator State -- 3 Afghanistan: Geopolitical Target for Regional Security Subsystems -- 4 The Behavior of Subsystem Actors Towards Afghanistan -- 5 The Transition from a Geopolitical Target to a Regional Hub -- 6 Conclusion -- References -- The UK's Arms Sales to the Middle East: Current Trends and Lessons for Future -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The UK's Defense Spending and Changing Global Threat Perception -- 3 Overview of the UK's Arms Exports and Defense Industry -- 4 Conclusion -- References -- The Crisis in the Periphery: Arms Race in the Middle East and Greece's Role in the Regional Security Architecture -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Greece Foreign and Security Policy Orientation During the Cold War -- 3 Greek Foreign Policy in the Middle East in the post-Cold War Period -- 3.1 The Case of Greek-Israeli Relations in the Post-Cold War Period -- 3.2 The Case of Greek-Arab Word Security and Military Relations.

4 Driving Factors on Greece's Involvement in the Middle East and Considerations of the Region's Arms Race and Security Dynamics.

This edited volume discusses security policy and strategic policymaking in the Middle East region. Due to its unique geopolitical, geoeconomic and geostrategic features, the Middle East region has been confronted with challenging security issues. Combined with a lack of an efficient regional security regime this has led to the formation of a full-fledged arms race. This book draws together contributions from international experts to address the factors that have been contributing to the ongoing formation of an arms race in the Middle East as well as the impact of this phenomenon on the regional and global security environment. The book is organized in three sections. The first section outlines the contemporary dynamics of the arms race in the Middle East by focusing on its most recent dynamics and their implications for regional and international security. The second section conducts systematic analysis of case studies of country-specific drivers of the arms race. The third and final section examines the role of external actors in the arms race, evaluating both the responses of regional actors to external interventions as well as the implications of the arms race for extra-regional countries.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2023. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.