On January 7th 2019,VirtualRoad, the secure hosting project of the Qurium - Media Foundation published[1] a report documenting fresh attacks against Azerbaijan’s oldest opposition newspaper Azadliq’s website (azadliq.info). The report…
Over the last decade, the rise of authoritarian tendencies represents an increasing illiberal wave in international politics. Such a wave is not limited to smaller countries but increasingly typifies the…
The fractious rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran and its impact on the Middle East.
The fractious rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran and its impact on the Middle East.
Charting the rise of illiberal groups in Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Moldova and Kyrgyzstan.
The challenge facing activists from the former Soviet Union seeking asylum or refuge.
Please note that the event will now take place in Committee Room 6 (rather than committee room 5). This seminar organised by the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) 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 ...
More infoDr Judi Atkins, Lecturer in Politics, Aston University
Dr Andrew Glencross, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Aston University
Rt Hon John Whittingdale MP, former Culture Secretary and FPC Political Council Member
Chair: Henry Mance, Political Correspondent, Financial Times
Committee Room 6, House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA
On January 7th 2019,VirtualRoad, the secure hosting project of the Qurium - Media Foundation published[1] a report documenting fresh attacks against Azerbaijan’s oldest opposition newspaper Azadliq’s website (azadliq.info). The report…
Over the last decade, the rise of authoritarian tendencies represents an increasing illiberal wave in international politics. Such a wave is not limited to smaller countries but increasingly typifies the…
At the beginning of December 2018, Egypt-based news outlet Mada Masr revealed that sources from the office of Egyptian President al-Sisi’s office had disclosed the existence of plans already underway…
Bahrain goes to the polls tomorrow, 1st December, for the second, run-off, round in elections to the 40-seat lower house. So what? It is surely less significant than the ramifications…
One perennial question confronting students of the former Soviet Union has been to what extent democratisation and geopolitical orientation can be separated from each other in their region of interest.…
Earlier this year, Georgia celebrated the 100th anniversary of its independence. [1] The celebrations in Georgia stood in sharp contrast to the muted commemoration in Russia, just a few months…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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 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…