Nicolas Fromm explores norm-based strategies small states can use to distinguish themselves internationally in order to compensate for their lesser geopolitical weight. Using the example of Qatar, the author shows that such strategies might include a sort of norm entrepreneurship which goes beyond the advocacy of universal norms and implies the development of genuinely new norms (‘norm crafting’) in pursuit of regional political influence. To shed light on the stunning rise of Qatar from a background actor to a protagonist in international diplomacy, the case study analyses the distinctive use of norm crafting in the country’s Middle East diplomacy under the reign of Emir Hamad (1995-2013). To unfold the potential of strategic normative innovation, Qatar seems to have imitated the attitudes and attributes of established norm entrepreneurs such as international organizations.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic – at the interlocking levels of politics, economy, and society – have been different across regions, states, and societies. In the case of the Middle East and North Africa, which was already in the throes of intense tumult following the onset of the 2011 Arab Spring, COVID's blows have on the one hand followed the trajectory of some global patterns, while at the same time playing out in regionally specific ways. Based on empirical country-level analysis, this volume brings together an international team of contributors seeking to untangle how COVID-19 unfolds across the MENA. The analyses are framed through a contextual adaptation of Ulrich Beck's famous concept of “risk society” that pinpointed the negative consequences of modernity and its unbridled capitalism. The book traces how this has come home in full force in the COVID-19 pandemic. The editors, Larbi Sadiki and Layla Saleh, use the term "Arab risk society". They highlight short-term and long-term repercussions across the MENA. These include socio-economic inequality, a revitalized state of authoritarianism challenged by relentless democratic struggles. But the analyses are attuned to problem-solving research. The "ethnographies of the pandemic" included in this book investigate transformations and coping mechanisms within each country case study. They provide an ethically-informed research praxis that can respond to the manifold crises crashing down upon MENA polities and societies

An examination of the nature of middle power diplomacy in the post-Cold War era. As the rigid hierarchy of the bipolar era wanes, the potential ability of middle powers to open segmented niches opens up. This volume indicates the form and scope of this niche-building diplomatic activity from a bottom up perspective to provide an alternative to the dominant apex-dominated image in international relations.

Rethinking and revising the established knowledge and practice of conflict resolution and management, this innovative book brings together complementary perspectives to consider what novel approaches to conflict need to be invented after the collapse of the World Order.

This book studies values and attitudes in the Gulf region. In light of global power shifts, the threatening collapse of internal security in the West, and uncertainty about the current leadership vacuum in world society, this book explores a future leading role of the Gulf countries in such institutions as the G-20 and the OECD. Based on rigorous analysis of macro-level data and opinion surveys with relevance for the Gulf region, it analyzes the global macro-factors shaping the Gulf's future at a time of the global COVID-19 crisis and depression and rising global tensions. Starting with an empirical time series analysis of the long cycles of global politics and economics, it highlights the implications for the Gulf region. Offering a multivariate analysis of civil society values in the Gulf, the author analyzes value changes and attitudes on antisemitism, political Islam, internal security, democracy, and other issues of Arab politics. The partially optimistic conclusions of the study testify to the underestimated and incipient maturity of the Gulf’s civil society and strongly suggest that the Gulf's future is rather with the free societies of the West and not with a Neo-Ottoman Empire in whatever form. "Exceptional in scope and right up-to-the-minute in coverage" Brian M Pollins, Associate, Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University. "An outstanding and topical book by an astute scholar of the MENA region" Professor Hussein Solomon, Academic Head of Department, Political Studies and Governance, University of the Free State, South Africa. "The most comprehensive and insightful study on the subject to date" Manfred B. Steger, Professor of Sociology, University of Hawai'i at Manoa and Global Professorial Fellow, Western Sydney University.

Tracing constructivist work on culture, identity and norms within the historical, geographical and professional contexts of world politics, this book makes the case for new constructivist approaches to international relations scholarship.