Israel Studies Seminar: Hilary Term 2019, Week 5: Rising Powers and the Arab-Israeli Conflict since 1947

Convener: Professor Yaacov Yadgar

Speaker: Professor Guy Burton (Vesalius College)

Abstract:

How have rising power engaged with the Arab-Israeli conflict? What does this tell us about rising powers and conflict management as well as their behaviour in international politics more generally? The book examines these questions in relation to five rising powers - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - and how they have interacted with Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab states since the conflict became internationalsied in 1947. Situating conflict management on a spectrum, between more active and passive modes, the book finds that contrary to expectations, rising powers have adopted a more passive stance to conflict management under Oslo and into the post-Second Intifada period period, especially when compared to some of the countries' more active approach in the first decades after 1947.

Bio:

Guy is Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre and Adjunct Professor at Vesalius College in Brussels. His research interests involve the politics and international relations of the Middle East and the role that emerging outside powers play within it. He is currently studying the role of China and its response towards conflict in the region.