Looking West : the rise of Asia in the Middle East / / edited by Valeria Talbot and Ugo Tramballi.

• Superior document: ISPI Publications
• Author: Valeria Talbot
• TeilnehmendeR: Talbot, Valeria,; Tramballi, Ugo
• Place / Publishing House: Milan : : Ledizioni Ledi Publishing,, 2020.; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Edition: First edition.
• Language: English
• Series: ISPI Publications
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (143 pages)

“Whoever controls Central Asia controls the world” saidHalford Mackinder, the English father of geopolitics. He was looking at the world at the beginning of the 20th century, whenthe British Empire reached its apogee. It is ironic then that,only a few decades after he developed his ideas, great powers would almost forget about Central Asia and turn their attention back to the Middle East. The reasons? History, geography,and the discovery of vast hydrocarbon resources.Over the past century, it has been an almost constant refrain:as great and middle powers rise, they will almost invariably look at the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It was therefore to be expected that, with the world’s economic andpolitical centre of gravity moving increasingly towards East and South Asia, a number of countries in these regions would devote more attention to the MENA region. China and India, inparticular, have been at the forefront of an astonishing rise, astheir GDP has grown respectively fourteen-fold and six-fold, ata constant rate, between 1990 and 2019, with China climbingfrom the eleventh to the second largest economy in the world,and India from the thirteenth to the fifth. With the unfoldingof this monumental change, MENA countries have started to“look East” more and more and with a keener interest, alsowith an eye to rebalancing the influence and interference of“classical” non-regional actors such as the United States, Russia and a number of European countries (especially former colonial powers).

Table of Contents

Introduction Paolo Magri 71. China and BRI: From Business to Geopolitics? Zhao Jianming 122. “Look West”: India’s Outreach to the Middle East under Modi Kabir Taneja 333. Not Only Oil: Japan’s Soft Power and Engagement with the Middle East Adel Abdel Ghafar 534. South Korea in the Middle East: Assets and Liabilities of a Middle Power Jeongmin Seo 765. Asian Players: Risks and Chances from Middle Eastern Perspectives 94 GCC Looking East Policy: New Challenges and Opportunities Naser Al-Tamimi 95 The View from Egypt Nael M. Shama 102 The View from Iran Sara Bazoobandi 108 The View from Israel Anshel Pfeffer 1156. Between Competition and Cooperation: What Could the EU’s Role Be? Valeria Talbot, Ugo Tramballi 123 About the Authors.