Abstract Why do some smaller states signal to move away from the US-led liberal order? We look at the ruling group survival in smaller allies to answer this pressing puzzle. Despite accepting the merit of systemic explanations, we simply argue that the ruling groups in smaller states engage with revisionist powers in the international system to sustain and enhance their privileged...

Abstract The United Arab Emirates (UAE) proposes "peaceful" religious discourse by supporting religious scholars such as Hamza Yusuf and Abdallah bin Bayyah and institutions such as the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies and the Emirates Fatwa Council. The UAE has attempted to present itself as promoting a moderate form of Islam to counter political Islam. This study...

ABSTRACT Following its establishment in 1962, the Muslim World League (MWL) was meant to be an organization that expands the outreach of Saudi Arabia and its then Wahabi version of Islam in the world in the time when other competing ideologies, especially Arab nationalism, were on the rise. This allowed it to carry out religious, cultural, aid and educational programs. At the...

ABSTRACT The United States Congress enacted CAATSA in 2017 to impose various restrictions on traditional rivals of the United States, which, however, was also imposed on a long-term strategic ally, Turkey, in December 2020. How can the application of sanctions designated for strategic rivals and enemies on an ally be explained? This article incorporates the hierarchy theory with...

ABSTRACT The concept of the security dilemma, which was developed in the 1950s based on inter-state wars, was applied to civil wars to explain the cause of intra-state conflicts after the end of the Cold War. These applications have criticized for violating the key components emphasized by the original theory. The flaws of the literature have led to the generalization that the...

Abstract When does the war party win in the decision-making process? Why does the peace party lose even if war is too risky? In this article, we show that certain balancing acts of the peace party might increase the confidence of the war party. We examine how the Ottoman Empire's risky Crimean War decision and its war declaration against Russia on 4 October 1853 were shaped by...

The three works examined here deal with Iran's interaction with the international system from a historical perspective and across many dimensions. While the structural and cyclical problems and opportunities between Iran and the international system are conveyed to the reader, analytical and theoretical dimensions are not ignored. However, the three works, due to their publication...

How did the US shape the composition of the UN Security Council during the early Cold War period? By focusing on the election of non-permanent members to Council seats, this paper investigates what role the US played in the nomination and election of candidate countries. In doing so, the study relies heavily on US diplomatic archives since those archival materials are rich in...

The four papers that make up this special section deal with the complex relationship between emergent non-state armed actors and notions of state sovereignty broadly conceived. With much of the existing literature in this area focused on violence and declining state authority, these linkages remain largely underexplored. Datasets on non-state conflicts frequently overlook such...

Following World War II, Turkey was keen on being a part of the emerging US-led order. By ceding foreign policy autonomy to Washington, Ankara became one of the United States' most loyal allies until the mid-1960s. However, the first crisis in Turkish-American relations began in 1964 and culminated in the closure of US bases and facilities in Turkey in 1975. Despite escalating...