03TheEvolutionofTwo-PartyPoliticalStructureinIraqiKurdistan

AbstractThe establishment of the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party in 1946 laid the foundation of two-party political structure in Iraqi Kurdistan. Under the influence of political, economic and social factors including reforms, urbanization, privatization and Iran-Iraq War, a political structure dominated by the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan began to emerge in the late 1980s, and was continuously strengthened after the Gulf War in 1991 and the Iraq War in 2003. However, social development lagged behind the economic development in the region has given birth to the emergence of political opposition, which posed a challenge to the existing two-party political structure. Through the development of regional situations in the aftermath of the Iraq War, a new pattern of Iraqi Kurdistan’s party politics started to emerge and evolve towards two groups with three power centers and two political philosophies.

KeyWordsIraq; Kurds; Kurdistan Democratic Party; Patriotic Union of Kurdistan; Party Politics

AuthorLI Ruiheng, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Arabic Language, Peking University.

17YouthPoliticalParticipationinContemporaryEgypt:AnAnalysisofPartyPolitics

AbstractParty politics in Egypt grew tremendously in the twentieth century. As a country with a large youth population, Egypt does witness the great importance of youth in political participation. However, inherent problems in Egyptian history, religion and society, together with solid existence of authoritarian politics since the Gamal Abdel Nasser era, have exerted profound negative effects on political participation and claims of youth. Being a vital platform for youth political participation, political parties became obstacles to fulfilling youth political ambitions due to a generation gap between the young and the old accompanied by pressure from the government, which has caused extremely harsh consequences. It is the evolution of political participation of Egyptian youth that continues to determine the trends of democratic politics in Egypt and social stability in the country.

KeyWordsEgyptian Youth; Political Participation; National Democratic Party; Muslim Brotherhood; New Wafd Party

AuthorXIE Zhiheng, Ph.D., Associate Professor of School of History and Research Fellow of Center for Egyptian Studies, Zhengzhou University; ZHANG Jingwei, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of World History, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

31TheEvolutionoftheSyrianBa‘thPartyandItsImpactontheSyrianCivilWar

AbstractThe Syrian Ba‘th Party is an important political force in the evolution of modern Syria. Since its establishment in the 1940s, it has undergone various stages of merger, division, restructuring, infighting and the transfer of power. In the 1960s, while the elders were losing their power, the younger officers set up the Military Committee and revived the party through staging military coup, winning the support of the sectionalists, and reconstructing their ideology. When Hafiz al-Assad was in power, his personal authority rose and the role and status of the Ba‘th Party as a ruling party declined correspondingly. During the Syrian civil war, the remaining problems in the evolution of the Party were further amplified, such as its guiding ideology failing to keep pace with the time, the military control of the party, the division of the elites within the party, and the solidification of the social classes. It is still a long way to go to reach political solution for Syrian Crisis, the Syrian Ba‘th Party urgently needs to strengthen party construction and regain the power of state governance.

KeyWordsArab Ba‘th Party; Assad Family; Syrian Civil War

AuthorZHAO Na, Ph.D. Candidate, History School, Northwest University, Xi’an; MA Shuai, Teaching Assistant, Yangtze Normal University.

44IsraeliPartyPoliticsinIsrael:AMultidimensionalAnalysis

AbstractThe pattern of Israeli party politics was basically formed before the founding of the State of Israel. The establishment of the state provided a wider space for Israeli party politics which has played a critical role in the process of Israeli modernization. Israel’s multiparty system is influenced by four factors: immigrant society, single-proportion representation, direct election of the Prime Minister, and changes in economic structure. Diversified immigrant society, complicated conflicts of ethnic groups, strained geographical environment and the Jews’ religious attributes together with the Jewish attributes of Israel commonly shaped the uniqueness of Israeli party politics. It has experienced a process from the Israeli Labor Party leading to the bipartisan competition between the Labor Party and the Likud to the fragmented pattern of party politics, with the further development of Israeli democratic politics.

KeyWordsIsrael; Party Politics; Religious Parties; Ethnic Conflicts; Arab-Israeli Relations

AuthorWANG Yanmin, Ph. D., Professor, History and Society Management College, Dezhou University.

57PopulationGovernanceintheMiddleEast:AMultidimensionalStudy

AbstractPopulation governance plays as an increasingly significant role in the governance system in the Middle East, which shows commonalities as well as differences under various dimensions. The growth of youth population, immigration, religious and ethnic changes have triggered political struggles in the region. The economic development is challenged by the human resource oversupply and overpopulation in the process of urbanization. In terms of socio-cultural aspects, the concept of marriage, childbearing and the gender concept are constrained by traditional and conservative perspectives, and the community awareness is not conducive to the socio-cultural integrity. In the context of governance transition in Middle East, strengthening population governance has become an important way to solve the systemic dilemma.

KeyWordsMiddle Eastern States; Population Governance; Political Stability; Economic Development; Society and Culture

AuthorCHEN Xiaoqian, Ph.D. Candidate, Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, Northwest University.

73Lebanon’sGovernanceoftheSyrianRefugeeIssue

AbstractThe Syrian refugee crisis has become one of the highlighted issues in international affairs. The Lebanese government plays a key role in the governance of the Syrian refugee issue in the country. Lebanon’s governance of Syrian refugee issue has developed from the policy of unfettered humanitarian access to the policy of tightening access and residence, and to the policy readjustment. Lebanese governance policy has been shaped by both domestic and international factors. Domestic factors include economic and political impacts brought by the Syrian refugee crisis, different attitudes of political parties towards the refugee crisis, and the decentralized domestic institutions dealing with the refugee crisis. UNHCR, as a main non-state governance actor, has conducted extensive coordination with the Lebanese government and other actors in the governance of Syrian refugee issue. At present, the governance actors have not reached an agreement on the international burden-sharing of the refugee crisis yet. And the Lebanese government’s negotiation with other international partners on the repatriation of the Syrian refugees has meanwhile hindered the process.

KeyWordsSyrian Refugee Issue; Lebanon; Refugee Governance; UNHCR

AuthorYU Zhen, Ph.D., Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Xiangtan University.

86EthnicConflictsandStateFailure:ACaseStudyofSomalia

AbstractAs a key component of ethno-politics, conflicts among different types of human communities emerge from the interactions of races, nationalities, tribes, or clans in pursuing their respective affective identification or political/economic/social interests. Such category of conflicts is manifestly common in the so-called ‘failed states’. As a typical ‘failed state’ in international system, Somalia has witnessed a number of state-building constraints since 1991 due to subnational conflicts among various clans and tribes, as well as international conflicts due to the existence of several cross-border clans or tribes. Meanwhile, the tortuous course of Somalia state-building over years has strengthened sub-national ethnic identity and aggravated the ethnic conflicts. This case study analyzes the conflicts among different subnational ethnic groups in Somalia from 1991 to 2017, along with their manifestations and causes, aimed at exploring the innate relationship between ethnic conflicts and state failure. It also aims to draw from the case some lessons and implications for the future state-building efforts and domestic and international governance in Somalia and other countries likewise.

KeyWordsEthic Conflicts; State Failure; Somalia

AuthorXU Yali, Ph.D. Candidate, International Studies Institute, National University of Defense Technology.

101The‘IslamicState’inLibya:Evolution,HarmandFutureTrend

AbstractDue to its geographical location and political turbulence, Libya has been viewed by the ‘Islamic State’ as a springboard for entering African countries and a base to export terrorism to Europe. By sending a large number of military commanders to Libya, recruiting local fighter and establishing territorial bases, the ‘Islamic State’ in Libya has caused tremendous damages to security of North Africa, West Africa and Europe. Though the terrorist group has lost almost all its territories in Libya as a result of joint counter-terrorism actions by the Libyan army and the United States, the ‘Islamic State’ still has a considerable chance of resuming itself in Libya if the instability in Libya continues.

KeyWordsLibya; ‘Islamic State’; Terrorism; Regional Security

AuthorLIU Yun, Ph.D., Professor, Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University.