Abstract
This chapter examines the foreign policies of contemporary populist leaderships in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). We adopt a comparative regional approach to “populist foreign policy” (PFP) in MENA, seeking to identify commonalities and differences that distinguish PFP in these countries, as well as national and international factors that allow or limit these regional trends. We place special emphasis on four cases: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey (2003–), which is probably the most “paradigmatic” case of contemporary populism in the region, and three more “controversial” cases in terms of the theoretical applicability of populism as a category of political analysis—Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s Egypt (2014–), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Iran (2005–2013), and Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel (1996–1999, 2009–2021). Although the four cases differ greatly from each other, especially in their varied approaches to democracy, freedom, human rights, and the rule of law, we can still benefit from a comparative perspective of their PFPs. MENA’s PFP must be understood considering the geopolitical background of this region, which includes a combination of internal struggles, military conflicts, and external interventions. The study also highlights the role of civilizational and ethno-religious components in promoting and limiting collective action, as well as the differences in terms of PFP between countries with well-established democratic/authoritarian regimes and between parliamentary/presidential systems.
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- 1.
For previous work on populism in MENA, though mostly from a domestic perspective, see Filc (2018).
- 2.
Although the Global Populism Database considers Erdoğan a populist only after 2007, at the beginning of his second term, we agree with scholars who claim that his populist trends were present from the very beginning of his political career. A similar argument can be made about Netanyahu.
- 3.
It is worth reminding that, according to articles 89–91 of the Iranian Constitution, the Supreme Leader is the highest authority of the state, both in its political and in its religious spheres. He is above the head of government, who is an elected official.
- 4.
This can be illustrated by (Tayyip) Erdoğan’s own portrayal as a “black Turk”: “In this country, there is segregation of black Turks and white Turks. Your brother Tayyip belongs to the black Turks” (Bucak, 2014; Özkök, 2004).
- 5.
The United Nations 2005 Alliance of Civilizations Initiative, with Turkey as one of the co-leaders, re-affirmed this identification (Çınar 2018, pp. 183–184). Likewise, while the Copenhagen Summit of 2002 provided Turkey a tangible prospect for EU accession and triggered a series of harmonization reforms, the AKP government opted for a multidimensional foreign policy, diversifying its regionalist goals.
- 6.
Erdoğan and Davutoğlu saw Turkey’s mission, thanks to its historical and geographic depth, as one of re-civilizing a region that was once the birthplace of civilization tout court (Başkan, 2017). Yet certainly, besides the AKP’s entanglement with diverse offshoots of Ikhwan in the region, there were other major factors at play. The amity between Turkey and Israel following Erdoğan’s infamous “one minute” interruption at the 2009 World Economic Forum against Israeli leadership over its Gaza occupation, for one, as well as the 2010 Mavi Marmara Flotilla incident. All these incidents combined were emblematic of what was debated as “shift of axis” in Turkey’s foreign policy orientation (Alpan, 2016, pp. 21–22; Wajner, 2019, pp. 1041–1046).
- 7.
“Turkey is the only country that can lead the Muslim world,” Erdoğan stated, and under that Turkish leadership, the salvation of the Islamic ummah was near (Yeni Şafak, 2018).
- 8.
And even used the UN platform to complain about Iran’s historical treatment.
- 9.
This was also reflected in the formation of the Likud as a merge of Begin’s Jerut party with the Liberal party.
- 10.
Netanyahu was initially seen as one of the “princesses” of Likud, the children of those who supported the Revisionist party of Vladimir Zeev Jabotinisky and the Etzel military movement of Menachem Begin. Moreover, Netanyahu is a descendant of an Ashkenazi family who was born in the “noble” Jerusalemite neighborhood of Rehavia, studied in the “prestigious” Gimnasia, served as an officer in the commando brigade of the Intelligence (Sayeret Matkal), and later moved to the wealthy city of Caesarea.
- 11.
As Erdoğan stated: “Turkey is the real target of a siege that stretches from the Caucasus to the Balkans, from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean and the adjoining regions. As long as Turkey stands strong, none of these scenarios will succeed” (Yackley, 2020).
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Wajner, D.F., Taş, H., Priego-Moreno, A., Essa, J. (2023). Populist Foreign Policy in the Middle East and North Africa. In: Giurlando, P., Wajner, D.F. (eds) Populist Foreign Policy. Global Foreign Policy Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22773-8_7
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