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Weaponizing Interdependence in the Middle East

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Ariel I. Ahram

Dr. Ahram is a professor at the Virginia Tech School of Public and International Affairs, Arlington, Virginia.

Global interdependence was supposed to herald a new age of peaceful cooperation. America's global leadership in many ways derives from its ability to maintain, augment, and protect mutually advantageous interactions. Yet the United States has also tried to use its dominance in networks of finance, trade, and communications as a tool of coercion. No region has been more affected by such weaponized interdependence (WI) than the Middle East. But WI, enacted through various forms of direct and indirect sanctions and embargoes, has a spotty record of success. WI is typically coupled with military force and usually targeted against isolated and weak opponents. WI has contributed to several of the region's gravest humanitarian crises, including Iraq in the 1990s and Yemen since 2014. This has cost the United States support from regional states and from the proverbial “street.” Moreover, targets often find ways to upgrade and deepen their repression as they adapt to network restrictions. The United States must be prudent in selecting targets for WI sanctions, broader in recruiting allies for its WI campaigns, and transparent about the humanitarian costs that WI imposes.

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Also in this issue

  • SYMPOSIUM - US-Gulf Relations
  • Antinomies of Alignment: Kuwait and the United States
  • Weaponizing Interdependence in the Middle East
  • The Mideast after Covid-19: Governance and Geopolitics
  • A New Westphalia in MENA after the Arab Revolutions
  • Oil Resources in Relations Between Erbil and Baghdad

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Middle East Policy

Volume XXX
Summer 2023
Number 2

About MEPC

The Middle East Policy Council is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to contribute to American understanding of the political, economic and cultural issues that affect U.S. interests in the Middle East.

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