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In your opinion, what is the best theoretical framework for understanding thedifferent orientations of the US, European Union and China to the MENA region?
To be able to deduce the type of theoretical framework that colors policies of the United
States, European Union and China towards the MENA region, we must understand their
governmental structures, actions and foreign policies. In the case of the US and the EU, whose
governments and structures are transparent and who publish their policies, agreements, official
documents and legislation online it is not difficult to deduce the ideology that guides their
decisions.
China
Analyzing Chinas policy towards the MENA or any region can be complicated andambiguous for two reasons. Firstly, China doesnt have a transparent governing system. There
are no publications such as the US National Security Strategy or EUs foreign and security
policy papers, rather China uses white papers, speeches, and articles as the principal mechanisms
to communicate policy and strategy publicly, making it difficult to understand any of its
policies.1
Second, it is hard to describe Chinas model of government. The CIA fact book and most
authors describe it as a communist country, yet if we follow Marxist-Leninist communist
ideology, China is not a communist state because it is not a state of the working class.2 Why most
people describe it as such, is because there is a one party system governed by the Communist
party. Also, if we take in to account the reforms started in 1978 under the leadership of DengXiaoping, when China started with the bold and deepening integration into global markets based
on the free flow of goods, capital, technology, information, and people, we can almost classify it
as a capitalist country.3 Therefore, it seems that China is only communist in appearance, waving
red flags and using communistic terminology, but in truth it is something new and different. That
is why I found it difficult to find a perfect mold for Chinas policy toward the MENA region.
In Chinas actions and policies I see an expansionism ideology with a goal to promote
economic growth. I am considering expansion not in terms of territorial expansion, but
expansion to promote the development of a fast growing economy. I do not argue that this is just
the beginning for Chinas policy towards the MENA region, because the trade agreements they
are making in the MENA region show that China is more ambitious and creative then the US, but
1
1 US Office of the Secretary of Defense, A report to Congress: Military and Security developments involving thePeoples Republic of China, 2010, Section 1246, page 22
2 Lenin, State and Revolution, chapter 5.4
3 Jon B. Alterman and John W. Garver, The Vital triangle: China, The United States and The Middle East, TheCSIS Press, Washington, D.C., 2008, page 28
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also the different influences on its strategic policies show a possible shift towards the
imperialistic ideologies.
As a fast growing economy, owing its growth to the United States who, also governed by
their economic expansion decided to relocate their industry to areas of cheap labour force, China
wants to continue on this route of economic growth but in order to do so, it needs oil resources to
sustain the industry that is producing this growth. China is the third country in the world in oilconsumption but the fifth in oil production.4 According to the resource depletion theories as a
negative effect of economic growth, China is already experiencing oil resource depletion, where
its continental oil resources are getting mature but also the access to its offshore sources are tied
to territorial disputes with Japan. There is one other aspect for demand for oil. Global resource
shortages, price shocks or restricted access to resources could affect Chinas strategic outlook
and behavior, and undermine the foundation of the Communist partys popular legitimacy.5 The
need for resources, to power the continuing economic growth and to sustain the communist party
in power in the process, is considerable.
Since the MENA region is the richest in the world in oil resources that are easier and
cheaper to extract then in the other regions, it is obvious that China wants to establish successfultrading relationships. Regrettably, the MENA region is not a problem free zone for China. On
one hand, it is a constant conflict zone and on the other, the US have great interests and
influences in the region making it diplomatically challenging for China to promote their interests
and influence. Chinese experts have advocated the diversification in oil sources as soon as
possible, avoiding reliance on Middle East for oil and gas.6 Nevertheless, China is investing and
trading with Syria, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Oman, Sudan,
Yemen, Libya, Algeria, Kuwait, UAE and probably otherMENA countries, because it is in their
best interest to trade with countries that produce the best product, where extraction is the
cheapest and price the lowest.
It is also reasonable to assume that China will protect its investment in the Middle East bysecuring the trade route. The string or pearls is the name for the Chinese sea lines of
communication that run through the strategic choke points: Strait of Mandab, Strait of Malacca,
Strait of Hormuz and Strait of Lombok as well as other strategic naval interest such as Pakistan,
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives and Somalia. Some analysts believe that Chinese efforts to
develop a number of ports from the Middle East to the Indian Ocean, will ultimately be used to
enhance Chinas ability to defend its access to oil. 7 These Chinese efforts that go beyond
protecting their investments, can be seen as the beginning of future imperialistic tendencies.
When trading in the MENA region, China presents itself as a non colonial power, and as
being a developing country as well. The self image that China wants to promote in the MENA
2
4 CIA The WorldFact book, accessed on 27.06.2012
5 Report, Supra, note 1, at 15
6 Xuewen, Qian, Chinas energy cooperation with Middle-East Oil-producing countries, Chinese educationalministry program: Chinas national interest in the Middle East, 2009, page 69
7 Kaplan, Robert, Pakistans fatal shore, Atlantic Monthly, 2009
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region is a direct influence of Deng Xiaopings traditional guidance: observe calmly, secure our
position, cope with affairs calmly, hide our capabilities and bide our time; be good at maintaining
a low profile; and newer claim leadership.8 This is just one of many influences on Chinas
strategy. There is one that asserts that China should actively cooperate with regional actors and
the US to increase Chinas influence and to assure neighbors and more distant great powers that
Chinas rise will not pose a destabilizing threat to their security.9 Among these two strategies, Isee the influence of the first one when dealing with the MENA region. They dont claim to be
leaders, they observe calmly by not meddling in internal affairs, they are securing their position,
but for what are they biding their time remains unknown and a little frightening.
As I mentioned, when they invest in a country they stay out of their internal affairs and
have a hands off approach which doesnt involve spreading democratic values which is appealing
to many MENA states that feel dissatisfied with US and EU policies. Abdulaziz Sager of the
Gulf Research Center noted, the chief advantage of Chinas role in the region is its lack of
political baggage.10 Beyond opposition to U.S. democracy efforts is an appreciation of Chinas
avowed disinterest in Arab reform. Arab regimes and intellectuals alike hold China as a model- itis a lucrative trading partner and objective observer in international affairs, but absent in their
domestic politics. China makes no claims on Arab regimes as to their treatment of the opposition,
human rights, or elections, nor is it in the Chinas interest ever to do so.
To show an example of Chinese creativity in trade policies, I will mention their $3.5
billion investment in the Aynak Copper field in Logar province in 2009. The Aynak Copper Mine
represents the worlds largest untapped copper deposit estimated to be worth up to $88B which is
more than double Afghanistans gross domestic product.11 It is the largest foreign investment in
this countrys history- 3.5 billion dollars for a 30 year lease of the mine.12 Along with producing
thousands of jobs in the mine, Chinese are also investing in local development. They have
committed to building a 400 megawatt plant to support the mine, and water development andpurification, all of which will be available to the local population. The Company, also known as
M.C.C., will dig a new coal mine to feed the plants generators. It will build a smelter to refine
copper ore, and a railroad to carry coal to the power plant and copper back to China. M.C.C. will
also build schools, roads, even mosques for the Afghans. Similar agreements are being inked
from Africa through the Middle East to Southeast Asia as China attempts to secure critical
equities around the world. These actions demonstrate that Beijing is becoming more strategically
3
8 Report Supra, note 1, at 27
9Ibid., at 27
10 Abdulaziz Sager, Saudi-Chinese relations: Energy first, but not last, Arab News, January 23, 2006, seen in theVital triangle
11 Kleponis, Greg, Chinas role in the stabilization of Afghanistan, Strategic studies institute, July 8 2009, page 2
12Ibid, same page
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conscious in its global engagement and is more willing to push its interests in competition with
those of the United States.13
With these type of trading policies, where the Chinese also invest in local development or
do not interfere in their internal affairs, they are also ensuring their investments but in a contrast
way to that of the US and EU. Instead of pushing for human rights and democracy and forcingthe regime changes with military power, the Chinese present themselves as a developing country
by whom the Middle East, shouldnt feel threatened, because not only they wont interfere in
what ever they are doing, they will support it, and invest heavily in their country. This strategy
would seem perfect if only there wasnt a recent historic example, where a western power was
protecting the Middle East from evil communists, protecting the authoritarian regimes, selling
them weapons and trading oil with their companies. These historic examples are here to teach us
to be weary of foreign powers and their lucrative agreements.
European Union
The politics of European Union towards the MENA region can be best described through
the theoretical frameworks of neocolonialism and neoliberalism combined.
Existing and past international economic arrangements created by former colonial powers
of the European Union were and are used to maintain control of their former colonies and
dependencies in the MENA region after the colonial independence movements of the post World
War II period. The perfect mechanism that the EU is using to establish the neocolonial policies in
the MENA region is neoliberalism. A classical definition of neocolonialism is given in Kwame
Nkrumahs, the man who coined the phrase, Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of
Imperialism (1965):
The result of neocolonialism is that foreign capital is used for the exploitation rather
than for the development of the less developed parts of the world. Investment under
neocolonialism increases rather than decreases the gap between the rich and the poor
countries of the world. The struggle against neocolonialism is not aimed at excluding
the capital of the developed world from operating in less developed countries. It is
aimed at preventing the financial power of the developed countries being used in
such a way as to impoverish the less developed.14
This definition perfectly describes the function of the Union for the Mediterranean,
which is the main platform for cooperation between the EU and the MENA region. The main
actors who push the implementation of neoliberalism are the states through the international
4
13 Brautigam, Debora, The Dragons gift, the real story of China in Africa, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press,January 2010, page 28
14 Nkrumah, Kwame, Neocolonialism, The last stage of imperialism, London, 1965, Introduction
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financial institutions and with the help of multinational corporations. The main financial
institutions involved in this process are IMF, World Bank, World Trade Organization and
UNCTAD who operate on an international level, OECD and EBRD who operate in Europe,
African development bank and some US institutions such as USAID and OAS. According to the
Union for the Mediterranean the principal aims of the partnership are:
the enhancement of economic and financial cooperation and the creation of an area
of shared prosperity through sustainable and balanced socio-economic development.
The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership strives to achieve these goals by fostering
economic transition in three main important ways: favoring the economic conditions
of growth, reforming key sectors, establishing a free trade area by 2010.15
The phrase reforming key sectors actually means creating conditions in the MENA
region for successful implementation of neoliberal ideas. These conditions consist of:
establishing an internal network for promotion and support of neoliberal values and ideas inside
every country, so that when the international organizations propose to change something in acountry it doesnt feel or look like its coming from abroad, instead it was the will of the people.
The network establishment is achieved through NGOs that the international organizations are
forming inside of a country, who with the money sent to them, promote these ideas. After the
people have realized by themselves that neoliberalism is something every country should aspire
to, the international institutions propose that the country changes a few things. This is when
favoring the economic conditions of growth is implemented. In the MENA region, the key
sector of change was the agriculture. Firstly, they have privatized the land and promoted private
instead of collective ownership. They have also promoted private-public partnerships (PPP).
Secondly, they have convinced the people that they should shift to export oriented agriculture, or
as the World Bank explains, countries shouldnt produce food to feed themselves, they shouldexport it and earn foreign currencies with which they can buy food to feed themselves. This
policy made the MENA region the most food import dependent region of the world. The best
agricultural land was dominated by food crops cultivated for exports, while the crops cultivated
for domestic consumption were relocated to regions with poor soil conditions.16 When global
prices for export crops plummeted due to over-production, resulting from too many farmers
being pushed, by the WTO, to produce the same crops, many people found that the income they
were earning from their export crops proved insufficient to purchase the imported food promoted
by the EU and the US. The reason for high prices of food is that the foreign governments are
subsidizing their farmers while the World Bank and IMF are forbidding the MENA governments,
through conditions on their loans, to do the same. These policies caused starvation of the rural
population in the MENA region which led to riots, in Egypt, for example, the riots lasted from
1980 all the way to 2000.
Establishing a free trade area promotes the internalization of capital and it increases the
foreign direct investment. It also connects these countries with the world market in such a way,
5
15 Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, Economic and Financial Partnership section
16 Leech, Garry, Capitalism and the art of Dispossession, 2012
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that when there is a spike in the price of wheat it affects the poor populations of MENA countries
the most. This is the area, where the multinational cooperations, as one of the key actors, come in
to play. With the privatization of agricultural land and policies of mechanization and irrigation,
there was a concentration of landownership that led to formation of classes and concentration of
wealth in the hands of the few, usually the leaders and monarchs that were signing these
agreements, but also to the hands of previous merchant classes which now became the elite. Theelite powers are the ones forming multinational corporations together with private companies
from Europe and the United States. They are investing in the oil industries and profiting from
these neoliberal structures.
Qui bono? Why do these policies benefit the EU? The advantages for the EU and US as
well are numerous and very lucrative.
Firstly, the changes made in the agricultural policies have led to increase of debt levels of
MENA countries. Debt is then used as a weapon by the EU and the US as well, to force more
loans and policies that do not benefit the people of the MENA region at all. The cancelation of
debt is a favorite weapon of these actors, where in exchange they would ask for shares in certainprivate sectors or support in their military campaigns against the very people of the MENA
region.
Secondly, these neoliberal policies have a political effect as well. They weaken the
traditionalist left and Arab nationalist parties which caused a shift to political Islam. They are
then using these political changes to their own gain.
Thirdly, with their privatization policies, doing business indexof the WTO,
popularization of private-public partnerships and the restructuring of tax regimes with the
introduction of VAT, they have created a perfect atmosphere for multinational corporations to
operate in. With shares in the oil industry, these companies are exploiting the region and creating
massive profits. Some of the profits stay in the region in the hands of the elite, but most of it goesto EU and the US.
All these plans of the European Union, United States and the Financial Institutions, the
deception and effort that goes in to creating policies that sound like providing help and
establishing partnerships are here for one thing only- creating profits for the main actors and
sustaining the capitalist systems of the developed world through exploitation of MENA, but also
other regions of the world.
The United States
The best theoretical approach to United States orientation toward the MENA region wouldbe a combination of neoliberal and neoconservative ideas, in my opinion. I will not go in to
details about the neoliberal tendencies of the US because I have already explained how these
ideas have influenced the region. The neoliberal policies of the US have different names, like the
Washington Consensus, but they use the same financial organizations, both bilateral and
international, to promote these policies and more importantly their effects and benefits are the
same as the ones of the EU.
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As for neoconservatism, it is a combination of political ideologies on its own. It consist of
conservatism, political individualism and an endorsement of the free markets which makes it
compatible with neoliberalism.17 The neoconservatist tradition that I think has the most influence
in US foreign policy, is the one of the students of Leo Strauss. According to his belief, the human
nature is inherently evil. The job of a leader is maintaing order because the world is an awful
place. The leader should also manipulate with fear in order to gain power and use deceptionwhich is necessary because people are useless- they couldnt handle the truth, they would panic.
Strauss had other Machiavellian tools in his belt, like the use of religion as a tool in order to get
people to behave. According to neoconservatist ideology, war is a good thing- it binds people
together and it puts a face to evil. Therefore leaders should constantly use the threat of war to
maintain power. Some of his students were Paul Wolfowitz, who was a US Deputy Secretary of
Defense in the George W. Bushs administration and was also a president of the World Bank,
Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.
Neoconservatism was the most evident in George W. Bushs administration after
September 11, when he coined the term axis of evil, describing Iraq, Iran and North Korea as
demonic powers that present a growing threat to the US. At the root of his high rhetorics was theneoconservative dogma. What followed was an illegal and illegitimate invasion of Iraq and the
creation of Bush Doctrine with the notion of preventive war. The preemptive war is a particularly
dangerous concept because it can be further used as a precedent in international law. The real
reason for invading Iraq was to gain a foothold in the strategically important part of the region
and to establish the first secure US military bases in a client state at the heart of the worlds
major energy resources.18 Zbigniew Brzezinski, political analyst, geostrategist and statesman,
pointed out that Americas control over the Middle East gives it indirect but politically critical
leverage on the European and Asian economies that are also dependent on energy exports from
the region.19 The persistency of these ideas, I see even in the Obamas administration, that
continues the demonization of the people from the Middle East. Also the prolonged presence ofUS troops in the Middle East shows me that even this so called democratic administration needs
the Middle East to remain its usual suspect. Furthermore, the MENA states will remain the
playground for US neoliberal ambitions and also a resource to fuel its capitalist economy.
7
17Definition by Encyclopedia Britannica
18 Chomsky, Noah, Its Imperialism, Stupid!, Khaleej Times, June 1, 2005
19 National Interest Journal, 2003
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