Near East Policy Forum

  • Central Asian Migration Patterns and Their Implications for Australia

    Only small numbers of Central Asia migrants make their way to Australia yet the experience in the broader Asia Pacific suggests that this could be a missed opportunity for Australia to benefit from skilled Central Asian migrants.

    Gulshat Rozyyeva

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    Photograph of people walking through the city streets of Canberra on a sunny day.
  • Emerging space power in Central Asia: Kazakhstan at the crossroad

    Emerging space power in Central Asia: Kazakhstan at the crossroad

    After the disintegration of the USSR, Kazakhstan inherited a significant technological artefact of the Soviet space program, the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The management of the spaceport, from which the historically significant Sputnik 1 was launched, was transferred to Russia through a lease agreement from 1994 till 2050. However the Kazakhstani leadership had remained committed to the…

    Nelly Bekus and Zhomart Medeuov

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  • Navigating Great Powers: Mongolia and Kazakhstan’s shared geopolitical uncertainties

    Navigating Great Powers: Mongolia and Kazakhstan’s shared geopolitical uncertainties

    Though seldom analysed together, Mongolian and Kazakh foreign policies are connected today by nature of their shared experience of their two larger neighbours China and Russia. Mongolia and Kazakhstan have both attempted to balance a largely economic relationship with China and a military strategic relationship with Russia, in order to develop and maintain their security…

    Liam Campbell

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  • What will be Labor’s policy on Palestine?

    What will be Labor’s policy on Palestine?

    With the Australian Labor Party’s (ALP) victory in the Australian parliamentary elections on May 21, some policy shifts could be imminent. This is not limited to foreign policy, a space historically underpinned by broad bipartisanship in Canberra. However, ALP’s 2021 political platform suggests the party could explore a series of new approaches that reorient Australia’s…

    Alexander Langlois

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  • China and Iran: Unrecognised Potential and Opportunities

    China and Iran: Unrecognised Potential and Opportunities

    Iran presents important opportunities for China’s regional and continental ambitions. It has one of the world’s largest proven reserves of oil and natural gas which is important to the famously energy insecure Chinese economy. Iran also occupies a geographic region between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, a key point in the old Silk…

    Ali Ahmadi

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  • How Iraq became Iran’s cash cow

    How Iraq became Iran’s cash cow

    With the October 2021 Iraqi Parliamentary elections recording the lowest ever voter turnout in post-2003 Iraq, there is little doubt that Iraq’s yet-to-be-announced next government already faces a legitimacy crisis. Amid the problems that Iraq faces in overcoming its domestic challenges, there is a massive driver of its cyclical political system in neighbouring Iran of…

    Bamo Nouri

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  • Kazakhstan unrest: implications for Australian interests

    Kazakhstan unrest: implications for Australian interests

    The abrupt and turbulent start of the year in Kazakhstan has engineered the conditions for a dual narrative to emerge. Firstly, the widespread violence and protests, coupled with Kazakhstan government’s botched handling of containing the violence demonstrated the fragility of the security conditions in Kazakhstan. This was made even more shocking by the apparent mistrust…

    Conor McLaughlin

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  • Counter-Sectarianism in Lebanon at a Crossroads

    Counter-Sectarianism in Lebanon at a Crossroads

    On an early evening in late 2019, bells and sirens sounded throughout Beirut as thousands of Lebanese flooded the streets chanting, “down with the regime.” Simultaneously, buildings and blockades around the city were being spray-painted with calls for revolution alongside satirical caricatures lampooning the nation’s politicians. To many counter-sectarian revolutionaries, it seemed like the longstanding…

    Stuart Mann and Tony Kesserwany

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  • Could Emirati hold on Socotra resolve conflict in Yemen?

    Could Emirati hold on Socotra resolve conflict in Yemen?

    The UAE’s strategic consolidation of the island of Socotra will not enhance the prospects for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Yemen. Whilst it may further complicate the process, it will not necessarily stymie efforts either. However, what is likely to stymie prospects is the growing rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE and…

    Neil Quilliam and Alice Gower

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  • COVID-19 and Female Labour Force Participation in Jordan

    COVID-19 and Female Labour Force Participation in Jordan

    COVID-19 has exacerbated the challenges of female labour participation in Jordan. Female social involvement has significantly decreased by virtue of caring for their children and other familial responsibilities – especially since kindergartens were one of the first common areas to be closed during quarantine. Recent research has concluded that there is a noticeable low rate…

    Akram Al Deek

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  • Covid-19 and Egypt’s Informal Economy

    Covid-19 and Egypt’s Informal Economy

    For many Egyptians and policymakers alike, Egypt’s informal sector represents both a blessing and a curse. Through ease of entry, it provides employment for those shut out of the formal sector, but it is also characterised by poor working conditions and weak worker protections. The Egyptian government has shown great ambivalence towards the sector, sometimes trying…

    Alia El Mahdi

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