London, United Kingdom – With a trade deal agreed after years of tough negotiations, Britain’s exit from the EU’s economic and political orbit is imminent.
Much has been made of how relations between the UK and the EU will develop, but experts say that the historic divorce could also impact other critical areas of foreign policy – including trade and security in the Middle East.
Jonathan Hill, director of King’s College London’s Institute of Middle Eastern Studies and a professor of international relations, said Brexit will alter the practicalities of day-to-day trade, with immediate effect.
“The import-export regimen will develop and change,” he said. “Companies [based in the Middle East] will need to conform to specific British standards and they will have to adapt because the rules will change slightly, particularly if they are exporting to Northern Ireland and if supply routes pass through continental Europe.”
Africa: Why the Arab Spring Never Engulfed Sub-Saharan Africa
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For example, in Burkina Faso, in 2014, thousands of people protested against another term of office for long-term President Blaise Compaore, who had ruled for 27 years.
In Senegal, the youth movement Y en a marre successfully fought against the constitutional court s decision in 2012 to allow President Abdoulaye Wade to run for a third time. And in Sudan, President Omar al-Bashir was ousted from office in 2019 after months of civil unrest.
Weeks of mass protests finally ended the reign of Sudan s President Omar-al Bashir I believe that many African movements that advocate for democracy and more openness were emboldened by what had happened in North African countries and the Middle East, German-Africa analyst Robert Kappel told DW. The Arab Spring had a learning effect for African countries away from decades of authoritarian regimes towards more freedom.
Why the Arab Spring never engulfed sub-Saharan Africa © Provided by dw.com
Ten years ago, Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi burned himself to death in Sidi Bouzid after being mistreated by security forces. His self-immolation sparked an unprecedented wave of protests in North Africa and the Middle East, known today as the Arab Spring.
In Tunisia, angry demonstrators deposed their long-time ruler Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. He later died in exile in 2019 in Saudi Arabia.
Ben Ali had been at the helm of Tunisian politics for 23 years. Although initially credited with delivering stability and some economic prosperity, Ben Ali received widespread criticism for suppressing political freedoms and widespread corruption.
Philippe Kropf/OCHA, Flickr
The debate over the future of the Labour party’s foreign policy has begun. Last week, the soft left grouping Open Labour published a pamphlet entitled A Progressive Foreign Policy for New Times, with a foreword co-written by Alex Sobel MP and the respected academic Mary Kaldor. The document’s launch event featured Sobel and shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy, in a significant show of support from senior party figures.
Co-sponsored by the Labour Campaign for International Development, the 29-page document reviews the party’s recent record, and proposes a way forward, purportedly rooted in the principles of humanitarian internationalism. So it was both striking and deeply troubling to see one issue conspicuous for its near total absence from the pamphlet: the war in Yemen.
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