This article provides a conceptual lens for and a thick interpretation of the emergent regional constellation in the Middle East in the first decade of the 21st century. It starts out by challenging two prevalent claims about regional politics in the context of the 2006 Lebanon and 2008–09 Gaza Wars: Firstly, that regional politics is marked by a fundamental break from the ‘old Middle East’ and secondly, that it has become ‘post-Arab’ in the sense that Arab politics has ceased being distinctly Arab. Against this background, the article develops the understanding of a New Arab Cold War which accentuates the still important, but widely neglected Arab dimension in regional politics. By rediscovering the Arab Cold War of the 1950–60s and by drawing attention to the transformation of Arab nationalism and the importance of new trans-Arab media, the New Arab Cold War perspective aims at supplementing rather that supplanting the prominent moderate-radical, sectarian and Realist-Westphalian narratives. By highlighting dimensions of both continuity and change it does moreover provide some critical nuances to the frequent claims about the ‘newness’ of the ‘New Middle East’. In addition to this more Middle East-specific contribution, the article carries lessons for a number of more general debates in International Relations theory concerning the importance of (Arab-Islamist) non-state actors and competing identities in regional politics as well as the interplay between different forms of sovereignty

Many authoritarian regimes selectively provide critical segments of the population with privileged access to goods and services, expecting political support in return. This article is interested in the effects of this regime strategy: Is violent opposition less likely to occur in subnational regions bound to the ruling elite through such patron-client networks? For its empirical analysis, the article makes use of crowdsourcing data on the number and geospatial distribution of fatalities in the Syrian civil war from March 2011 to November 2012. In terms of selective goods provision, the focus is on the electricity sector. Satellite images of the earth at night are used to proxy spatial variations in the public distribution of electricity in times of power shortages. These data are complemented with information from the last Syrian population census of 2004. Estimations from fixed effect logit models lend support to the hypothesis that the risk of violence has been lower in subdistricts that have been favored by the ruling regime in terms of preferential access to material goods. This hypothesis is further corroborated with qualitative evidence from Syrian localities.

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in GIGA Working Papers 215/2013Edited by the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale StudienThe GIGA Working Papers series serves to disseminate the research results of work in progress prior to publication in order to encourage the exchange of ideas and academic debate. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. Inclusion of a paper in the GIGA Working Papers series does not constitute publication and should not limit publication in any other venue. Copyright remains with the authors. When working papers are eventually accepted by or published in a journal or book, the correct citation reference and, if possible, the corresponding link will then be included on the GIGA Working Papers website at . Seen from a broader historical perspective, however, the idea that monarchies have an inherent advantage in retaining power is less evident: a number of authoritarian monarchies broke down and subsequently became republics (Egypt 1952, Iraq 1958, North Yemen 1962, Libya 1969, Iran 1979 GIGA Research Programme "Legitimacy and Efficiency of Political

Simplistic correlations between human mobility and political violence are on the rise in the European discourse on immigration, especially -but not only -in populist rhetoric. This not only lacks an empirical foundation, but also leads to simplistic solutions for a major political and humanitarian challenge of our time. However, we still lack comprehensive knowledge on the migration-violence nexus. By bringing insights from migration studies and peace and conflict studies into fruitful dialogue, this contribution aims to fill this gap. It first maps some of the central questions regarding the migration-violence nexus. Second, and on this basis, it proposes an analytical framework for future research which encompasses the interdependence of violence-migration dynamics on and between the macro, meso and micro levels by examining human mobility as: (1) a movement out of (physical and structural) violence; (2) a violent process in and of itself; (3) a path into (physical and structural) violence; and (4) it formulates some recommendations that can provide a more holistic basis for policy programmes regarding human mobility. Policy Implications• Violence does not stop in the moment a migrant manages to leave a war or conflict zone. Policy measures that aim to help migrants need to reflect migration as a movement out of violence, but also as a violent practice in and of itself and potentially as a movement into violence.• Humanitarian aid efforts aiming to help migrants can have unintended consequences, like perpetuating pre-existing violent structures or even creating new ones. More knowledge is needed to better understand the make-up of migrant groups, the reasons for and direction of migration, and the violence inherent in the migrant experience.

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