The Eastern Mediterranean in Transition Multipolarity, Politics and Power

The wider region of the Eastern Mediterranean is in transition. What is being evinced is a situation of continuous volatility, centering on developments such as the ’Arab Spring,’ the Greek sovereign debt crisis, Islamic terrorism, the continuation of deadlock over the Cypriot and Palestinian Issues, significant energy finds in the Levantine Basin, concerns over nuclear proliferation and, more recently, the Syrian Civil War. At a systemic level, the move towards a regional multipolar reality has also contributed to volatility by creating a crescendo of antagonisms between all the major international actors who continuously strive for more influence, power and prestige. This collective project by leading experts represents a unique combination of International Theory and International Politics analysis that deals exclusively with the wider Eastern Mediterranean. It scrutinizes in a multidimensional manner the current geostrategic and geopolitical conditions that include the latest domestic socio-political events, as well as the active involvement of the Great Powers in the region. This book should be of interest to academics, decision-makers and a general reading public focusing on a significant and influential region in flux.

Chapter 1 War, Peace and Stability in the Era of Multipolarity, Spyridon N.Litsas; Chapter 2 Structural Changes and Emerging Patterns of Strategic Behavior in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Transition from Bipolarity to Multipolarity, Panayiotis Ifestos; Chapter 3 Russian Foreign Policy in the Eastern Mediterranean since 1991, Pavel Shlykov; Chapter 4 US Foreign Policy in the Eastern Mediterranean, Akis Kalaitzidis; Chapter 5 The Dragon’s Rise in the Great Sea, ChristinaLin; Chapter 6 Penelope Unraveling, Nikolaos Zahariadis; Chapter 7 “Smart” Leadership in a Small State, Ilias I.Kouskouvelis; Chapter 8 Structure over Agency, Raymond Hinnebusch; Chapter 9 Reorienting Turkish Foreign Policy, Ilter Turan; Chapter 10 Vernacular Security in the Eastern Mediterranean after the Arab Spring, Stacey Gutkowski; Chapter 11 Twitter vs. Penguens on TV: #GeziParkProtests, Social Media Use, and the Generation Y in Turkey, Asl? Tunç; Chapter 12 Beyond Hegemony, Constantinos Adamidesand, Odysseas Christou; Chapter 13 A Most Vicious Weapon, Amikam Nachmani; Chapter 14 Reasserting Normalcy in Iran’s Foreign Policy Realm, Ghoncheh Tazmini; Chapter 15 The Call of the Sea, Aharon Klieman; Chapter 16 The Israeli–Greek Rapprochement, Aristotle Tziampiris;

Spyridon N. Litsas is Assistant Professor in Theory of International Relations at the department of International and European Studies of the University of Macedonia, Greece. He specializes on War Theory, Middle East politics, Turkish politics, Islamic Fundamentalism and Strategic Theory. Dr. Litsas holds a Ph.D from Durham University, UK. Aristotle Tziampiris is Associate Professor of International Relations and Director of the Center for International and European Affairs at the Department of International and European Studies of the University of Piraeus, Greece. He is currently (2013-2014) Visiting Fellow at New York University (The Remarque Institute) and was Visiting Scholar at Columbia University (The Harriman Institute) during 2009. Dr Tziampiris specializes on South-Eastern Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean and Greek Foreign Policy. He holds a Ph.D from the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.