This chapter examines the nature of regime security in the weak states in the developing world in contrast to public or state security in the developed world. The chapter shows that the insecurities that confront regimes in the developing world mostly emanate from internal rather than external threats and are linked to the inability or unwillingness of these regimes to provide security inclusively as a public good to local communities. In order to understand the regime insecurity loop in the developing world, the chapter commences by introducing the difference between public and regime security. It continues by defining the major threats to regime security before exemplifying how regimes in the developing world are trying to manage these threats through accommodation and coercion. The regime insecurity loop will be illustrated on the basis of the Assad regime in Syria. The chapter concludes by outlining the prospects of regime security in the developing world amid an increased transnationalization of security affairs.
Chapter
Andreas Krieg
This chapter focuses on regime security, the condition where governing elites are secure from violent challenges to their rule, and the unique insecurity dilemma facing many developing countries. The chapter shows that the insecurities that confront regimes in the developing world mostly emanate from internal rather than external threats and are linked to the inability or unwillingness of these regimes to provide security inclusively as a public good to local communities. This regime insecurity loop is explained by contrasting public and regime security, and how regimes in the developing world are trying to manage internal threats through accommodation and coercion. The Assad regime in Syria is used to illustrate the regime insecurity loop. The chapter concludes by outlining the prospects of regime security in the developing world amid an increased transnationalization of security affairs.
Chapter
Matteo Legrenzi
This chapter focuses on the international politics of the Gulf region, which are defined by the interplay of the local states and outside powers. The domestic framework and its interactions with transnational influences and external actors are crucial to understanding the environment within which local states operate — whether revolutionary Iran, Saddam Hussein's Iraq, or the Gulf monarchies themselves. Given that regime security drives states in their foreign policies, the need to cope with both internal and external threats is compelling. Outside actors are important in as much as they supply or help to combat such threats. The withdrawal of US forces from Iraq and the relative immunity of the Gulf monarchies from the effects of the Arab Spring have afforded these states greater regional influence and autonomy, but events since 2015 also reveal deep divides among them over issues like IS, Iranian foreign policy, and the war in Yemen.
