With the July issue of 2005, Al-Siyassa Al-Dawliya has turned 40 years old. As a journal devoted to covering foreign policy issues and international relations, we cannot divorce our examination of its development from that of the monumental regional and international developments that have occurred during its lifetime. The journal first appeared within the context of the confrontations of the Cold War and the bipolar world order. In 1965, the US began its direct and intensive intervention in the Vietnam war, sending almost a quarter of a million US soldiers there by the end of that year. While the bloody confrontation between the eastern and western blocs raged in Vietnam, others on the international scene were moving to bolster their own positions. China detonated its second nuclear bomb that very same year, while European integration was moving along from the common market phase to the establishment of the European Community in 1967. Third world countries, from Asia, Africa and Latin America, still had high hopes for the Non-Aligned Movement established in Bandung in 1955, which continued to hold summits in Belgrade 1961 and Cairo 1964.

In the Arab world, 1965 saw the emergence of a truce between so-called “progressive” and “reactionary” Arab regimes. The Arabs were able to convene their first three summits in 1964 and 1965, although their solidarity was passive formal rather than proactive in the face of growing Israeli power – this proved to be the foundation for the resounding defeat of June 1967. During this time, the idea of Arab-Israeli peace could not even be contemplated – witness the angry outcry at suggestions to that effect made by Tunisian president at the time Habib Bourguiba.

Looking back at the developments of these last 40 years is a fascinating exercise. The international scene was completely transformed. The Soviet Union and the entire socialist bloc disintegrated. Issues that once dominated world attention – Vietnam, the Berlin crisis, etc – have disappeared into oblivion. A new world order, dominated by the sole superpower, the US, has now emerged, with its own flashpoints in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East. China went through much political turmoil but is now emerging as an economic power on a gigantic scale. Asia as a whole has also changed, with prosperity in South Korea, India, Malaysia and Indonesia, not to mention Japan.

The third world movement of non-alignment has been significantly weakened. What remains of its momentum is concentrated on achieving the best terms possible in terms of economic development and trade. Change on the regional level has been no less fascinating. The 1967 defeat proved to be the most significant event in the Arab world since its countries gained their independence, exposing the serious flaws of the so-called “revolutionary” regimes. At the same time, it provided the impetus for Arab coordination and the achievement of success in October 1973, which in turn proved the starting point for an ongoing Arab-Israeli peace process initiated by President Anwar Al-Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem in 1977.

The region was rocked by the shock waves from the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran, and while the Arab Gulf states were enjoying the prosperity produced by huge oil revenues after 1973, they braced to protect themselves as war broke out, first between Iraq and Iran, and then with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Despite the catastrophic consequences of this invasion, the Arab-Israeli conflict maintained its position as the first regional priority until the events of 9/11 in the US. Since then, the US focus on Arab and Islamic issues, its direct intervention in Afghanistan, Iraq and its pressure for the implementation of reform throughout the Arab and Islamic worlds, has fundamentally changed the agenda in the Middle East.

In this special anniversary issue, we reflect on the host of new concepts and problems that have developed on the international scene during these years. These include globalisation and its enormous impact on the individual, society and the state, terrorism, the growing role of civil society, the debate over the relationship between cultures and civilisations, and the future role of ideology. We also consider the growing importance throughout the world of the issues of human rights and protection of the environment.

As Al-Siyassa Al-Dawliya has covered these, and other issues, throughout its history, it has benefited from the expertise of a large number of distinguished intellectuals and academics, some of whom have consistently contributed throughout our 40-year history. We have also benefited from the technological revolution, both in gaining access to information as well as in reaching out to a larger audience through our website. Al-Siyassa Al-Dawliya was one of the earliest publications in Arabic to launch such a site, in 1997. We have also sought to reach out to the non-Arabic speaking public by including abstracts of our articles in English, both in the journal and on the website. We hope to eventually develop a separate journal of international relations in English, through which Egyptian and Arab scholars can more effectively interact with the international community of intellectuals and scholars. As a first step in this direction, we include a number of full-text translations in this issue, and will post a larger number of full-text translations on the website. Also in celebration of our 40th anniversary, all 40 years of Al-Siyassa Al-Dawliya will shortly be available on CD in Arabic. Taking advantage of these technological innovations and improving the journal’s format could not have been done without the younger generations of Egyptian scholars, researchers and staff, who alongside our senior staff and contributors helped bring the journal to where it is today.

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