Zahraa Mohammed Al-Kaabi

Abstract

A comparative study of the EU's GDPR, China's internet governance model, and the American open model, examining how the digital revolution is redefining national sovereignty and extracting policy lessons for digital sovereignty and cybersecurity in developing nations.

Methodology & Contribution

Triple comparative method with textual analysis of legislative documents across the three models. The researcher contributed to the theoretical framework, the developing-nations case analysis, and policy recommendations.

Abstract

An analytical study of how Iraqi political elites have shaped foreign-policy decision-making since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, arguing that weak institutional consolidation and fragmented power structures produced a distinctive pattern of elite influence over Iraq's external relations.

Methodology & Contribution

A qualitative, descriptive-analytical study applying thematic content analysis to Arabic, Persian, and English sources within an integrated theoretical framework combining realism, elite theory, decision-making theory, and interdependence theory, to explain the roles of parties, religious, security, and media elites in shaping Iraq's foreign policy. Zahraa contributed to compiling Arabic-language sources and analysing the political-parties and power-sharing dimension.

Abstract

An analysis of Arab nationalism's role in shaping contemporary Arab political thought through a comparative study of the Nasser and Gaddafi experiences.

Methodology & Contribution

Comparative historical method with discourse analysis of the two leaders' key speeches and writings. The researcher analyzed Gaddafi's intellectual and political experience and co-formulated the theoretical conclusions.

Abstract

A political-psychology analysis of Saddam Hussein's personality using the frameworks of Kernberg, Adler, and Lasswell, and its consequences for Iraq's domestic governance and foreign policy.

Methodology & Contribution

Psychopolitical profiling with case studies of historical decisions. The researcher applied the three frameworks and analyzed the resulting foreign policies.

Abstract

Artificial intelligence is changing how governments gather intelligence, simulate crises, and conduct diplomacy. This paper asks what that shift means strategically for foreign policy decision-making, synthesising the opportunities AI creates for intelligence analysis and diplomatic communication, the risks it introduces through algorithmic bias, escalation dynamics in autonomous weapons, and accountability gaps in international law, and the geopolitical consequences of an emerging US–China AI competition. It argues that AI works best as an aid to human strategic judgement rather than a replacement for it, and that without binding global governance mechanisms states are largely left to manage the resulting uncertainty on their own.

Methodology & Contribution

Drawing on Realism, Constructivism, and Bureaucratic Politics — complemented by an Islamic political thought perspective on sovereignty and maṣlaḥa — the paper proceeds through a structured comparative reading of official AI strategies, international instruments, policy reports, and peer-reviewed scholarship (2020–2026). Cases were chosen by maximum-variation sampling: the United States, China, the European Union, and the Global South, with Iraq as the organising reference case. It develops the concept of algorithmic soft power, building on the authors' 2026 article on digital sovereignty, and gives particular attention to Big Tech as non-state actors and to the agency of the Global South. Zahraa is the corresponding author, in collaboration with her thesis supervisor Dr. Mohammad Javad Moosanezhad.

Zahraa Mohammed Al-Kaabi — published in academic journals as Zahra AlKaabi — is an Iraqi researcher in International Relations, specializing in digital diplomacy, digital sovereignty, and Middle East politics. She holds an M.A. in International Relations from Imam Khomeini International University (IKIU), Iran, with an excellent grade (18.9/20), and is preparing to pursue doctoral studies in China.

She holds a B.A. in Hebrew Language from the College of Languages, University of Baghdad (2021), and an M.A. in International Relations from Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran (2026), where her thesis — "The Influence of Iraqi Political Elites on Foreign Policy-Making after 2003" — was supervised by Dr. Mohammad Javad Moosanezhad and later developed into a peer-reviewed publication.

Her work sits at the intersection of digital diplomacy and digital sovereignty, Middle East politics and foreign policy analysis, political psychology of leadership, and cybersecurity governance — with particular attention to comparative data-governance models across the EU, China, and the United States.

China's model of internet governance and digital sovereignty is one of the central poles in her research on comparative digital-governance frameworks. Studying in China — and undergoing structured Mandarin training in preparation — gives her direct linguistic and institutional access to analyze that model from within, rather than only from the outside.

She has four published peer-reviewed articles — most recently a September 2026 study on redefining national sovereignty in the digital age — and one working paper in preparation, spanning digital sovereignty, Arab nationalism, political psychology, and post-2003 Iraqi foreign policy. Full details, abstracts, and DOI links are available in the Publications section above.

She welcomes inquiries from prospective PhD supervisors, research collaborators, and academic institutions. The fastest way to reach her is by email at zahrakabi99@outlook.com, or via the details in the Contact section.