The Contemporary Middle East provides an accessible introduction to the region s most pressing concerns and enduring conflicts. It includes provocative contributions by an impressive array of leading scholars, journalists, and policy advisors. Contributors include notable academic authors Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., the late William L. Cleveland, Shibley Telhami, David W. Lesch, Bernard Reich, and Phebe Marr, complemented by selections from recent general-interest books by Marwan Bishara, Mark Perry, and Eugene Rogan, among others. With twelve new chapters, the third edition is a probing examination of the current affairs of the Middle East. Its multiple readings on strategic pairings of topics (Israel and the Palestinians, Iraq and Iran, Egypt and Syria) illuminate the region s key issues from a variety of perspectives. Part- and chapter-opening summaries help establish background and context, and a new concluding chapter by Shibley Telhami, written specifically for this volume, candidly addresses fundamental questions about the United States and the Middle East today. Student resources include an annotated table of contents, a select bibliography, a glossary, brief biographies of notable persons, a chronology, and a summary of recent events, in addition to numerous maps.

Provides a balanced historical narrative of the contemporary causes of conflict in the Middle East, ideal for students and scholars The recent history of the Middle East has involved unprecedented violence and war. Contemporary Middle East: Foreign Intervention and Authoritarian Governance Since 1979 explores the causes of the sustained turbulence of the region by focusing on three separate yet intersecting factors: constant foreign political and military interference, failed authoritarian governance, and the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict. With a clear and accessible style, this student-friendly text presents a concise account of the region’s history, starting from the dramatic events of 1979 including the toppling of the Shah of Iran, the return of Ayatollah Khomeini, the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, the ascendency of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, armed insurrection in Mecca, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Succinct chapters, organized chronologically, guide students through key events and help students develop a cohesive picture of the sequence of historical developments which have shape the contemporary Middle East. This valuable work: Covers a broad range of topics with a focus on the geopolitical and geostrategic aspect Explores the Middle East's connections to broader global shifts such as Cold War rivalry and American unipolarity Examines the underlying causes and geopolitical consequences of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict Describes the evolution of the wide variety of Islamist opposition movements Provides background for the 2011 popular uprisings against authoritarian and corrupt rule Assesses how counter revolutionary forces have resorted to political repression, sectarian division, and regional conflict Delivering invaluable insights into the factors underlying the region's ongoing geopolitical disorder, Contemporary Middle East: Foreign Intervention and Authoritarian Governance Since 1979 is an excellent resource for undergraduate courses in history and political science, and a valuable text for general readers looking for a succinct survey of the last four decades of Middle Eastern history.

The Middle East, a few decades ago, was seen to be an autonomous subsystem of the global international political system. More recently, the region has been subordinated to the hegemony of a singular superpower, the US, bolstered by an alliance with Israel and a network of Arab client states. The subordination of the contemporary Middle East has resulted in large part from the disappearance of countervailing forces, for example, global bipolarity, that for a while allowed the Arab world in particular to exercise a modicum of flexibility in shaping its international relations.The aspirations of the indigenous population of the Middle East have been stifled by the dynamics of the unequal global power relationships, and domestic politics of the countries of the region are regularly subordinated to the prerogatives of international markets and the strategic competition of the great powers. Employing the concept of imperialism, defined as a pattern of alliances between a center (rulers) in the Center (developed) country and a center (client regime) in the Periphery (underdeveloped country) - as an overall framework to analyse the subordination of the region, this book is essential reading for students and scholars of the Middle East, International Relations, and Politics in general.

Japan is an economic power of global significance; it is also the world's largest single national importer of oil. These two facts alone are sufficient to indicate the significance of Japan's relationship with the Middle East. But in fact, Japan's particularly strong interests in the Middle East extend well beyond oil, and include banking, investment, and an increasing concern with economic assistance. The studies in this book deal with the relevant period of the twentieth century and especially with the rapid transformation of Japan's relationship with the region since 1973. It provides access in English to the current economic and political analysis by Japanese specialists concerned with the Middle East, and it will assist anyone interested in Japan's relationship with the region. The dependence of Japan on Middle Eastern oil is examined together with the changing nature of Japan's energy consumption policies at home, and its involvement in joint ventures in the Middle East. Japan's role as a major provider of economic assistance is reviewed, and its future potential role in this area is emphasised.

This exciting new edition of the successful textbook for students of Middle Eastern politics provides a highly relevant and comprehensive introduction to the complexities of a region in constant flux. Combining a thematic framework for examining patterns of politics with individual chapters dedicated to specific countries, the book places the very latest developments and long-standing issues within an historical context. This third edition extends its analysis to post-2015 developments in the region, as well as expanding the range of pedagogical features on offer. Presenting information in an accessible and inclusive format, the book offers: Coverage of the historical influence of colonialism and major world powers on the shaping of the modern Middle East A detailed examination of the legacy of Islam Analysis of the political and social aspects of Middle Eastern life, including alienation between the state and society, poverty and social inequality, and ideological crisis and renewal Case studies on countries in the Fertile Crescent (Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, and Israel/Palestine); the Northern Belt (Turkey and Iran); and those West and East of the Red Sea (Egypt and the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council) A key introductory text for students of Middle Eastern politics and history at advanced undergraduate and postgraduate levels, this new edition has been extensively updated to also become a timely and significant reference for policy-makers and any motivated reader.

This book surveys the main conflicts and insurgencies in recent Middle East history, focusing mainly on the period since the 1980s and taking a historical-analytical approach.

The first book in English on the law and politics of federalism and decentralization in the MENA region.

This book examines the changing dynamics of stabilisation efforts in the Middle East and North Africa. Written by recognised scholars and practitioners in the field, this volume provides a rich overview of the broader spectrum of stabilisation. The topics range from a comprehensive set of lessons learned in Afghanistan and Iraq to transitional justice and reconciliation efforts in Tunisia and international attempts to protect the region’s cultural heritage. Ultimately, this edited collection presents a comprehensive look at the attempts to increase stability in the MENA region.

The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the Arab uprisings of 2010–11 left indelible imprints on the Middle East. Yet, these events have not reshaped the region as pundits once predicted. With this volume, top experts on the region offer wide-ranging considerations of the characteristics, continuities, and discontinuities of the contemporary Middle East, addressing topics from international politics to political Islam, hip hop to human security. This book engages six themes to understand the contemporary Middle East—the spread of sectarianism, abandonment of principles of state sovereignty, the lack of a regional hegemonic power, increased Saudi-Iranian competition, decreased regional attention to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and fallout from the Arab uprisings—as well as offers individual country studies. With analysis from historians, political scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists, and up-to-date discussions of the Syrian Civil War, impacts of the Trump presidency, and the 2020 uprisings in Lebanon, Algeria, and Sudan, this book will be an essential guide for anyone seeking to understand the current state of the region.

The contributions to this volume are based on papers read at an international confer ence held in Hamburg in May 1978. Some of them are reprinted in their original form, others have been slightly modified in order to incorporate more recent findings. Since the overall concern is Middle Eastern development the various contributions deal with a wide range of problems. Studies on the Middle East are more often than not one-sided because of the pre dominating interest in the Arab-Israeli conflict and the economic factors relating to the supply of oil. At the Hamburg Conference, however, the participants concentrated main lyon examining such aspects of the situation as are far too often relegated to the side lines. In order to illustrate what those neglected topics are one should refer to two major examples: 1) the religio-cultural identity of Arabs and Israelis, 2) the tackling of political issues in Arab and Israeli literature.