Based on three case studies from the Middle East, The Land beyond the Border advances an innovative theoretical framework for the study of state expansions and state contractions. Johannes Becke argues that state expansion can be theorized according to four basic ideal types—a form of patronage (patronization), the imposition of a satellite regime (satellization), the establishment of territorial exclaves (exclavization), or a full-fledged takeover (incorporation). Becke discusses how both irredentist ideologies and political realities have shaped the dynamics of state expansion and state contraction in the recent history of each state. By studying Israel comparatively with other Middle Eastern regimes, this book forms part of an emerging research agenda seeking to bring the research fields of Israel Studies and Middle East Studies closer together. Instead of treating Israel's rule over the occupied territories as an isolated case, Becke offers students the chance to understand Israel's settlement project within the broader framework of postcolonial state formation.

Wild Waters Never Sleep is an all new and best of collection of poetry from the author of From the Igloo Confessional, Winterland, and Venom and Nectar; Stefan Lowry. In this poetic voyage brimming with insight and words from the soul, the author entices the reader with poems that surge to another time and place wrapped around the threads of natures beauty. Returning to classical poetic themes yet written in contemporary forms, Wild Waters Never Sleep brings together the best of Stefan Lowrys canon of work over the last ten years while welcoming the reader into new seas of majestic atmospheres and enrapturing wonder. The eloquent yet grandeur of ancient China is brought to life in Nanjing Road; The Album, a tribute of sorts to the work and life of Li Po. Featuring poems such as The Chow Mein Lady, Gold Spun Rain, and The Peony Emperor. This brocade of written structures flows with the mighty waters that wind deep from the Far East into the readers imagination. The Cathedral Forest sees a return to nature that will remind readers of the authors first book, Flight of the Imagination. These pools of poetry take readers into Technicolor Rain, Kingdoms Under the Sun, and Bells Back Home. The next movement brings the Hummingbird Hotel to life in rich color and voice. A wanderlust set of poems, featuring Direct Light, Origami Glass, and To All the Saints. Maelstrom collects some of the authors best work over the last decade inside one frame. Including new versions and edits, revisit Far to the North, To Catch Mona Lisa, and Procession of the Flying Seahorses. Finally, Wild Waters brings us to Canadian Creek, a cozy simple collection the author penned over ten years ago and has never been published till now. Maple Leaf Mine, Prosper O Newfoundland, and Legende de un Province and more take us to a faraway place of solitude and quiet beauty. This collection comes round full circle from a writer who continues to emerge with new word art and the blending of traditional and contemporary, giving readers something new to always discover. The currents in Wild Waters Never Sleep flow and ebb to new literary shores, and remind the reader the beauty and adventure that is poetic art.

He has recounted to friends and acquaintances some episodes of his many adventures through life, and his listeners have always found them interesting, fascinating, entertaining, and worth telling. This dawned the momentous chronicling of this part memoir, part historical account of his life, his country, and his journey. In this newly published book, From the Land Beyond the Forest, author John Irtel shares from whence he came, to his escape and survival, to his arrival and new life on a new land, and more. Divided into two sections, the first part of this book briefly deals with the history of the land and the Saxon people of Transylvania, including some traditions and customs, which were part of the author when he was young. The history of Transylvania is rich and long and would require much research to do it justice. The highlights pertaining to his own life include the aftermath of the Second World War, his escape from Romania in 1947, and his life as a refugee in Austria and Italy. The second part of this book deals with the period from his departure from Europe to Australia as a nineteen-year-old immigrant, which posed as the biggest and most important challenge in his life. However, the curious fascination he developed for his new country and its people enabled him to adjust and assimilate into the community more easily than many others have done. “I have seen more than seventy years of life passing by, from childhood to old age. I have seen many changes, enjoyed happiness and endured pain. I can truly say that life has been an interesting challenge,” shares Irtel. Author shares his country’s history, his past, his new home, and his life in this memoir.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ADVENTURE TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL WRITING AWARDS. There are many reasons why it might seem unwise to walk, mostly alone, through the Middle East. That, in part, is exactly why Leon McCarron did it. From Jerusalem, McCarron followed a series of wild hiking trails that trace ancient trading and pilgrimage routes and traverse some of the most contested landscapes in the world. In the West Bank, he met families struggling to lead normal lives amidst political turmoil and had a surreal encounter with the world's oldest and smallest religious sect. In Jordan, he visited the ruins of Hellenic citadels and trekked through the legendary Wadi Rum. His journey culminated in the vast deserts of the Sinai, home to Bedouin tribes and haunted by the ghosts of Biblical history. The Land Beyond is a journey through time, from the quagmire of current geopolitics to the original ideals of the faithful, through the layers of history, culture and religion that have shaped the Holy Land. But at its heart, it is the story of people, not politics and of the connections that can bridge seemingly insurmountable barriers.

The ancient civilizations of the Near East - Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, the Hittites and Canaanites - constituted the first formalized international relations system in world history. Holy wars, peace treaties, border regulations, trade relations and the extradition of refugees were problems for contemporary ambassadors and diplomats as they are today. Mario Liverani reconstructs the procedures of international relations in the period c.1600-1100BC using historical semiotics, communication theory and economic and political anthropology.

This book addresses the recent evolution of borderlines around the world as an attempt to control transnational movements with a view to securitization of borders rooted in the need to control mobility and preserve national identities. This book moves beyond physical borders and studies new manifestations of borders such as technological and symbolic walls. It brings together scholars from various academic fields such as geography, political science, and border studies to examine the various movements, functions and articulations of international borders. It explores two main issues: how international borders have become enforced lines of demarcation and division, reinforcing national identity and impacting national and regional dynamics; and the material and immaterial, discursive and concrete expressions of borders and the impacts of the transformation of bodies into threat to be monitored, as daily lives become sites of border enforcement. Offering multidisciplinary insights on the growing phenomenon of border walls, this book will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students of Border Studies, European Studies, International Relations, Political Geography, and Regional Studies.

This book provides a series of new addresses to the enduring problem of how to categorize the Fantastic. The approach taken is through the lens of spatiality; the Fantastic gives us new worlds, although of course these are refractions of worlds already in being. In place of ‘real’ spaces (whatever they might be), the Fantastic gives us imaginary spaces, although within those spaces historical and cultural conflicts are played out, albeit in forms that stretch our understanding of everyday location, and our usual interpretations of cause and effect. Many authors are addressed here, from a variety of different geographical and national traditions, thus demonstrating how the Fantastic - as a mode, a genre, a way of thinking, imagining and writing - continually traverses borders and boundaries. We hope to move the ongoing debate about the Fantastic forward in a scholarly as well as an engaging way.