The Middle East


Book Description

The Middle East is a heterogeneous combination of societies and cultures bound together by a common history and a similar place in the world economy. Despite recent agreements, the region's internal issues (e.g., race, economic and religious differences) make it certain to occupy the world's attention.




The Middle East in the Global Era


Book Description

The Middle East in the Global Era features scholarly perspectives that explore a variety of topics related to the Middle East and North African regions, including politics, international relations, economics, history, gender issues, and culture. Students are encouraged to think analytically regarding issues of prosperity, peace, stability, sustainable development, and more. Section I explores the physical and political landscapes of the Middle East, underscoring the importance of geography in shaping contemporary affairs. In Section II, students read articles about regional powers, including the rivalry of Iran and Saudi Arabia and the role of Turkey in the Middle East. Section III focuses on political economy with chapters that cover the regional impact of the 2011 Arab uprisings and the rentier economy that prevails in many Gulf states. Section IV examines recent changes in the region that consider political, cultural, and social changes. In the final section, students consider the intricacies involved in pursuing peace in the Middle East. The Middle East in the Global Era is an ideal textbook for any course that explores the social, political, and cultural facets of the Middle East.




Inside the Middle East


Book Description

Why Is the Middle East Entering a “New Era?” Is It a New Dawn? Is It a Setting Sun? In the third decade of the twenty-first century, the Middle East is entering a new era. A multifaceted and intricate equilibrium will write the next chapter of this region. The new era we are entering is fraught with challenges and full of opportunities. The new era is both defined by, and a result of, a combination of ancient and modern, domestic, regional, and international processes. Iran and Turkey each strive to position themselves as the regional superpower. In parallel, the people of the region struggle to overcome increasing domestic challenges. These developments, combined with an escalating struggle over path, identity, and direction, could result in a new model of statehood in the Arab world. While some countries take the turbulent path toward a possible new statehood model, others are fighting for their sovereignty and survival. All of this is occurring while Western hegemony in the Middle East is coming to an end and the Eastern giants are on the rise. Acclaimed Middle East expert, an Israeli fluent in Arabic, English, and Hebrew, Avi Melamed has a proven exceptional record of foreseeing the evolution of events in the Middle East and their impact on a local and regional level. In this book, Melamed takes you on a fascinating eye-opening journey through the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East in the third decade of the twenty first century. He challenges common Western concepts, narratives, and theories. And he provides predictions about some of the most central regional issues of the day. Using primarily sources from the region, Avi Melamed provides a professional, rare insider’s view and clearly and insightfully contextualizes current regional events. Inside The Middle East: Entering a New Era provides the knowledge and tools to connect the dots. This distinct understanding allows the reader to build a multidimensional picture of the geopolitical reality of the Middle East today and provides an unparalleled foundation for navigating the events of tomorrow.




A Global Middle East


Book Description

The start of the twentieth century ushered in a period of unprecedented change in the Middle East. These transformations, brought about by the emergence of the modern state system and an increasing interaction with a more globalized economy, irrevocably altered the political and social structures of the Middle East, even as the region itself left its mark on the processes of globalization themselves. As a result of these changes, there was an intensification in the movement of people, commodities and ideas across the globe: commercial activity, urban space, intellectual life, leisure culture, immigration patterns and education - nothing was left untouched. It shows how even as the Middle East was responding to increased economic interactions with the rest of the world by restructuring not only local economies, but also cultural, political and social institutions, the region's engagement with these trends altered the nature of globalization itself. This period has been seen as one in which the modern state system and its oftentimes artificial boundaries emerged in the Middle East. But this book highlights how, despite this, it was also one of tremendous interconnection. Approaching the first period of modern globalization by investigating the movement of people, objects and ideas into, around and out of the Middle East, the authors demonstrate how the Middle East in this period was not simply subject or reactive to the West, but rather an active participant in the transnational flows that transformed both the region and the world. A Global Middle East offers an examination of a variety of intellectual and more material exchanges, such as nascent feminist movements and Islamist ideologies as well as the movement of sex workers across the Mediterranean and Jewish migration into Palestine. A Global Middle East emphasises this by examining the multi-directional nature of movement across borders, as well as this movement's intensity, volume and speed. By focusing on the theme of mobility as the defining feature of 'modern globalization' in the Middle East, it provides an essential examination of the formative years of the region.




Argentina in the Global Middle East


Book Description

Argentina lies at the heart of the American hemisphere's history of global migration booms of the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century: by 1910, one of every three Argentine residents was an immigrant—twice the demographic impact that the United States experienced in the boom period. In this context, some one hundred and forty thousand Ottoman Syrians came to Argentina prior to World War I, and over the following decades Middle Eastern communities, institutions, and businesses dotted the landscape of Argentina from bustling Buenos Aires to Argentina's most remote frontiers. Argentina in the Global Middle East connects modern Latin American and Middle Eastern history through their shared links to global migration systems. By following the mobile lives of individuals with roots in the Levantine Middle East, Lily Pearl Balloffet sheds light on the intersections of ethnicity, migrant–homeland ties, and international relations. Ranging from the nineteenth century boom in transoceanic migration to twenty-first century dynamics of large-scale migration and displacement in the Arabic-speaking Eastern Mediterranean, this book considers key themes such as cultural production, philanthropy, anti-imperial activism, and financial networks over the course of several generations of this diasporic community. Balloffet's study situates this transregional history of Argentina and the Middle East within a larger story of South-South alliances, solidarities, and exchanges.




The Foreign Policies of Arab States


Book Description

The first edition of this book was praised as "a milestone for present and future research on Arab and Third World foreign policies" (American Political Science Review), and "an indispensable aid for those studying or teaching the foreign policies of the contemporary Middle East" (International Journal of Middle East Studies). It has become a standard textbook in Middle East studies curricula all over the world. This third edition, now in paperback, with new material reflecting the earth-shaking events at the end of the Cold War and the continuation of violence and terrorism, examines foreign policies of nine Arab states in the context of globalization. The editors first establish an analytical framework for assessing foreign policy, which they and other contributors then apply chapter by chapter to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, and Iraq. Contributors: Moataz A. Fattah, Karen Abul Kheir, Ali E. Hillal Dessouki, Hazem Kandil, Bahgat Korany, Ann M. Lesch, Abdul-Monem Al-Mashat, Paul Noble, Jennifer Rosenblum, Bassel F. Salloukh, Mohamed Soffar. William Zartman. Foreign Policy Analysis in the Global Era and the World of the Arabs Bahgat Korany and Ali E. Hillal Dessouki Foreign Policy Approaches and Arab Countries: A Critical Evaluation and an Alternative Framework Bahgat Korany and Ali E. Hillal Dessouki Globalization and Arab Foreign Policies: Constraints or Marginalization? Ali E. Hillal Dessouki and Bahgat Korany From Arab System to Middle Eastern System: Regional Pressures and Constraints Paul Noble Regional leadership: Balancing off Costs and Dividends: Foreign Policy of Egypt Ali E. Hillal Dessouki Foreign Policy under Occupation: Does Iraq Need a Foreign Policy? Mohamed Soffar Does the Successor Make a Difference? The Foreign Policy of Jordan Ali E. Hillal Dessouki and Karen Abul Kheir The Art of the Impossible: The Foreign Policy of Lebanon Bassel F. Salloukh The Far West of the Near East: The Foreign Policy of Morocco Jennifer Rosenblum and William Zartman Irreconcilable Role-Partners? Saudi Foreign Policy between the Ulama and the U.S. Bahgat Korany and Moataz A. Fattah From Fragmentation to Fragmentation? Sudan's Foreign Policy Ann M. Lesch The Challenge of Restructuring: Syrian Foreign Policy Hazem Kandil Politics of Constructive Engagement: The Foreign Policy of the United Arab Emirates Abdul-Monem Al-Mashat Conclusion: Foreign Policy, Globalization and the Arab Dilemma of Change Bahgat Korany and Ali E. Hillal Dessouki




The Cold War and the Middle East


Book Description

The Cold War has been researched in minute detail and written about at great length but it remains one of the most elusive and enigmatic conflicts of modern times. With the ending of the Cold War, it is now possible to review the entire post-war period, to examine the Cold War as history. The Middle East occupies a special place in the history of the Cold War. It was critical to its birth, its life and its demise. In the aftermath of the Second World War, it became one of the major theatres of the Cold War on account of its strategic importance and its oil resources. The key to the international politics of the Middle East during the Cold War era is the relationship between external powers and local powers. Most of the existing literature on the subject focuses on the policies of the Great Powers towards the local region. The Cold War and the Middle East redresses the balance by concentrating on the policies of the local actors. It looks at the politics of the region not just from the outside in but from the inside out. The contributors to this volume are leading scholars in the field whose interests combine International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies.




Degrees of Dignity


Book Description

Presenting an analysis of higher education in eight countries in the Arab Middle East and North Africa, Degrees of Dignity works to dismantle narratives of crisis and assert approaches to institutional reform. Drawing on policy documents, media narratives, interviews, and personal experiences, Elizabeth Buckner explores how apolitical external reform models become contested and modified by local actors in ways that are simultaneously complicated, surprising, and even inspiring. Degrees of Dignity documents how the global discourses of neoliberalism have legitimized specific policy models for higher education reform in the Arab world, including quality assurance, privatization, and internationalization. Through a multi-level and comparative analysis, this book examines how policy models are implemented, with often complex results, in countries throughout the region. Ultimately, Degrees of Dignity calls on the field of higher education development to rethink current approaches to higher education reform: rather than viewing the Arab world as a site for intervention, it argues that the Arab world can act as a source for insight on resilient higher education systems.




The Middle East and the United States


Book Description

Like its two predecessors in the "Collected Papers "series, this volume is based on the proceedings of an international colloquium held at Tel Aviv University. The colloquium was organized in March 1978 by the Shiloah Center in cooperation with the University's newly established Center for Strategic Studies. As the title and subtitle imply, special emphasis was laid on the images and perceptions that people of the Middle East and the United States have had of one another, and the way in which their relationship is viewed from within the area, from Washington and from other pertinent vantage points. The conference also dealt with five other major issues: the historic background and evolution of American policy in the Middle East (papers by Elie Kedourie from the London School of Economics and Wilfrid Knapp from Oxford University); American interests in the Middle East (papers by Uzi Arad from Tel Aviv University, Gad Gilbar from Haifa University, and Bernard Reich from George Washington University); the international context within which American policy in the area is conducted (Ya'acov Ro'i from Tel Aviv University, Richard Rosecrance from Cornell University, and Udo Steinbach from the Orient Institut in Hamburg); the formulation of American policies in the Middle East (Steven Spiegel from UCLA); and America's bilateral relationship with several Middle Eastern states (papers by Yoram Dinstein, Yair Evron, Gideon Gera, Itamar Rabinovich. anc Shimon Shamir from Tel Aviv University, and John Waterbury from Princeton University); the papers which dealt directly with views, images, and their depiction were presented by Bernard Lewis from Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study, and Haim Shaked from Tel Aviv University. "Contents and Contributors: "Introduction / Background and Evolution "Elie Kedourie, "The Transition from a British to an American Era in the Middle East; "Wilfrid Knapp. "The U.S. and the Middle East: How Many Special Relationships? /Formulation of American Policies "Richard Rosecrance, "Objectives of U.S.-Middle East Policy; "Bernard Reich, "U.S. Interests in the Middle East; "Steven L. Spiegel, "The Carter Approach to the Arab-Israeli Dispute / The International Context "Udo Steinbach, "The European Community and the U.S. in the Arab World: "Yaacov Ro'i, "The U.S. Role in the Middle East / The Regional Development "Bernard Lewis, "The U.S., Turkey, and Iran; "Itamar Rabinovich, "The Challenge of Diversity; "Gideon Gera, "Libya and the U.S. / Oil and Economics "Gad G. Gilbar, "The Economics of Interdependence; "Uzi Arad, "The Short Term Effectiveness of an Arab Oil Embargo / Cairo and Washington "Shimon Shamir, "Egypt's Reorientation Towards the U.S.; "Haim Shaked, "A Stereotype Illustrated: An Egyptian Cartoonist's Preception of the "U.S.', John Water-hurry, "The Implications of Infitah for U.S.Egyptian Relations / Strategic and legal Aspects "Yair Evron, "Some Political and Strategic Implications of an American-Israeli Defense Treaty; "Yoram Dinstein, "International Guarantees and the Middle East Conflict




The Routledge Handbook of the History of the Middle East Mandates


Book Description

The Routledge Handbook of the History of the Middle East Mandates provides an overview of the social, political, economic, and cultural histories of the Middle East in the decades between the end of the First World War and the late 1940s, when Britain and France abandoned their Mandates. It also situates the history of the Mandates in their wider imperial, international and global contexts, incorporating them into broader narratives of the interwar decades. In 27 thematically organised chapters, the volume looks at various aspects of the Mandates such as: The impact of the First World War and the development of a new state system The impact of the League of Nations and international governance Differing historical perspectives on the impact of the Mandates system Techniques and practices of government The political, social, economic and cultural experiences of the people living in and connected to the Mandates. This book provides the reader with a guide to both the history of the Middle East Mandates and their complex relation with the broader structures of imperial and international life. It will be a valuable resource for all scholars of this period of Middle Eastern and world history.