Constructing International Relations in the Arab World PDF Download

Author: Fred Lawson
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804768023
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
This book explores the emergence of an anarchic states-system in the twentieth-century Arab world. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Arab nationalist movements first considered establishing a unified regional arrangement to take the empire's place and present a common front to outside powers. But over time different Arab leaderships abandoned this project and instead adopted policies characteristic of self-interested, territorially limited states. In his explanation of this phenomenon, the author shifts attention away from older debates about the origins and development of Arab nationalism and analyzes instead how different nationalist leaderships changed the ways that they carried on diplomatic and strategic relations. He situates this shift in the context of influential sociological theories of state formation, while showing how labor movements and other forms of popular mobilization shaped the origins of the regional states-system.

Author: Scott, James M.
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1839107650
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
This comprehensive guide captures important trends in international relations (IR) pedagogy, paying particular attention to innovations in active learning and student engagement for the contemporary International Relations IR classroom.

Author: Adham Saouli
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136517170
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 199

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Book Description
This book explores the conditions of state formation and survival in the Middle East. Based on Historical Sociology, it provides a model for study of the state in the Arab world and a theory to explain its survival. Examining states as a ‘process’, the author argues that what emerged in the Middle East in the beginning of the twentieth century are ‘social fields’—where states form and deform—and not states as defined by Max Weber. He explores the constitutions of these fields—their cultural, material and political structures—and identifies three stages of state development in which different cases can be located. Capturing the dilemmas that ‘late-forming states’ face as regimes within them cope with domestic and international pressure, the author illustrates several Middle East cases and presents a detailed analysis of state developments in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. He maintains that more than the domestic characteristics of individual states, state survival in the Middle East is also a function of the anarchic nature of the international (and by extension the regional) states-system. The first to raise the question on the survivability of the territorial states in the Middle East while engaging with both International Relations and Comparative Politics theories, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Middle East politics, Comparative Politics and International Relations.

Author: Raymond Hinnebusch
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 178499202X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
One of the major internationally recognised works on the international politics of the Middle East, this book systematically combines international relations theory and Middle East case studies to provide a macro overview of the international relations of the region. The book has been widely used at both undergraduate levels, Masters degree and PhD levels. In providing a unique interpretation of Middle East North Africa (MENA) international politics, it will also be valuable for scholars of the region. The book provide readers with both theoretical and concrete information, with theoretically-framed major topics, liberally illustrated with case study material on key dimensions of regional politics. Topics include the place of the Middle East in the wider global system; the role of Arabism and Islam in regional politics; the impact of state formation in the region on its international relations; comparative foreign policy making looking at pivotal country cases, including Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Turkey; major regional wars and efforts at order building; the role of US hegemony and the two Iraq wars; and the impact of the Arab Uprising on regional politics.

Author: Ellen Lust-Okar
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139442732
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
This book examines how ruling elites manage and manipulate their political opposition in the Middle East. In contrast to discussions of government-opposition relations that focus on how rulers either punish or co-opt opponents, this book focuses on the effect of institutional rules governing the opposition. It argues rules determining who is and is not allowed to participate in the formal political arena affect not only the relationships between opponents and the state, but also between various opposition groups. This affects the dynamics of opposition during prolonged economic crises. It also shapes the informal strategies that ruling elites use toward opponents. The argument is presented using a formal model of government-opposition relations. It is demonstrated in the cases of Egypt under Presidents Nasir, Sadat and Mubarek; Jordan under King Husayn; and Morocco under King Hasan II.

Author: M. Amara
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230359507
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
This book explores the significance of sport in the understanding of past and current societal dynamics in the Arab world. It examines sport in relation to cultural, political and economic changes in the Arab World, including nation-state building, the formation of national identity and international relations in post-colonial context.

Author: The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research
Publisher: Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research
ISBN: 9948245334
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 22

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Book Description
The Arab world has witnessed major challenges and transformations, culturally, politically and economically. At the same time, globalization is driving significant and rapid shifts in its external environment, as a new vision emerges for the distribution of roles between major powers. In the aftermath of what became known in the media as the Arab Spring revolutions, several Arab countries entered a new phase in their history. The so-called Arab Spring brought with it an existential dilemma over its failure to solve the problems of the societies where it wreaked havoc. It led to the breakdown of powerful regimes, as organizations sought to gain power by using religious rhetoric and populism to gain support and legitimacy. These movements drove their countries, and the region, into a dark period of chaos and unrest. The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), as part of its efforts to examine regional issues through scholarly discussion and debate, held a conference titled ‘The Challenges of Nation Building in Arab Countries that have Recently Witnessed Change’, from October 6 to 7, 2015, in collaboration with the University of Maine. In this highly relevant book we present a number of research papers delivered at that conference by leading thinkers in the field. In ‘Reshaping International Relations in the Region and the Rise of the GCC States’, Dr. Maryam Sultan Lootah examines how the so-called Arab Spring affected regional and international relations. She argues that the uprisings disrupted regional relations, alliances and opportunities, as well as impacting neighboring countries and their policies towards the region. Dr. Lootah highlights the new role of GCC States in tackling regional developments, and the changes in international policy toward the region as a result of the Arab Spring. Dr. Abdul Hamid Al-Ansari examines ‘Rewriting the Social Contract in the Arab World’, considering the relation between the ruler and the ruled. He argues this relationship should be reconstituted to ensure the stability and development of the region’s countries and people. Rewriting the social contract requires an analytical reading of the changes resulting from the so-called Arab Spring revolutions, which cleared the way for extremist militias and ideological organizations to undermine civil foundations. The book also includes the work of Prof. Shamlan Yousef Al-Issa, who points to the importance of national reconciliation to overcome crises in a number of Arab countries. In ‘National Reconciliation and its Importance in Achieving Stability in the Arab Spring Countries’, Prof. Al-Issa makes the case that weak political culture in Arab countries, the prevalence of a revenge mentality among opposing parties, complex ethnic, religious, sectarian, nationalistic, linguistic and provincial loyalties, and a failure to manage diversity, has given way to the emergence of extremist, religious and tribal movements. In ‘Political Requirements for Achieving Stability in Syria, Yemen and Libya’, Prof. Kenneth MacLean Hillas examines the ongoing military conflicts in Syria, Libya and Yemen, drawing similarities and differences between them. Prof. Hillas looks at the legitimacy crisis at the heart of these countries’ regimes and tries to forecast future transformations in light of the complicated internal conflicts in each country. Finally, in ‘The Political Economy of State Building and Nation Building in the Arab World’, Dr. Bahgat Korany analyzes the correlation between state building and nation building in Yemen, Libya and Syria. Dr. Korany argues that the road to success in nation building is linked to success in state building. If state building fails, all nation-building efforts are bound to fail. He explains that the crisis of the Arab state is a structural one and that the so-called Arab Spring did not cause the crisis, but rather exposed and aggravated it. In publishing this book, the ECSSR seeks to promote scholarly discussion on the Arab state, to suggest formulas for dealing with its problems, providing methodological and theoretical tools to positively contribute to the process of rebuilding. The ECSSR also seeks to focus the attention of politicians, strategic theorists and intellectuals on the importance of forecasting the post-military conflict phase of Arab countries that have witnessed change, in order to ensure security and peace for all people of the Arab world.

Author: Matthew F. Jacobs
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 0807834882
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
As its interests have become deeply tied to the Middle East, the United States has long sought to develop a usable understanding of the people, politics, and cultures of the region. In Imagining the Middle East, Matthew Jacobs illuminates how Ameri

Author: Rashid Khalidi
Publisher: Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research
ISBN: 9948008839
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description
As a result of the failure of the Bush administration to meet its own goals in Iraq, a debate is finally possible in the United States not only about the rights and wrongs of the Iraq War, but also on what the US role in the world should be, and how long the new American hegemony in the world can be reconciled with respect for international law and democracy and civil liberties in the United States. This debate will take place among US citizens, as it should, but it is a debate from which Arab-Americans are largely absent. To understand the limits of the political influence of Arab-Americans it is essential to understand how poorly assimilated into American society many are. Many of them still do not speak English well; indeed some do not speak any English at all. Many are not citizens, are not registered to vote and have never contributed money to political campaigns. This is understandable, since many of them, especially those who are older, did not grow up in the United States, were not educated in American schools, and do not understand how the American political or legal systems work. They come from authoritarian systems, where the state is regarded with suspicion and fear, and where politics is often dangerous. Many inhabit predominantly Arab communities isolated from the larger society around them. It is impossible to predict how soon there may be an increase in the minimal political influence of Arab-Americans at the national level in the United States, but it will happen sooner or later. When it does happen it will change the way that US domestic politics relates to foreign policy issues. This process will be hampered, however, as long as those Arab countries with great wealth continue to do little to ameliorate the situation of misunderstanding and ignorance of the realities of the Arab world in the West. This ignorance can only be changed by profound self-driven progressive changes in governance in the Arab countries; and by serious efforts to foster education about the Arab world in the United States. Any increase in the influence of Arab-Americans in US society and politics will be retarded as long as the Arab world is blighted by widespread state repression and an absence of democracy.

Author: Christopher Phillips
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0415684889
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
This book examines Arab identity in the contemporary Middle East, and explains why that identity has been maintained alongside state and religious identities over the last 40 years.