Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> World - Middle Eastern

As possessor of a quarter of the world's oil reserves and host to two of the holiest cities in Islam, Saudi Arabia is an integral part of the cultural, economic, and political well-being of the Middle East. From Persian Gulf security, to Middle Eastern politics, to the international energy industry, events in this desert kingdom strongly impact the stability of the region. This comprehensive resource analyzes contemporary Saudi Arabia--its modern history, the role of Islam, and the nature of Saudi foreign relations--and reveals how these and other factors dictate and shape the country's...

In Spoils of Truce, Reinoud Leenders documents the extensive corruption that accompanied the reconstruction of Lebanon after the end of a decade and a half of civil war. With the signing of the Ta'if peace accord in 1989, the rebuilding of the country's shattered physical infrastructure and the establishment of a functioning state apparatus became critical demands. Despite the urgent needs of its citizens, however, graft was rampant. Leenders describes the extent and nature of this corruption in key sectors of the Lebanese economy and government, including transportation, health...

In Zion's Dilemmas, a former deputy national security adviser to the State of Israel details the history and, in many cases, the chronic inadequacies in the making of Israeli national security policy. Chuck Freilich identifies profound, ongoing problems that he ascribes to a series of factors: a hostile and highly volatile regional environment, Israel's proportional representation electoral system, and structural peculiarities of the Israeli government and bureaucracy.

Freilich uses his insider understanding and substantial archival and interview research to describe how...

Hezbollah and Hamas are major players in Middle Eastern politics and have a growing involvement in global events. Despite their strikingly different beginnings, they share a common denominator--an adversary in Israel. Hezbollah and Hamas draws from primary interviews and documents coupled with a thorough review of current scholarship. This is a portrait of the organizations' roots, histories, ideologies, relationships, tactics, political outlooks, and futures. Joshua L. Gleis and Benedetta Berti present organization charts, maps, and a case study of the TriBorder Area in South...

Politics in the Middle East is now 'seen' and the image is playing a central part in processes of political struggle. This is the first book in the literature to engage directly with these changing ways of communicating politics in the region - and particularly with the politics of the image, its power as a political tool.Lina Khatib presents a cross-country examination of emerging trends in the use of visuals in political struggles in the Middle East, from the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon to the Green Movement in Iran, to the Arab Spring in Egypt, Syria and Libya. She demonstrates how...

Evolving Iran presents an overview of how the politics and policy decisions in the Islamic Republic of Iran have developed since the 1979 revolution and how they are likely to evolve in the near future. Despite the fact that the revolution ushered in a theocracy, its political system has largely tended to prioritize self-interest and pragmatism over theology and religious values, while continuing to reinvent itself in the face of internal and international threats.

The author also examines the prospects for democratization in Iran. Since the early years of the twentieth...

It is said that two invincible forces were created in the 20th century: the atom bomb and nonviolence. IRAN'S NOWRUZ REVOLUTION examines the potential for nonviolence as a force against one of the last ruthless religious regimes still in power today.

Iran has been at the crossroads of clashing armies, religions, tribes and ideas since the dawn of time. For too many of its citizens, violence has become life as usual. A gripping account of the violence inflicted on Iranians from the distant past to the present day shows how the Iranians' psyche is shaped in the belief that political...

The Green Movement protests that erupted in Iran in 2009 amid allegations of election fraud shook the Islamic Republic to its core. For the first time in decades, the adoption of serious liberal reforms seemed possible. But the opportunity proved short-lived, leaving Iranian activists and intellectuals to debate whether any path to democracy remained open.

Offering a new framework for understanding democratization in developing countries governed by authoritarian regimes, Democracy in Iran is a penetrating, historically informed analysis of Iran's current and future prospects...

This book explores, in a series of detailed case studies, how public policy is actually made in Qatar. While Qatar is a Gulf monarchy, its governance is complex. Other analysts have tried to come to grips with this complexity using qualified descriptions of the system such as 'late rentier, ' 'pluralized autocracy, ' 'tribal democracy, ' or 'soft authoritarian.' The authors of the volume use the lens of a transformative state. Qatar is deliberately engaged in a rapid process of radical economic and societal transformation. That process has its contradictions and tensions, particularly with...