Raymond Hinnebusch 
The international politics of the Middle East [EPUB ebook] 

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. This text aims to fill a gap in the field of Middle Eastern political studies by combining international relations theory with concrete case studies. It begins with an overview of the rules and features of the Middle East regional system—the arena in which the local states, including Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Israel and the Arab states of Syria, Jordan and Iraq, operate. The book goes on to analyse foreign-policy-making in key states, illustrating how systemic determinants constrain this policy-making, and how these constraints are dealt with in distinctive ways depending on the particular domestic features of the individual states. Finally, it goes on to look at the outcomes of state policies by examining several major conflicts including the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Gulf War, and the system of regional alignment. The study assesses the impact of international penetration in the region, including the historic reasons behind the formation of the regional state system. It also analyses the continued role of external great powers, such as the United States and the former Soviet Union, and explains the process by which the region has become incorporated into the global capitalist market.

Spis treści

Introduction to the international politics of the Middle East; core and periphery – the international system and the Middle East; identity, state building and foreign policy; comparative state formation and foreign policies; foreign policy making in the Middle East; war and order in the regional system; the Middle East in a decade of Globalization (1991–2001).

O autorze

Raymond Hinnebusch is Professor of International Relations and Middle Politics at the University of St Andrews