Description
Book SynopsisThe US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the Arab uprisings of 2010–11 left indelible imprints on the Middle East. Yet, these events have not reshaped the region as pundits once predicted. With this volume, top experts on the region offer wide-ranging considerations of the characteristics, continuities, and discontinuities of the contemporary Middle East, addressing topics from international politics to political Islam, hip hop to human security.
This book engages six themes to understand the contemporary Middle East—the spread of sectarianism, abandonment of principles of state sovereignty, the lack of a regional hegemonic power, increased Saudi-Iranian competition, decreased regional attention to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and fallout from the Arab uprisings—as well as offers individual country studies. With analysis from historians, political scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists, and up-to-date discussions of the Syrian Civil War, impacts of the Trump presidency, and the 2020 uprisings in Lebanon, Algeria, and Sudan, this book will be an essential guide for anyone seeking to understand the current state of the region.
Trade Review"The essays in
The Contemporary Middle East in an Age of Upheaval, edited by distinguished historian James Gelvin, are an indispensable guide to making sense of the Middle East's current disorder and future direction. A must-read for academics, policy makers, and informed general audiences."—Frederic Wehrey, Senior Fellow, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
"A first-rate collection of analyses from leading scholars across a range of disciplines,
The Contemporary Middle East in an Age of Upheaval is essential reading for anyone interested in how the Middle East has and has not changed since the uprisings of 2011."—Jillian Schwedler, Hunter College, CUNY
"In the past two decades, the Middle East has faced an external invasion, civil wars and populist uprisings. Thus, it is fitting that a collection of Middle East scholars have come together to assess the future of this turbulent region."—Ray Takeyh,
Survival: Global Politics and Strategy"
The Contemporary Middle East is a much-needed interdisciplinary study about the state of the Middle East in the early decades of the twenty-first century."—
Arab Studies QuarterlyTable of Contents1. Is There a New Middle East? What Has Changed, and What Hasn't?
—Joel Beinin
2. What Future for the Private Sector in the New Middle East?
—Ishac Diwan
3. Education and Human Security: Centering the Politics of Human Dignity
—Laurie A. Brand
4. Myths of Middle-Class Political Behavior in the Islamic Republic
—Kevan Harris
5. Poets of the Revolutions: Authoritarians, Uprisings, and Rappers in North Africa, 1990s–Present
—Aomar Boum
6. Islamism at a Crossroads? The Diffusion of Political Islam in the Arab World
—Peter Mandaville
7. Islamists before and after 2011: Assuming, Overlooking, or Overthrowing the Administrative State?
—Nathan J. Brown
8. Homeland (Dis-)Engagement Processes among the New Syrian Diaspora
—Lindsay A. Gifford
9. Saudi Arabia: How Much Change?
—F. Gregory Gause III
10. Erdoğan, Turkish Foreign Policy, and the Middle East
—Henri J. Barkey
11. The Syrian Civil War and the New Middle East
—James L. Gelvin
12. State Building, Sectarianization, and Neo-Patrimonialism in Iraq
—Harith Hasan
13. The Post-Uprising Transformation of International Relations in the Middle East and North Africa
—Fred H. Lawson
14. Proxy War and the New Structure of Middle East Regional Politics
—Marc Lynch
16. Afterword: The Fourth Dream
—Moncef Marzouki
