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Throughout the turbulent history of the Levant the Alawis — a secretive, resilient and ancient Muslim sect — have aroused suspicion and animosity, including accusations of religious heresy. More recently they have been tarred with the brush of political separatism and complicity in the excesses of the Assad regime, claims that have gained greater traction since the onset of the Syrian uprising and subsequent devastating civil war. The contributors to this book provide a complex and nuanced reading of Syria's Alawi communities — from loyalist gangs (Shabiha) to outspoken critics of the regime. Drawing upon wide-ranging research that examines the historic, political and social dynamics of the Alawi and the Syrian state, the current tensions are scrutinized and fresh insights offered. Among the themes addressed are religious practice, social identities, and relations to the Ba’ath party, the Syrian state and the military apparatus. The analysis also extends to Lebanon with a focus on the embattled Alawi community of Jabal Mohsen in Tripoli and state relations with Hizballah amid the current crisis.

This landmark volume presents vivid and intimate portraits of Palestinian Presidents Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, revealing the impact these different personalities have had on the struggle for national self-determination. Arafat and Abbas lived in Palestine as young children. Uprooted by the 1948 war, they returned in 1994 to serve as the first and second presidents of the Palestinian Authority, the establishment of which has been the Palestine Liberation Organization’s greatest step towards self-determination for the Palestinian nation. Both Arafat and Abbas were shaped by earlier careers in the PLO, and each adopted their own controversial leadership methods and decision-making styles. Drawing on primary sources in Arabic, Hebrew and English, Klein gives special attention to the lesser-known Abbas: his beliefs and his disagreements with Israeli and American counterparts. The book uncovers new details about Abbas’ peace talks and US foreign policy towards Palestine, and analyses the political evolution of Hamas and Abbas’ succession struggle. Klein also highlights the tension between the ageing leader and his society. Arafat and Abbas offers a comprehensive and balanced account of the Palestinian Authority’s achievements and failures over its twenty-five years of existence. What emerges is a Palestinian nationalism that refuses to disappear.

In Armies of Arabia—the first book to comprehensively analyze the Gulf monarchies’ militaries—Zoltan Barany explains the conspicuous ineffectiveness of these forces with a combination of political-structural and sociocultural factors. Based on over 150 personal interviews and meticulous multidisciplinary research, he offers a fascinating account of Arabia’s armies starting with Ibn Saud’s conquest of much of the peninsula and ending with the ongoing war in Yemen. He explores the ruling families’ role overseeing their militaries to ensure their loyalty and examines the backgrounds and career trajectories of soldiers and officers. Barany argues that Arabia’s armies remain ineffective because they are characterized by an absence of meritocracy, the domination of personal connections over institutional norms, disregard for personal responsibility, half-hearted leadership, casual work ethic, and training lacking intensity, frequency, and up-to-date settings. Massive expenditures on armaments are primarily payoffs to the United States for protecting them and have resulted in bloated arsenals and large-scale corruption. The setbacks of the Saudi-led coalition’s disastrous war in Yemen starkly illustrate the Gulf armies’ humiliating combat record. The book concludes with thoughts on waste (of human potential, resources, institutions) as a dominant theme of Gulf military affairs, considers likely changes in response to long-term weakening demand for oil, and suggests ways in which the effectiveness of Arabia’s armies could be raised. Chock-full of insights and stories from the field and written with a general audience in mind, Armies of Arabia is essential reading for anyone interested in military affairs and Middle Eastern politics, society, and international relations.

Bullets and Bulletins takes a sobering and holistic look at the intersections between media and politics before, during, and in the wake of the Arab uprisings. It is a multi-disciplinary approach to the topic, with the research backed up by in-depth and rigorous case studies of the key countries of the Arab uprisings. The protests were accompanied by profound changes in the roles of traditional and new media across the Middle East. What added significantly to the amplification of demands and grievances in the public spheres, streets and squares, was the dovetailing of an increasingly indignant population—ignited by the prospects of economic and political marginalisation—with high rates of media literacy, digital connectivity, and social media prowess. This combination of political activism and mediated communication turned popular street protests into battles over information, where authorities and activists wrestled with each other over media messages. Information and communication technologies were used by both government authorities and protestors as simultaneous tools for silencing or amplifying dissent. Bullets and Bulletins offers original insights and analysis into the role of traditional and new media in what is undoubtedly a most critical period in contemporary Middle Eastern history.

The contradictory trends of the ‘post-Arab Spring’ landscape form both the backdrop to, and the focus of, this volume on the changing security dynamics of the Persian Gulf, defined as the six GCC states plus Iraq and Iran. The political and economic upheaval triggered by the uprisings of 2011, and the rapid emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in 2014, have underscored the vulnerability of regional states to an intersection of domestic pressures and external shocks. The initial phase of the uprisings has given way to a series of messy and uncertain transitions that have left societies deeply fractured and ignited violence both within and across states. The bulk of the protests, with the notable exception of Bahrain, occurred outside the Gulf region, but Persian Gulf states were at the forefront of the political, economic, and security response across the Middle East. This volume provides a timely and comparative study of how security in the Persian Gulf has evolved and adapted to the growing uncertainty of the post-2011 regional landscape.

For four decades Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran have vied for influence in the Muslim world. At the heart of this ongoing Cold War between Riyadh and Tehran lie the Sunni-Shia divide, and the two countries’ diverse histories, socio-economic compositions, and claims to exceptionalism. Saudis present their rivalry with Iran stemming from conflict between Sunnis and Shias. But, according to Iran's ruling clerics, their republic is founded on Islamic precepts whereas Saudis’ dynastic rule lacks legitimacy in Islam. This foundational schism has played out in a geopolitical competition for dominance in the region and beyond: Iran has acquired influence in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, while Saudi Arabia's hyperactive crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, has intervened in the Yemeni civil war against the Tehran-backed Houthis, and tried to destabilize Lebanon and isolate neighboring Qatar.. In his lucid narrative, peppered with penetrating analysis, Dilip Hiro examines the toxic rivalry between the two nations, tracing its roots to the eighteen-century Arabia, and examines whether the current Cold War in the Islamic world is likely to end in the near future.

In recent years, the Middle East’s information and communications landscape has changed dramatically. Increasingly, states, businesses, and citizens are capitalizing on the opportunities offered by new information technologies, the fast pace of digital transformations, and enhanced connectivity. These changes are far from turning Middle Eastern nations into network societies, but their impact is significant. The growing adoption of a wide variety of information technologies and new media platforms in everyday life has given rise to complex dynamics that beg for a better understanding. Digital Middle East sheds a critical light on continuing changes that are closely intertwined with the adoption of information and communication technologies in the MENA region. Drawing on case studies from throughout the Middle East, the contributors explore how these digital transformations are playing out in the social, cultural, political, and economic spheres, exposing the various disjunctions and discordances that have marked the advent of the digital Middle East.

What has become of Israel's peace movement? In the early 1980s, it was a major political force, bringing hundreds of thousands onto the streets; but since then, its importance has declined amid spiralling violence. Now, and especially since the second Intifada of 2000–5, the “doves” of the Israel/Palestine conflict struggle to be heard over its 'hawks', and the days of mass mobilization are over. "Doves Among” Hawks charts the successes and failures of a beleaguered peace movement, from its formation after the Six-Day War to the current security-obsessed climate, where Israel's “doves” seem to be fighting a lost and outdated battle. Samy Cohen's history of a peace process that once took on the Israeli settler movements exposes how that cause has been derailed and demoralized by suicide attacks. But the peace movement is not dead—it has simply transformed. From human rights monitors to lobbies of the bereaved, Cohen reveals a multitude of smaller, grassroots organizations that have emerged with unexpected energy. These lawyers, doctors, army reservists, former diplomats and senior security personnel are the unsung heroes of his story.

This book investigates how ecology and politics meet in the Middle East and how those interactions connect to the global political economy. Through region-wide analyses and case studies from the Arabian Peninsula, the Gulf of Aden, the Levant and North Africa, the volume highlights the intimate connections of environmental activism, energy infrastructure and illicit commodity trading with the political economies of Central Asia, the Horn of Africa and the Indian subcontinent. The book's nine chapters analyze how the exploitation and representation of the environment have shaped the history of the region--and determined its place in global politics. It argues that how the ecological is understood, instrumentalized and intervened upon is the product of political struggle: deconstructing ideas and practices of environmental change means unravelling claims of authority and legitimacy. This is particularly important in a region frequently seen through the prism of environmental determinism, where ruling elites have imposed authoritarian control as the corollary of “environmental crisis.” This unique and urgent collection will question much of what we think we know about this pressing issue.

Relations between Israel and the Gulf states are not anything new. In the immediate aftermath of the 1993 Oslo Accords, both Qatar and Oman established low-level yet open diplomatic ties with Israel. In 2010, Ha'aretz reported that the former Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, was on friendly terms with Shaykh Abdullah bin Zayed, her counterpart from the UAE, despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties between the two states. The shared suspicion towards the regional designs of Iran that undoubtedly underpinned these ties even extended, it was alleged, to a secret dialogue between Israel and Saudi Arabia, led by the late Meir Dagan, the former head of Mossad. Cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia in thwarting Iran's regional ambitions also casts light on Washington's lack of strategic leadership, which had previously been the totem around which Israel and the Gulf states had based regional security strategies. Jones and Guzansky contend that, at the very least, ties between Israel and many of its Gulf counterparts are now more vibrant than hitherto realized. They constitute a tacit security regime which, while based on hard power interests, does not preclude competition in other areas. Ultimately, these relations are helping shape a new regional order in the Middle East.

Muhammad bin Salman Al-Saud and Muhammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the respective princely strongmen of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have torn up the old rules. They have spurred game-changing economic master plans, presided over vast anti-corruption crackdowns, tackled entrenched religious forces, and overseen the mass arrest of critics. In parallel, they also appear to have replaced the old ‘sheikhly’ consensus systems of their predecessors with something more autocratic, more personalistic, and perhaps even analytically distinct. Moreover, ‘MBS’ and ‘MBZ’, as they are known, are now effectively in command of the two wealthiest and most populous Gulf monarchies, and increasingly important global actors--Saudi Arabia is a G20 member, and the UAE will be the host of the World Expo in 2021–2022. Such sweeping changes to the two countries’ statecraft and authority structures could thus end up having a direct impact--for better or worse--on policies, economies, and individual lives all around the world. This study tests the hypothesis that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are now effectively contemporary or even ‘advanced’ sultanates, and situates these influential states within an international model of autocratic authoritarianism. Drawing on a range of primary sources, including new interviews and surveys, the book puts forward an original, empirically grounded interpretation of the rise of both de facto rulers.

Glittering skylines, high urbanization rates, and massive development projects have been common characteristics of the cities in the Persian Gulf. In order to understand the city as a cultural and social space, this book explores the changing urban face of the Persian Gulf cities, as well as the processes and consequences of transformations that have occurred at an incredibly rapid pace. While some of these cities have rapidly evolved from regional centers of cultural and economic exchange to globalizing cities deeply embedded within the global economy, others have either left their best days behind them or largely retained their traditional fabrics. Yet forces of globalization and migration, national conceptualizations of citizenship, and various political and economic structures have collectively underpinned the politics of urban planning and development in the port cities of the Persian Gulf. The focus of this book revolves around the internal and external dynamics and developments that have shaped these contemporary port cities, and their roles, changing face, and broader consequences for the region and beyond. The Persian Gulf has long been a gateway to the world. This book provides a comprehensive study of the nature and importance, rise and fall, and domestic and international consequences of its port cities in modern times.

Almost thirty years after its foundation, Lebanese Hezbollah is an organization that remains difficult to understand. What exactly is Hezbollah? An Islamist terrorist group dedicated to destroying Israel? The first Arab national resistance to have ever defeated Tel Aviv's troops? A patriotic and respectable party or a fascist network having managed to control all levels of Lebanese political life? How did this organization acquire such an important role in the Middle-Eastern game and in Lebanese politics? This book has three purposes. Firstly, to clearly articulate a definition of Hezbollah, presenting a thorough history of the party, describing its internal structure and the large scope of its social and political action. Secondly, to explain the evolution of the party's mobilization. And finally, to illustrate another path, political but mainly identity-related: that of the Shiite community, the main constituent of Lebanese society today. Through a rigorous and richly documented study, based on primary sources including hundreds of interviews with rank and file members, executives and officials of the party, and research material never examined before, the author unveils brand new aspects of this organization, thus completing our understanding of both the "Hezbollah phenomenon" and Lebanese politics of the last two decades.

The Middle East is currently facing one of its most critical migration challenges, as the region has become the simultaneous producer of and host to the world’s largest population of displaced people. As a result of ongoing conflicts, particularly in Syria, Libya, Iraq, and Yemen, there have been sharp increases in the numbers of the internally displaced, forced migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers. Despite the burgeoning degree of policy interest and heated public discourse on the impact of these refugees on European states, most of these dislocated populations are living within the borders of the Middle East.This volume is the outcome of a grants-based project to support in-depth, empirically based examinations of mobility and displacement within the Middle East and to gain a fuller understanding of the forms, causes, dimensions, patterns, and effects of migration, both voluntary and forced. As the following chapters in this volume will demonstrate, through this series of case studies we are seeking to broaden our understanding of the population movements that are seen in the Middle East and hope to emphasize that regional migration is a complex, widespread, and persistent phenomenon in the region, best studied from a multidisciplinary perspective. This volume explores the conditions, causes, and consequences of ongoing population displacements in the Middle East. In doing so, it also serves as a lens to better understand some of the profound social, economic, and political dynamics at work across the region.

The Turkey of today little resembles that of recent decades. Its economy has expanded, new political elites have emerged, and the once powerful Kemalist military is no longer a potent and dominant political player. Meanwhile, new prosperity has had many unexpected social and political repercussions, pre-eminent among which is the advent of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which first came to power in 2002 by downplaying its Islamist leanings and marketing itself as a center-right party. After several terms in office, and amid unprecedented popularity, the conduct of the AKP and its leading cadres has faced growing criticism. Turkey has yet to solve its Kurdish question, and its foreign policy is increasingly under threat as it balances relations with Iran, Israel, Iraq, Russia and the Kurds, to name only a few of its more demanding interlocutors. Widespread domestic protests gripped the country in 2013. The government is now perceived by many to be corrupt, unaccountable, intimidating of the press and intolerant of alternative political views and criticism. Has this once promising democracy descended into a tyranny of the majority led by a charismatic leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan? Is Turkey more polarized now than ever in its recent history? These are among the questions posed in this timely primer on a rising economic power.

In early 2019, the Islamic Republic of Iran marked its fortieth anniversary, despite decades of isolation, political pressure, sanctions and war. Observers of its security policies continue to try and make sense of this unlikely endurance. Though there are significant disagreements about the Islamic Republic’s thinking and intentions, virtually everyone agrees that its policies are fundamentally different from those pursued by their monarchical predecessors. No Conquest, No Defeat offers a historically grounded overview of Iranian national security. Tabatabai argues that Iranian strategic thinking is perhaps best characterised by its dynamic yet resilient nature, one that is continually evolving and whose foundations were laid out decades ago. To understand Iran’s national security thinking and policies today, one must examine them in their historical context. As the Islamic Republic enters its fifth decade, this book sheds new light on Iran’s controversial nuclear and missile programmes, and its involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

After the 1994 Oslo Accords, Palestinians were hopeful that an end to the Israeli occupation was within reach, and that a state would be theirs by 1999. With this promise, international powers became increasingly involved in Palestinian politics, and many shadows of statehood arose in the territories. Today, however, no state has emerged, and the occupation has become more entrenched. Concurrently, the Palestinian Authority has become increasingly authoritarian, and Palestinians ever more polarised and demobilised. Palestine is not unique in this: international involvement, and its disruptive effects, have been a constant across the contemporary Arab world. This book argues that internationally backed authoritarianism has an effect on society itself, not just on regime-level dynamics. It explains how the Oslo paradigm has demobilised Palestinians in a way that direct Israeli occupation, for many years, failed to do. Using a multi-method approach including interviews, historical analysis, and cutting-edge experimental data, Dana El Kurd reveals how international involvement has insulated Palestinian elites from the public, and strengthened their ability to engage in authoritarian practices. In turn, those practices have had profound effects on society, including crippling levels of polarisation and a weakened capacity for collective action.

Political Islam in Tunisia uncovers the secret history of Tunisia’s main Islamist movement, Ennahda, from its origins in the 1960s to the present. Banned until the popular uprisings of 2010-11 and the overthrow of Ben Ali’s dictatorship, Ennahda has until now been impossible to investigate. This is the first in-depth account of the movement: one of Tunisia’s most influential political actors.Based on more than four years of field research, over 400 interviews, and access to private archives, Anne Wolf masterfully unveils the evolution of Ennahda’s ideological and strategic orientations within changing political contexts and, at times, conflicting ambitions amongst its leading cadres. She also explores the challenges to Ennahda’s quest for power from both secularists and Salafis. As the first full history of Ennahda, this book is a major contribution to the literature on Tunisia, Islamist movements, and political Islam in the Arab world.

Qatar and the Gulf Crisis examines the attempt by four states – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt – to isolate and blockade Qatar. The book explores in detail the policy responses taken in Qatar since early-2017 by a small state, cut off by its neighbors and subject to a regional power-play designed to appeal to the baser instincts of a U.S. presidency that had taken office lacking any real sense of a foreign policy and vulnerable, in its first months, to unprecedented attempts by foreign powers to influence American domestic and national security interests. The blockade of Qatar was launched fifty years to the day since Israel launched a surprise attack on the Egyptian Air Force at the start the Six-Day War. Just as that war came to define regional politics across the Middle East for a generation so the blockade of Qatar has developed into the most serious rupture in the Gulf since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 and has become a similarly era-defining event for the region. Qatar and the Gulf Crisis examines how and why Qatar was able to beat back a blockade that was supposed to split the country and force it into a position of submission to the would-be regional hegemony of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi (in the UAE).

This book analyses how the Arab uprisings, the sudden wave of leaderless protests that broke out in 2011, could produce regime change in a region until then characterized by authoritarian resilience. It investigates the factors that shaped the trajectories of the uprisings in four North African countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. Using an interactionist perspective, it analyzes the three stages of regime change and authoritarian resilience during this wave of uprisings. The first stage corresponds to the implosion of the ruling authoritarian system. This episode is defined by a sharp increase in mobilization of protesters against the regime and the accompanying decrease in the capabilities of the ruling institutions. The second stage corresponds to the reconstruction of practices and discourses around the demands of the protesters and the counter-propositions of the regime to halt the process of deinstitutionalization. This period is marked by the diffusion of new social and political behaviors that challenge and replace preexisting mechanisms of governance or, alternatively, that are subsumed under them. The third stage is the reconstruction of routinized behaviors around a new consensus on governance. This period is characterized by a formal recognition of these new arrangements at home and abroad and by political demobilization.