The Contemporary Middle East: A Westview Reader

by Yambert,Karl

• ISBN13: 9780813348391
• ISBN10: 0813348390
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-11-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The Contemporary Middle Eastprovides an accessible introduction to the region's most pressing concerns and enduring conflicts. It includes provocative contributions by an impressive array of leading scholars, journalists, and policy advisors. Contributors include notable academic authors Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., the late William L. Cleveland, Shibley Telhami, David W. Lesch, Bernard Reich, and Phebe Marr, complemented by selections from recent general-interest books by Marwan Bishara, Mark Perry, Marc Lynch, and Eugene Rogan among others. With twelve new chapters, the third edition is a probing examination of the current affairs of the Middle East. Its multiple readings on strategic pairings of topics (Israel and Palestinians, Iraq and Iran, Egypt and Syria) illuminate the region's key issues from a variety of perspectives. Part- and chapter-opening summaries help establish background and context, and a new concluding chapter by Shibley Telhami, written specifically for this volume, candidly addresses fundamental questions about the United States and the Middle East today. Student resources include an annotated table of contents, a select bibliography, a glossary, brief biographies of notable persons, a chronology, and a summary of recent events, in addition to numerous maps.

Author Biography

Karl Yambert received his PhD from the University of California, Davis, and is a former editor of Middle East Studies at Westview Press.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Third Edition	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiv
A Note on Editorial Matters	p. xvi
Summary of Recent Events, 2011-2012	p. xviii
History and Perspectives
The Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East	p. 6
The Roots of Arab Bitterness	p. 24
Islamist Perceptions of US Policy in the Middle East	p. 37
Global Energy and the Middle East	p. 47
New US Policies for a New Middle East?	p. 55
Cairo Speech	p. 67
Israel and the Palestinians
Israel and the Arabs, and Beyond	p. 91
The United States and Israel	p. 99
The Palestinians	p. 120
Sharon's Fence	p. 132
Whither the Palestinians?	p. 139
Ethnicity and Nation-Building in the State of Israel	p. 150
Syria's Threat to Israel	p. 162
The Iranian Nuclear Threat Against Israel	p. 167
Iraq and Iran
Pashtunistan: Afghanistan, Pakistan-and Iraq	p. 189
The Land and People of Modern Iraq	p. 199
Impacts of the Iraq War	p. 209
Americas Troubled Moment in the Middle East	p. 218
Maliki Consolidates Power in Post-Saddam Iraq	p. 234
The Iranian Revolution and Its Consequences	p. 247
Islamic Republic of Iran: Political Dynamics and Foreign Policy	p. 259
Iran's Regional Foreign Policy	p. 270
Iran, Israel, and the United States	p. 279
The Iranian Predicament	p. 284
The Islamists
Islamists and Democracy: The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood	p. 300
Talking to Terrorists: Hamas and Hezbollah	p. 307
The Arab Spring
The Arab Spring, 2011	p. 330
Egypt: Mubarak and After	p. 342
Bashar al-Asad, Syria, and the Arab Spring	p. 353
The Arab World at the Intersection of the National and the Transnational	p. 360
Looking Forward
The Contemporary Middle East: Some Questions, Some Answers	p. 372
Select Bibliography	p. 386
Glossary	p. 394
Notable Persons	p. 405
Chronology Since World War I	p. 408
Index	p. 412
Maps
The Middle East	p. 1
Middle East languages	p. 8
Middle East religions	p. 12
Present extent of Islam	p. 14
The Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916	p. 32
The Middle Eastern mandates, 1924	p. 35
Israel	p. 81
Palestine	p. 82
United Nations plan for partitioning Palestine, 1947	p. 83
Iraq	p. 179
Iran	p. 179
Ethnoreligious groups in Iraq	p. 203
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