Read more
This textbook anthology of selected readings on pressing Middle East security concerns serves as an invaluable single-volume assessment of critical security issues in nations such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.The issues and current events of the Greater Middle East continue to hold deep implications for American geopolitical interests in the region-as they have for many decades. An ideal resource for students in undergraduate courses on the Middle East and related regions as well as students in graduate programs of international studies or security studies, this textbook anthologizes recent, insightful analyses by top scholars on trends and events in the Middle East that bear crucially on regional and global security considerations, covering topics like Iran's nuclear ambitions; the rise, ebb, and resurgence of Al Qaeda; and the war in Syria.
The essays address concerns that include the re-imposition of military rule in Egypt; the current status of Palestinian-Israeli relations; the civil war and proposed chemical inspections in Syria; Sunni-Shiite conflict and the revitalized al Qaeda presence in Iraq and the Sunni resurgence in Iraq and Syria; and the on-again-off-again international monitoring of nuclear facilities in Iran, along with discussions of that country's connections to the Syrian regime and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The use of drone strikes as antiterrorist weapons and their use within U.S. and international law also receive specific attention. Each reading is summarized and contextualized by a concise introduction that serves to enhance the integration of the individual readings across the book. Original source notes are included with each chapter as guides to further reading, and numerous maps provide an essential sense of place. The book also includes a glossary of terms and a register of brief biographies of significant persons.
List of contents
PrefaceAcknowledgmentsAbout This BookPart I. Geopolitical Context: Five Perspectives on the Greater Middle EastChapter One Freedom and Democracy in the Greater Middle East
Dick CheneyChapter Two America's Engagement with the Middle East
Barack ObamaChapter Three Accepting the Inalienable Right of Iran
Hassan RouhaniChapter Four Address to the American Congress
Benjamin NetanyahuChapter Five Saudi Arabia: Regional Politics and the Rivalry with Iran
Matthew GrayPart II. Nuclear Proliferation and Chemical Weapons: Israel, Iran, Pakistan, SyriaChapter Six Israel, Iran, and the Arms Control Paradox in the Middle East
Brent J. TalbotChapter Seven Domestic Motivations of the Iranian Nuclear Program
Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova and Nicholas BowenChapter Eight The Triangle: Iran, Israel, and the United States
Jalil RoshandelChapter Nine Regional Nuclear States: Israel, Iran, and Pakistan
Richard Dean Burns and Joseph M. SiracusaChapter Ten Pakistan and India: The Enduring Conflict
Amit GuptaChapter Eleven Framework for Elimination of Syrian Chemical Weapons
U.S. Department of State et al.Part III. Israel and Palestine, Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran and SyriaChapter Twelve No More Nakbas
Mahmoud AbbasChapter Thirteen Regional Politics and Proxy Groups: Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah
Jalil RoshandelChapter Fourteen Hezbollah in Lebanon
David S. SorensonChapter Fifteen Hezbollah, Syria, and ISIS
James Worrall, Simon Mabon, and Gordon ClubbPart IV. DronesChapter Sixteen Predator Strikes in the War on Terrorism
William C. BanksChapter Seventeen Framework for Lethal, Targeted Action against Al-Qaeda
Barack ObamaChapter Eighteen Drones: Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Christof HeynsChapter Nineteen The Civilian Impact of Drones: Sample Strike Analysis
Ben EmmersonPart V. Islamic Insurgencies: Al-Qaeda, Taliban, Islamic State, ChechnyaChapter Twenty Islamic Insurgencies: Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Islamic State
Karl YambertChapter Twenty-One Palestinian Precedents: The Origins of Al-Qaeda's Use of Suicide Terrorism
Benjamin T. AcostaChapter Twenty-Two Conventional and Unconventional War in Iraq
John A. GentryChapter Twenty-Three The Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan
John A. GentryChapter Twenty-Four The Taliban, Affiliated Insurgent Groups, and Pakistan and Iran
Mark SilinskyChapter Twenty-Five Al-Qaeda and ISIS in Iraq and Syria
Denise N. Baken and Ioannis MantzikosChapter Twenty-Six The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS): Building a Caliphate in the Levant
Colin P. ClarkeChapter Twenty-Seven The Caucasus Emirate: Conditions in the North Caucasus
Elena PokalovaPart VI. Libya and the MaghrebChapter Twenty-Eight Libya and Security Challenges in the Maghreb
Yahia H. ZoubirChapter Twenty-Nine Post-Gaddafi Libya
Richard A. Lobban Jr. and Christopher H. DaltonChapter Thirty Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)
Denise N. Baken and Ioannis MantzikosAppendix: PersonsGlossaryAbout the ContributorsIndex
About the author
Karl Yambert, PhD, is an independent scholar who holds a doctorate in anthropology from the University of California, Davis.
