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List of contents
List of Contributors
Map of the Middle East
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
Christopher Phillips & Michael Stephens
PART ONE: Still searching for a role – The UK in the Middle East from East of Suez to Brexit
2. Britain and the Middle East since 1971
Rosemary Hollis
3. Britain’s Foreign Policy Landscape in the Post-Brexit Era
Michael Clarke
4. Still Special? The UK and US in the Middle East
Michael Stephens
PART TWO: Principles and Pragmatism – the debates over the UK's Middle East priorities
5. The third wheel? “Values” in British foreign policy in the Middle East
James Lynch
6. Prosperity
David Butter
7. Security
Louise Kettle
PART THREE: Britain and the non-Arab powers
8. Turkey
Bill Park
9. Israel
Ian Black
10. Iran - Bridging Opportunities and Challenges
Sanam Vakil
PART FOUR: Britain and the Middle Eastern Arab states
11. Syria and the Levant
Christopher Phillips
12. Iraq
Jack Watling
13. The Gulf
Tobias Borck and Michael Stephens
14. Egypt
Emma El-Badawy
15. Conclusion
Christopher Phillips & Michael Stephens
About the author
Christopher Phillips is Reader in International Relations at Queen Mary, University of London, U.K and associate fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. He has written for The Guardian, The Washington Post, Newsweek and CNN, among others. He has also made numerous media appearances on outlets including BBC Newsnight, Radio 4’s Today Programme, BBC News, Al-Jazeera, Sky News and Channel 4 News. He is the author of The Battle for Syria: International Rivalry in the new Middle East (2016).
Michael Stephens is a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), and an Associate Fellow at RUSI where he previously worked as the Research Fellow for Middle East Studies. Michael was seconded to the Foreign and Commonwealth in 2017 serving as the Senior Research Analyst for Lebanon and Syria. He is a regular broadcast commentator and has written for many of the world’s top news publications.
Summary
As the UK enters a period of intense public introspection in the wake of Brexit, this book takes on one of the key questions emerging from the divisive process: what is Britain’s place in the world? The Middle East is one of the regions the UK has been most engaged in historically. This book assesses the drivers of foreign policy successes and failures and asks if there is a way to revitalise British influence in the region, and if this is even desirable.
The book analyses the values, trade and security concerns that drive the UK’s foreign policy. There are separate chapters on the non- Arab powers – Israel, Turkey and Iran – as well as chapters on the Middle Eastern Arab states and regions including the Gulf, Iraq, Egypt, and Syria and the Levant. The contributions are from leading specialists in the field: Rosemary Hollis, Michael Clarke, Ian Black, Bill Park, Christopher Phillips, Sanam Vakil, Michael Stephens and Louise Kettle. They each explain and re-assess the declining western influence and continued instability in the region and what this means for the UK’s priorities and strategy towards the MENA. This is an essential book for policy makers, journalists and researchers focused on foreign policy towards the Middle East.
Additional text
A timely and trusted guide - smart thinking from respected scholars who understand the past and provide impressive insight into the future of a fast-changing map of Britain and the Middle East. Here are the right questions, and the right kind of answers with rigorous analysis and advice.
