Middle East Politics Today: Government and Civil Society

Accessible to students & useful to the expert, this up-to-date volume offers a comprehensive study of important & complicated issues in the contemporary Middle East. This account, covering all Middle Eastern countries, examines major trends in the history, politics, & economics of the region, with a special focus on events since the 1991 Persian Gulf War. It emphasizes regional comparative groupings of states such as the Fertile Crescent, the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Nile Valley, Turkey, & Iran. Tareq Ismael provides readers with an understanding of the forces that shape local & regional politics as well as a basis for how the region locates itself in international affairs. He looks at the new dynamics that have developed since the Gulf War, especially the decay of postcolonial state structures & the strength of American influence in politics. His account of each state stresses historical background, development of political institutions & processes, & socioeconomic issues & institutions. Considering forces local to particular areas, Ismael discusses such topics as terrorism, Islamic activism, the growth of state coercive agencies, & the subversion of democratic institutions & processes by regimes.Jacqueline S. Ismael is the author of 'Middle East Politics Today: Government and Civil Society', published 2001 under ISBN 9780813020983 and ISBN 0813020980.