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"We know more today.about how the Administration has mismanaged the contracts to reconstruct Iraq. And what we have learned shows that the problems are even worse than we thought. All.perspectives point to the same conclusion: Halliburton is gouging the taxpayer and the Bush Administration doesn't seem to care." - Statement of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Government Reform

REBUILDING IRAQ: U.S. Mismanagement in the Middle East discussed the oversight of the Development Fund for Iraq funds through the national budgetary process.

Originally issued in late January 2005 by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, the main objective of this audit was to determine whether the Coalition's Provisional Authority (CPA) implemented adequate procedures for the recording, reviewing and reporting disbursements for the reconstruction of Iraq.

The results of the audit contain detailed information relating to managerial, financial, and contract controls as well as formal recommendations about the oversight of the Development Fund for Iraq funds.

Organized chronologically from early December 2004 through end of July 2005, additional documents contained in this report include numerous Facts Sheets on the value of Halliburton contracts including a comprehensive overview of the total value these contracts as well as information pointing to serious problems from severe contract abuses to the mismanagement of funds in Iraq. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

The Government and Politics of the Middle East and North Afr
I am writing in response to the one review by a reader from Staten Island. As I have read the previous editions of this book and several books by these authors I'm a bit upset with the review that is displayed... Especially since it is a review for the WRONG BOOK. Azzie Layachi which the reviewer cites as being "absent minded" IS NOT one of the authors of this book. Please take care to make sure reviews are correct and correspond to the book that is actually in review. Such negligence gives wrongful insight to others looking to purchase this book. Both Reich and Long are well know for their expertise, and their books have long been used in academia. For others to see a one star review due to the carelessness of one reader is unfortunate and unacceptable. (please note the four star review is from reading the previous editions- I have not yet read this one but it was on route to purchasing that I stumbled upon said incorrect review.)

Layachi is at is again!
This book is an updated version of a previously released book which I already rated as completely awful. I totaly dislike thsi book for many reasons, I feel Layachi is trying to push an agenda through thsi book. It is dry and boring, It serves no other use that to be used to hold a door in St. John's University Hallway open. Brought to you from the absent minded professor Azzie Layachi, a man that can't teach Poli Sci to say the least, but publishes books that are better used for toliet paper. Like in the previous editions he rambles for chapters about north Africa and how the US is treating it, well Mr. Layachi ask yourself what can I do to improve my books (and teaching) instead of lashing out with your anti-US sentiment. I think we should give up before the next 5th Edition comes into the works? I say get a refrence book on the region it will serve you better. ... Read more

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Now in its second edition, this popular text presents a comprehensive and balanced analysis of the international politics of the Middle East. Part I provides a historical framework, Part II looks at major themes in international relations and applies them to the Middle East, and Part III examines region-specific conflicts and issues. Featuring carefully edited contributions from international experts, this volume offers students essential background information and also gives them access to the most current material and perspectives.
Fully revised and updated, the second edition of International Relations of the Middle East features two new chapters--on the nature of Islam and the war in Iraq--and adopts a wider, more current focus on security throughout. It also integrates additional coverage of the role of the media, the U.S. war on terror, and the transnational phenomena of Islamic radicalism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Excellent Book
It's an outstanding book that disscusses complex perspectives from the Middle East into an easy way. We could call it: Mastering the Middle East for Dummies!

This book is superb.
Kindly disregard the review of this book that is critical of it. If you note, that person did not even read the book, and simply levels ad hominem, personal attacks on the contributors to the book.

I used this as a textbook for my "Middle East in International Politics since World War I" class - it was incredibly holistic, fair and balanced, and a great primer for any one interested in this region. I highly recommend it.

Well balanced scholarship
I have assigned this book to my course on foreign policy of the Middle East. I have done so specifically because it includes chapters written by some of the scholars known as Isreal's New Historians. Indivuals such Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim.

For the last twenty years Isreal's new historians have deconstructed a large number of Zionist myths using Isreal's own state archives. These have included facts about Isreal's singularly primary responsibility for creating the Palestinian refugee problem and Isreal's intransigence in face of the willingness of Arab states to negotiate peace with Isreal as early as 1949.

The works of Isreal's New Historians represents the interests of individual scholars in truth and sometimes justice. They represent the quality of debate taking place inside Isreal and in Europe in a sharp contrast to narrow, self serving, and mean spirited slogans that so often pass for Middle East sholarship in the US.

I have found my students appreciating the challenging viwes presented in Fawcett's book, often walking away with greater appreciation of the complexities of political issues.

I recomand this book very highly.

Academia simply has to do better than this
The Oxford University Press is responsible for printing this book.I would have hoped that the book would therefore be reasonably scholarly, and that it would contain valuable information for students who might be interested in this topic.However, when I saw the list of contributors, I no longer had much hope for this work.

I can't imagine trusting Eugene Rogan on the topic of Israel.And sure enough, he discusses the Arab failure to "save" the Levant from the "Zionist threat" as a sort of tragedy that has continued "to plague international relations of the region down to the present."Would it really have been better for the region to have robbed, expelled, banned, or slaughtered all the Jews there?I doubt it.

Charles Smith, the author of a very misleading book about the Arab-Israeli conflict, is not much better.He gives the impression that Israel, in 1967, attacked Arabs who were in the process of trying to avoid a war, claiming that Israel had information from the United States that the Arabs were not planning to attack.However, Israel actually did not go to war until the United States made it clear that it was not about to reopen the Straits of Tiran.If the United States in fact had information that the Arabs did not want a war, it would have told the Arabs how to avoid one (all the more so had it shared this information with Israel).

Avi Shlaim, another person I would never trust on the topic of Israel, makes hash of the history of the Camp David talks and the ensuing Arab aggression against Israel.And then we have the rabidly anti-Zionist Michael C. Hudson discuss the United States in the Middle East!Hudson does not like anything the United States has been up to there, and he blames it on the "neo-conservatives."Now, we would normally expect some discussion of what issues might have caused the neo-conservatives to worry about the Middle East in the first place, as well as what arguments they seem to have used to convince others.But Hudson treats the neo-conservatives as an unreasonable group of passionately pro-Israeli hawks.I think this is something like blaming American opposition to Germany in 1938 on an unreasonable group of passionately pro-Czechoslovakian hawks.

Rosemary Hollis has a chapter on Europe in the Middle East.And she even admits that the British "fell foul of the Zionist movement by attempting to limit the inflow of Jewish migrants" to the Levant.And she then says that "British attempts to block the entry" to the Levant "of Jews fleeing systematic extermination" were "indefensible."Well, um, these were more than mere "attempts."Much more.There was a White Paper in 1939.It was enforced.There were land restrictions too.And the Jewish reaction to that White Paper was realize that protection of Jewish rights in the Levant required the creation of a Jewish state.That's why Israel exists.

Hollis continues by explaining that the European community has "kept to the basic principle of implementing UN resolutions."And that "by contrast, the United States has been less faithful to the letter of international law."That's not true.Europe has been calling Jewish (but not Arab) settlements in the West Bank "illegal," even though international law has not deemed them as such.International law may be about to do so now, but that does not make Hollis correct.

This entire book is very misleading.It does our society a big disservice.After all, we human beings are trying to do useful things on this planet.And one thing we might want to do is come up with strategies to improve human happiness in the Middle East.If we all get taught that various problems involving Arab aggression have never existed, or are merely the result of serious provocations, it will be that much more difficult for us to improve the state of affairs in the region.
... Read more

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The Middle East Today is an accessible and comprehensive introductory textbook for undergraduate students of Middle East Studies, Middle East politics and geography. The book features a host of pedagogical features to assist students with their learning. These include detailed maps, case studies on key issues, boxed sections, suggestions for further reading. In addition, the book is further supplemented by a companion website that contains sample chapters, a selection of maps formatted for use in presentations, annotated links to online resources and websites, hints and pointers for answering the end of chapter questions.

The book highlights a host of current issues facing the Middle East, linking them to the rich political, geographical and cultural history of the region. The author examines the crises and conflicts, both current and potential, likely to dominate the region in coming years.

Key chapters focus on:

• stereotypes of the region
• the making of the modern state system
• contemporary Islamist thought
• the Arab-Israeli conflicts
• the struggle for economic and social development
• democracy and political transformation in the region.

Designed to both introduce and develop a deeper understanding of this rapidly changing region, The Middle East Today is an essential text for all students of Middle East Studies, Middle East politics and geography.

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Get the full picture of politics in the Middle East with THE POLITICS OF THE MIDDLE EAST! With a readable, concise, and easy-to-understand writing style, this political science text helps you gain a coherent picture of the region through country case studies and historical review. Case study topics include the influences of tribalism, kinship, and the Islamic faith as well as an understanding of the region's political uprisings, religious significance, and petroleum resources that make it crucially important to the rest of the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

I NEVER RECIEVED THIS BOOK!
I purchased this book for nearly $45 and never received it. I ordered it for school, which starts in a matter of days. I am very disappointed with this either the seller of this book, or UPS. In any case I would like a refund.

An Authoritative Piece!
As a graduate student, I had the good fortune to have Professor Palmer in class. This particular book is absolutely amazing in terms of readability and substantive content. Professor Palmer's vast Middle East experience shines through brilliantly in this text. If you have any desire to gain a ground level perspective on the inner workings of Middle East politics... buy this book. ... Read more

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Fred Halliday is one of the most authoritative scholars currently writing on the international relations of the Middle East. This is an introduction to the subject with the objective of setting the area and events of September 11th within the broader context of contemporary international relations. The first section of the book deals with the history of the region, and the second with analytical issues. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

difficult but rewarding for the determined reader
This book is not an easy read.The first chapter and a half are wasted in a diatribe about the proper approach to analysis of international relations, no doubt important for the academic community but of little interest for the lay reader.The book is dense and the author's writing style is disfigured by an excess of comma-delineated clauses I haven't seen since John Norman's 'Gor' fantasies of the early 70's: some sentences take four or five readings to decipher.

Once past these obstacles, the reader will benefit from the insight of someone who obviously has both extensive personal experience in the region and broad knowledge of the language, culture, and history of the Middle East, without any of the idealogical crap that passes for discourse in the US popular press.Prof. Halliday's basic points are:1]the Middle East as we see it was mostly the product of the years 1918-1924 or so, when the political geography of the region was formed from the remnants of the Ottoman empire.Claims of ancient provenance for many disputes and attitudes are in the author's wonderful term 'ahistorical', that is, based on a highly selective view of the past hardly reflecting any reality.2]the basic dynamic of the Middle East is the actions of the governments of states, and their opponents, competing for political power (and ruining the economies of the region in the process).

The reader who struggles through this book will be rewarded with the basis for a proper understanding of the region, devoid of both uber-terrorist paranoia and illusions about the role of the West in the region. ... Read more

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This new edition of the best-selling Politics in the Middle East is an analysis of systems and processes in Middle Eastern politics that focuses on the themes of power, stratification, and development. Special emphasis is placed upon the forces of social change as they sweep across the region. This study also includes emphasis on such important issues as the role of civil society, the patterns of leadership, the resurgence of Islam, the role of women, the upheaval in the Persian Gulf, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and U.S. foreign policy.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Critical Guide to Understanding the Middle East
This is a well-written book explaining the history of the Middle East. It provides the historicbasis for understanding the current situation and tension in this region. James Bill is an excellent writer, and a well-known expert on the Middle East. A great book! ... Read more

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The Middle East has changed clearly, substantially, and dramatically during the last decade.Yet scholarly and public understanding lags far behind recent events. Barry Rubin's historical and political summation of the region shows how events and ideas have both shaped and altered its character.Three interlinked themes are crucial to the book.First, a reinterpretation of the era of recent upheaval the Middle East has just passed through, which the author calls the Era of Radical Expectations.During that period, many Arabs believed that some leader, country, or radical movement would unite the region, solving all its problems.Second, an evaluation of how the historical experience of the period between the 1940s and the 1990s undermined the old system, making change necessary.Third, an analysis of the region today that explains future developments, in what the author terms the Era of Reluctant Pragmatism, as the Middle Eastern societies determine their relationships to the West. Barry Rubin is Director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herziliya, Israel, and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs.He is the author of 16 books on the Middle East and has edited another 17 that include the widely reviewed and acclaimed The Transformation of Palestinian Politics (Harvard, 1999) and The Israel-Arab Reader (Penguin/Putnam, 2002) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Extremely Useful in Providing Context for ME Conflicts
Contrary to the previous reader review, I found the book extremely useful in providing a context for understanding the current ME conflicts. Clearly, when individuals harbor the feelings of the previous reviewer, we in America who believe in the continuation of our democracy need to be reading as much as we can that will enlighten us to what fuels the hatred of democracy and the United States.

Nobody Hates the Arabs more than Rubin
Another propaganda piece blaming the Arabs for everything. United States and Israeli are just "misunderstood" angels of peace and prosperity. If you like his portrait of Arafat as Satan, you'll love this diatribe by the high priest of the Arab Defamation League. There are a lot of completely one-sided books on this topic but this is one of the worst. I wonder where the money comes from to support these hate mongers.

An excellent book about the modern Middle East
Rubin makes some excellent points in this book.

One topic he addresses is the failure of the Camp David peace talks between Israel, led by Barak, and Arafat.Some people think the talks failed because the Arabs refused to offer peace.Some think they failed because the Israelis failed to make any serious concessions to achieve peace.I happen to think that they failed for two reasons: the Israelis were never offered the only thing they wanted, namely peace, and the Arabs were offered land and a state, neither of which they actually wanted.

Rubin disagrees with all these ideas.He states that the immediate problem was that a settlement was indeed close.And it was the threat of peace that scared the Arab side.Peace might destabilize Arab regimes.And given that Arab leaders had spent years crafting an extremist public opinion, they now chose to let that public opinion scuttle negotiations.I think this is an interesting possibility.

The author also reminds us that "terrorism is not a weapon of the poor or oppressed but a carefully thought out revolutionary tactic."

Rubin quotes a couple of Arabs who say that from a practical standpoint, Arabs would be better off making peace.After all, it is unlikely that the more extreme Arabs will achieve all their demands, some of which are quite unreasonable.And they are ignoring the balance of forces.But Rubin explains that in this situation, Arabs are indeed ignoring the balace of forces.

I would go further than that.First, I would note that part of the Arab demands happen to be to deprive Jews and others of rights to life, liberty, and property.Such demands are arbitrary.Next, I would note that Arab demands happen to include the theft of Levantine land from the land-poor.Even if these demands are met now, in the long run, non-Arabs will almost surely buy even more Levantine land than they now have, and keep it.And finally, I do agree with the implication that anti-peace Arabs are regarding war as something desirable in and of itself, even if the balance of forces is very poor.

The author quotes a poll taken by al-Jazeera in 2001 which asked which was worse, Zionism or Nazism.I found this interesting.You see, I regard Zionism, which is simply Jewish nationalism, as the application of human rights for everyone, including Jews.Given that I support human rights, I support Zionism.And I regard Nazism as opposition to human rights.But how would the majority of Arabs see it?Many of them supported the Nazis.And many are against human rights for themselves, against human rights for Women, against human rights for minorities, and against Jewish rights in particular.Obviously, quite a few Arabs oppose human rights, and might well like Nazism and dislike Zionism.

Anyway, the poll came out with 84.6% preferring Nazism (saying Zionism was worse than Nazism), 2.7% preferring Zionism, and 11.1% regarding them equally "bad."I guess the rest had no opinion.

Rubin concludes that the tendency towards anti-American politics in Arab lands is hurting Arab people in general.So are anti-Western, anti-American, and anti-Israeli lies.And those who purport to champion the "Arab Cause" are in fact adding to Arab misery.

Good Intro to the Mess that is the Modern Middle East
Rubin is a specialist in contemporary Middle Eastern politics and terrorism. After an overview that provides some historical background and general explanations for the region's problems backed up by examples (the first 70 pages), there are three chapters devoted to Iraq, Syria and Iran, respectively, and then four chapters dealing with state-sponsored terrorism, the struggle within Islam, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and U.S. foreign policy.

Rubin's analysis contains a good number of insights that make this book more than worth reading. For example, Rubin argues that the ideology of Arab nationalism (or Arabism), historically a rallying cry of Arab unity and strength since the 1950s, has actually been a major source of violence and instability. This is because it has been repeatedly used to justify domestic repression and violent intervention in the affairs of other states. Rubin asks the reader to imagine how much worse Latin America's problems would be if Spanish-speaking countries were constantly plotting against one another, trying to form a region-wide power base. I would put it this way: imagine if Mexico, rather than focusing on its own economic development, were to persue a political union with Columbia, invade Ecuador, and sponsor a coup in Argentina. The region would like more like the Arab world.

My major disagreement with Rubin is that he clearly believes in the popular theory that Arab anti-Americanism (and anti-Semitism/hatred of Israel) is essentially the result of goverment-controlled media fanning the flames of popular passion in order to divert attention away from the failures of Arab governments. There are indeed many examples of this, but it has two flaws. First, this theory does not explain similar responses prior to the rise of modern state media. For example, how to explain the violently anti-British response of Arab populations in the 1920s which had tolerated Ottoman rule for 400 years, when the Britains were no more repressive than the Ottomans and improved material conditions? Second, this theory doesn't explain why independent Muslim media sources tend to be as, if not more, anti-American and pro-terrorist than official media. Rubin analyzes Al-Jazeera, which is quasi-independent, but does not explain how so many independent sources, including educated Arabs living in the West, hold views like those expressed by official Arab media.

The underlying source of the regions' passions must lie elsewhere, and I would point to two. The first is the political psychology of Islam, which makes any non-Muslim power in the Middle East unpopular, however beneficial it might be. The second is the general tendency of all peoples, Muslim or otherwise, to resent the rise of a dominant power from another culture. This is especially true for a people like the Arabs, who have a long and proud historical memory of powerful Arab and Islamic empires (i.e. the Abbasids). The theory that region's anti-Americanism results from bad goverments is conforting because it suggests a (relatively) easy solution - get rid of the governments. But if the problem has to do with underlying culture, then you have a much greater problem, and we do.

The fact that the book has Saddam Hussein on the cover makes it appear somewhat anachronistic, but all of the problems and issues that Rubin addresses are still there, and I don't have a problem recommending it. ... Read more

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Much ink has been spilled in recent years about the Middle East. At the same time, no other region has been as misunderstood, nor framed in so many clichés and mistakenly held beliefs. In this much-needed and enlightening book, Fred Halliday debunks one hundred of the most commonly misconstrued "facts" concerning the Middle East--in the political, cultural, social, and historical spheres. In a straightforward and simple way that illuminates the issues without compromising their underlying complexities he gets to the core of each matter. The Israel-Palestine crisis, the Iran-Iraq war, the U.S.-led Gulf invasions, the Afghan-Soviet conflict, and other significant milestones in modern Middle East history come under scrutiny here, with conclusions that will surprise and enlighten many for going so persuasively against the grain of commonly held (mis)perceptions.

Copub: Saqi Books ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Inaccurate information mixed with bits of truth
100 Myths about the Middle East by Fred Halliday is a complete disappointment. It is clear early on that the information in this book is not accurate and that the author has bias. The distortions of the truth are so pervasive throughout that it would take a book to refute the garbage in Halliday's book.

Much of what is written is filled with bits of truth but mostly inaccurate information that is wordsmithed into 30 second sound bites of disinformation.It seems that Halliday has not ventured out of his classroom much and is stuck in the theoretical world of the London School of Economics. His understanding of Islam and the Muslim culture is limited. His responses to many of the myths are so short that there is no way complete information can be provided. Hence the sound bites that have some truth to at least attempt a defense of accurate information. Mostly, this is not the case.

Buyer be warned of books written by 1) a university professor, 2) published by the University of California Press and 3) printed in Lebanon.

Skip this book.

Some serious mistakes
Some serious mistakes make me question the accuracy of this book. The most egregious of his errors is saying that alcohol is not banned in islam. I could not believe how someone like him can call this a myth. There is a unanimous decision by all islamic jurists that consumption of alcohol is forbidden. The author selectively quotes certain verses from the quran while leaving out others. I know the theory of abrogation is contested about certain verses of the quran, but on this issue there is unanimous agreement that the earlier verses discouraging alcohol were abrogated by later verses forbidding it. This was due to the fact that islamic law was applied gradually. The second big mistake the author makes is when he says that hijab, or covering the hair is not obligatory. For one there is debate whehter the niqab, or face veil is obligatory with most scholars saying the face veil is not obligatory. But on the issue of covering the hair there is an overwhelming majority of juritsts that say it is obligatory. The level of debate on this issue among islamic jurists is akin to the level of debate among biologists on the validity of evolution. These along with the fact that on some controversial issues such as whether the iraq war was about oil, he simply dismisses this as a myth in about 100 words. An issue like that needs a detailed response not 100 word answer that simply dismisses it as out of the question. Why 2 stars instead of one, well some of the myths he tackled were helpful especially to people that know nothing about the middle east, but in the light of such glaring errors one should consult other sources.

Exceptionally good treatment of a complex region
I have to admit that when I picked this book up, I was skeptical. However, I was soon blown away by the knowledge and wisdom contained in this book. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Islam or the Middle East. I particularly liked the discussion of Israel, because it is very balanced and historically accurate. The depiction of the Iraq war (2002) is spot-on: the U.S. was not after oil, and not against Saddam per se, but wanted to "reestablish control of the region". I think that is accurate. The book makes some great points, such as, ruling "cleptocracies" in the Mid-East use the Israel-Palestinian conflict to deflect criticism away from themselves. I also liked the assertion that Arabs have a great sense of humor (whereas we think of them as "grim" and "lacking in humor"). This jives with the Arabs I knew when I went to university in Germany: they were without exception, warm, humorous people. The book will surely disappoint extremists, but then again, reality tends to do that.

Some Myths are destructable and others debatable
Throughout his book Mr. Halliday writes that the states in the Middle East are like states everywhere else and each one has its individual history just as other countries do all over the world. But then on page 82 he writes: "Indeed it is debatable whether the main narrative of modern Middle Eastern history is that of states at all." Which is it?Is not the Middle East at least a little different and special like Japan is a little different and special?

Another point the author makes again and again is that in the Middle East it is Myth that ancient history is that important --what counts is recent history (events within living memory). But many other students of the Middle East report that many people there remember The Crusades as if they occured yesterday. How can a memory like that not affect current events?
I gave this work four stars because the author had the facts to score many direct hits on numerous Myths, but I subtracted one star because he was much too concise for a professor

Too Short and Miss-information
Mr Halliday states that in 89 Islam does not forbid the consumption of alcohol and for examples he give name of writers and poets who enjoyed their drink, and early verses that did not prohibit alcohol consumption.The reality, the alcohol prohibition was gradual in Islam.First it was permitted than it was prohibited while going to pray.Finally, it was prohibited.The Quran states that alcohol and gamblingevil vices that should be avoided.
If Ms. Halliday cannot this point accurately which is common knowledge, I cannot assume that anything that he says is accurate ... Read more

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Many residents of the Middle East - and more recently, Western powers - have placed great hope in democratization in the region. Yet authoritarianism remains the norm and movement towards democracy is both slow and uneven. 

The Struggle over Democracy in the Middle East examines democracy and democratization in the light of regional realities rather than the wishful thinking of outsiders. Specialists from the region analyze democratic prospects in the region, while accomplished scholars from the United States and the United Kingdom analyze Western policy, providing a wide-ranging survey of the efforts of individual countries and the effect of external influences. Addressing themes including sectarianism, culture, religion, security and the promotion of democracy, the book examines the experiences of activists, political parties, religious groups and governments and highlights the difficulties involved in bringing democracy to the Middle East. Providing a multifaceted approach to the issue of democratization, this book will be a valuable reference for courses on Middle Eastern politics, political science and democracy.

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This is the most up-to-date book your students can find on the past, present, and future of the countries of the Middle East. A statistical profile at the start of each country's chapter gives students detailed, current information in an easy-to-use at-a-glance format. Author, playwright, and journalist, Dilip Hiro applies his expertise and unique insights to explaining the struggles, conflicts, and alliances of this troubled area. From the days of Great Britain's dominance after World War I to the Gulf War and the emergence of the Palestinian National Authority in the 1990s, Hiro successfully weaves the varied threads of history, politics, and economics into a narrative that never lacks for high-interest drama. ... Read more

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This book is intended as a summary and guide to the structure and function of the governments and politics of the contemporary Middle East. It presents three main lines of development in the individual states of the region: governmental structures and institutions, political organization and behavior, and regional and international relations. The author emphasizes patterns of development and growth rather than a strict chronological sequence of events. ... Read more

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Organised thematically, and dealing with all the pivotal issues in the region, from oil and religion, to gender and conflict, this comprehensive primer is both easy-to-read and full of insight. Stuffed with historical background, real-life examples, profiles of key figures from Nasser to Gadaffi, and even popular jokes from the area, The Middle East: A Beginner's Guide will captivate tourists, students, and the interested general reader alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Re-Introducing the Middle East
It is now futile to introduce anyone to the Middle East: even the fervently uninterested are subjected to media inundation, typically of a kind more tailored to policy imperatives and sensationalist appetites than the region's realities. Philip Robins grasps that the serious beginner must unlearn before starting to learn.

Robins opens by acknowledging the "wars, civil strife, revolutionary change, the military in politics, terrorism, human rights abuses, the maltreatment of women, and ethnic and religious minorities", the "grotesque and painful images" through which Western audiences first encounter the Middle East. Yet, he argues, these experiences have afflicted many other parts of the world to a similar or greater degree; contrary to popular perception, "the Middle East judged against global standards is not a basket case". Against the depiction of the Middle East as some kind of global exception, with that claim's implicit demand for intervention, Robins sees the Middle East in comparative context, defined by many of the same challenges as the rest of the developing world. He eschews the vacuous Al-Qaedaholism that has devastated the public understanding of the region.

This is a Middle East far from the headlines, but it is one a Middle Easterner might actually recognize: one where the obsession with soccer reliably outranks preoccupations with terrorism, and where political leaders, however fearsome, are above all the target of popular jokes. Much commentary on the Middle East either suffers from partisan bias, or, in an attempt to avoid it, becomes simply boring and banal. Robins' most valuable talent is his ability to deliver sustained critical analysis that any fair-minded Arab, Israeli, Persian or Turk would, perhaps with a guilty gulp, recognize as accurate. When it comes to the region's real flaws, Robins is unsparing: "The capital cities of the high wealth states in the region enjoy many of the medals of success: multi-lane highways; grandiose buildings of steel and glass; fancy shopping malls, full of American franchises. But do they deserve them?" The Arab world is "big on consumption but low on development." The region - including Israel - is not only male-dominated, but "women also suffer from being an arena over which ideological men argue."

If the Middle East's chief problems, such as inadequate education systems, conservative religious orthodoxies, and brittle power structures, are mundane rather than peculiar, they also do not admit of easy or rapid solutions. The "potentially mould-breaking forces" such as "new media literate young people, entrepreneurial businessmen, medical researchers, artists and high achieving academics", are still "confined to the edges of Middle Eastern societies." This cautious pessimism, however discouraging, is a welcome corrective to the blind optimism of transformation through air campaigns and paroxysms of violence. Nowhere does Robins judge Middle Easterners, Arab or Israeli, with such words as he reserves for the architects of the Iraq war: "ignorance" and "insufferable arrogance" - strong words from a taciturn don.

The book's cover assures us that this is a "beginner's guide", and so it could be. It gives the facts needed to guide further study, and plenty of flavor to encourage it. But it is also a work of scholarship in disguise. Not only are shrewd observations and nuggets of wisdom buried throughout, but Robins' treatment of seemingly conventional matters is original and thought-provoking. In a chapter on leadership, he challenges "the dominant image...of the brutal autocrat", drawing new distinctions between the "founder-leader", the "big-man leader", the "negotiated leadership", and the "institutional leader" that will intrigue the specialist as much as the beginner.

A true novice might find the text, which skips along cheerfully without troubling to spoon-feed basic facts, slightly intimidating. This is not a "guide for dummies". The greatest beneficiaries may be politicians, journalists, diplomats, and other attentive students of world affairs, who require an antidote to a policy and media discourse that often does appear "guided by dummies". Will someone please post a copy to Obama? ... Read more

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Product Description
This timely volume describes and analyzes critical aspects of the labor market and social protection in the Arab world. Its authors address the complex interrelationship that has evolved between labor, human development, and, above all, social well-being in the Middle East and North Africa region -- an interaction that is viewed against the backdrop of a globalization process that is a crucial shaping factor in national and international relations alike.

The authors examine in detail the implications for workers of the new forms of insecurity being ushered in by the globalization era. At the forefront is the issue of social protection, which of itself creates a number of dilemmas for policymakers, since formal social security gives cover to only a small percentage of the labor force. The idea of social reinsurance, which would integrate the informal sector and allow for social dialog, emerges at various levels, and there is general agreement that any such dialog, or new social contract, must include government, the private sector, and civil society.

This book is the product of the Mediterranean Development Forum, a partnership of ten Middle East and North Africa think tanks, and the World Bank Institute.

Contributors to the volume include Ali Abdel Gadir Ali, Alan Abrahart, Victor Billeh, Moez Doraid, Ibrahim A. Elbadawi, Maurice Girgis, Iqbal Kaur, Noha El-Mikawy, Valentine Moghadam, Marsha Pripstein Posusney, and Zafiris Tzannatos. ... Read more

Product Description
The second edition of this dynamic book has been fully revised and updated to provide a comprehensive introduction to contemporary politics in the Middle East. Purposefully employing a clear thematic structure and including a wide range of case studies, the book explores and analyses the major issues which define the politics of this region of the globe.

Milton-Edwards begins by introducing and explaining key concepts and debates and goes on to outline the impact of colonialism and its legacy, the rise of Arab nationalism and anti-colonial politics. She then examines major political issues affecting the region, such as political Islam, American foreign policy, war and conflict, political economy, democratization, ethnicity and the role of women. The book concludes by highlighting the politics of the region in the twenty-first century and the future challenges it faces. This is a perfect introduction for undergraduates, covering key political, economic and social debates and providing updates and guidance for further reading. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Contemporary Politics in the Middle East
This second edition of a textbook incorporates changes that have occurred in the Middle East since Milton-Edwards, a reader at Queens University in Belfast, wrote its first edition in 1999. Alas, a mediocre work updated remains mediocre.

Beginning with the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Milton-Edwards arranges her study according to a set of themes. Her first chapter examines colonial rule, which "disrupted, fractured, and shattered" a way of life that had developed over four centuries of Ottoman rule. Certainly, the establishment of the British and French mandates changed the region, but did stability really mark 400 years of Ottoman rule in the Middle East? She dates the "capitalist adventure" in the region to the arrival of European merchants in the nineteenth century--but their trade with Egypt and the Levant predates that by centuries, as any cotton merchant in Alexandria could attest.

Her antipathy to the colonial era leads to scapegoating. It is one thing to criticize the French and the British for not supporting Arab or Kurdish independence, but it is quite another to blame them for abortive Armenian statehood. In this, the Soviet Union was far more culpable.

Perhaps some of this laziness is the result of her obsession with Edward Said's Orientalism, which prizes opinion over fact and the amplification of external grievance over internal accountability. While she addresses the debate over Orientalism, she only paraphrases Princeton historian Bernard Lewis' counterarguments, and even then, inaccurately.

Sloppiness is pervasive, whether in describing the length of Ottoman rule (far more than 400 years), ignorance of the concept of "Iraq," which predates establishment of that nation-state's borders, or ignorance of the fact that Mandatory Palestine initially included the territory that became Jordan.

Other inaccuracies undercut her analysis. She assumes--falsely--that Palestinian Arab identity was consistent over time, when it is very much a product of the 1920s and 1930s. She treats too uncritically Israeli historian Benny Morris' revisionism, which is currently in fashion among post-modern historians more concerned with politics than historical fact.

Subsequent chapters address nationalism, political economy, war, politics, women, democratization, and "Pax Americana." Here, too, her bias is pervasive. Milton-Edwards condemns forced economic liberalization as a failure but does not address the crippling effect of corruption. Is Egypt's economy really the fault of outside powers, or might President Hosni Mubarak have had something to do with it? Arab-centrism undercuts other analyses. Has the Arab-Israeli conflict really dominated the political life of the entire Middle East for decades?

Students assigned Contemporary Politics in the Middle East may become conversant in the latest academic theories, but they will not gain insight into the history or politics of the region. Perhaps if Milton-Edwards spent more time fact-checking than explaining the Orientalist villainy of Walt Disney's Aladdin, her textbook would be improved.

Michael Rubin
Middle East Quarterly
Summer 2008

A Mediocre Work Updated Remains Mediocre
This second edition of a textbook incorporates changes that have occurred in the Middle East since Milton-Edwards, a reader at Queens University in Belfast, wrote its first edition in 1999. Alas, a mediocre work updated remains mediocre, as Michael Rubin of the Middle East Quarterly wisely reminds us.

Beginning with the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Milton-Edwards arranges her study according to a set of themes. Her first chapter examines colonial rule, which "disrupted, fractured, and shattered" a way of life that had developed over four centuries of Ottoman rule. Certainly, the establishment of the British and French mandates changed the region, but did stability really mark 400 years of Ottoman rule in the Middle East? She dates the "capitalist adventure" in the region to the arrival of European merchants in the nineteenth century--but their trade with Egypt and the Levant predates that by centuries, as any cotton merchant in Alexandria could attest.

Her antipathy to the colonial era leads to scapegoating. It is one thing to criticize the French and the British for not supporting Arab or Kurdish independence, but it is quite another to blame them for abortive Armenian statehood. In this, the Soviet Union was far more culpable.

Perhaps some of this laziness is the result of her obsession with Edward Said's Orientalism, which prizes opinion over fact and the amplification of external grievance over internal accountability. While she addresses the debate over Orientalism, she only paraphrases Princeton historian Bernard Lewis's counterarguments, and even then, inaccurately.

Sloppiness is pervasive in the textbook, whether in describing the length of Ottoman rule (far more than 400 years), showing ignorance of the concept of "Iraq," which predates establishment of that nation-state's borders, or ignorance of the fact that Mandatory Palestine initially included the territory that became Jordan.

Other inaccuracies undercut her analysis. She assumes--falsely--that Palestinian Arab identity was consistent over time when it is very much a product of the 1920s and 1930s. She treats too uncritically Israeli historian Benny Morris's revisionism, which is currently in fashion among post-modern historians more concerned with politics than historical fact.

Subsequent chapters address nationalism, political economy, war, politics, women, democratization, and "Pax Americana." Here, too, her bias is pervasive. Milton-Edwards condemns forced economic liberalization as a failure but does not address the crippling effect of corruption. Is Egypt's economy really the fault of outside powers, or might President Hosni Mubarak have had something to do with it? Arab-centrism undercuts other analyses. Has the Arab-Israeli conflict really dominated the political life of the entire Middle East for decades?

Students assigned Contemporary Politics in the Middle East may become conversant in the latest academic theories, but they will not gain insight into the history or politics of the region. Perhaps if Milton-Edwards spent more time fact-checking than explaining the Orientalist villainy of Walt Disney's Aladdin, her textbook would be improved. ... Read more