Synopses & Reviews
This book is relevant for the study of regional conflicts during and after the end of the Cold War. The focus of the major parts are inter-state wars in the period of 1967-1991. In the revised, updated and expanded new edition the author argues that the Gulf War would probably be the last inter-state war in the Middle East. The resort to the use of force would be mostly pursued by irregulars like Islamic fundamentalists (in Algeria, Egypt, the Occupied Territories) and ethnic nationalists (the Kurds). Thus the study of conflict in the Middle East would shift from the study of inter-state war to the study of the crisis of the nation-state incapable of dealing with the arising violence within its boundaries. The author argues that regional integration among the states and the industrial bolstering of the weak nominal nation-states in the Middle East would be the new needed pattern of security politics in the Middle East no longer restricted to dealing with military issues.
Synopsis
Preface Preface to the Second Edition Introduction: Middle Eastern Wars from the World Historical and International Systemic Perspectives PART 1: THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM AS A CONFIGURATION OF REGIONAL SUBSYSTEMS: THE CASE OF THE MIDDLE EAST The Science of International Relations: Between Globalism and Regionalism The Middle East: Its Location and Delimitation PART 2: FROM ARAB RENAISSANCE (NAHDA) TO THE SIX DAY WAR OF 1967: THE NEW HISTORICAL EPOCH AFTER JUNE 1967 The Six Day War of 1967: The Background and Multifaceted Character of an Escalated Regional Conflict The Regional and International Repercussions of the Six Day War: The End of Nasserism and the Beginning of a New Historical Epoch PART 3: THE 1973 OCTOBER WAR: THE REGIONAL DYNAMIC OF THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT AND THE SUPERPOWERS. ARMS, OIL AND SHIFTS IN REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCES The Yom Kippur, Ramadan or October War? Historical Continuity from the Six Day War to the Nineteen Day War The Superpowers and the October War October 1973: The War with Arms and the War with Oil: Petro-dollar Power and the 1973-77 Saudi-Egyptian Axis; its Revival during the Iran-Iraq War and Its Aftermath PART 4: THE GULF WAR, ITS LINKAGES AND BACKGROUND: REGIONAL DYNAMIC AND THE FRAGMENTATION OF THE MIDDLE EAST IN THE POST-COLD WAR ERA The Middle East between the 1973 October War and the 1990-91 Gulf War: An Epidemically Militarised Region of Conflict? From the Iraq-Kuwait Conflict to the Gulf War The Historical Context of Conflict and War in the Middle East in the Light of the Gulf War PART 5: NEW SECURITY AND REORDERING THE MIDDLE EAST AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY: THE NEW CHALLENGES Notes and References Bibliography Index
Synopsis
Few studies of Middle East wars go beyond a narrative of events and most tend to impose on this subject the rigid scheme of superpower competition. The Gulf War of 1991, however, challenges this view of the Middle East as an extension of the global conflict. The failure of the accord of both superpowers to avoid war even once regional superpower competition in the Middle East had ceased must give rise to the question: Do regional conflicts have their own dynamic? Working from this assumption, the book examines local-regional constraints of Middle East conflict and how, through escalation and the involvement of extra-regional powers, such conflicts acquire an international dimension. The theory of a regional subsystem is employed as a framework for conceptualising this interplay between regional and international factors in Tibi's examination of the Middle East wars in the period 1967-91. Tibi also provides an outlook into the future of conflict in the Middle East in the aftermath of the most recent Gulf War.
Synopsis
Middle Eastern contemporary history has been a history of the escalation of conflicts to war. The post-Cold War security heralds a shift from inter-state war to the irregular use of force.
About the Author
Bassam Tibi is Professor of International Relations in Göttingen and simultaneously Bosch Fellow at Harvard University.
Table of Contents
Preface *
Introduction: Middle Eastern Wars from the World Historical and International Systemic Perspectives *
Part I: The International System as a Configuration of Regional Subsystems: The Case of the Middle East * The Science of International Relations: Between Globalism and Regionalism * The Middle East: Its Location and Delimitation *
Part II: From Arab Renaissance (NAHDA) To the Six Day War of 1967: The New Historical Epoch After June 1967 * The Six Day War of 1967: The Background and Multifaceted Character of an Excalated Regional Conflict * The Regional and International Repercussions of the Six Day War: The End of Nasserism and the Beginning of a New Historical Epoch *
Part III: The 1973 October War: The Regional Dynamic of the Middle East Conflict and the Superpowers, Arms, Oil and Shifts in Regional and International Alliances * The Yom Kippur, Ramadan or October War? Historical Continuity from the Six Day War to the Nineteen Day War * The Superpowers and the October War * October 1973: The War with Arms and the War with Oil: Petro-dollar Power and the 1973-1977 Saudi-Egyptian Axis; its Revival during the Iran-Iraq War and its Aftermath *
Part IV: The Gulf War, its Linkages and Background: Regional Dynamic and the Fragmentation of the Middle as in the Post-Cold War Era * The Middle East between the 1973 October War and the 1990-1991 Gulf War: An Epidemically Militarized Region of Conflict? * From Iraq-Kuwait Conflict to the Gulf War * The Historical Context of Conflict and War in the Middle East in the Light of the Gulf War *
Part V: New Security and Reordering the Middle East at the Turn of the Century: The New Challenges * Notes and References * Bibliography * Name Index * Subject Index