Requiem For Palestinian Reform

This book examines the role of everyday action in accepting, resisting and reshaping interventions, and the unique forms of peace that emerge from the interactions between local and international actors. Building on critiques of liberal peace-building, it redefines critical peace and conflict studies, based on new research from 16 countries.

In the post-Cold War era, why has democratization been slow to arrive in the Arab world? This book argues that to understand support for the authoritarian status quo in parts of this region--and the willingness of its citizens to compromise on core democratic principles--one must factor in how a strong U.S. presence and popular anti-Americanism weakens democratic voices. Examining such countries as Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia, Amaney Jamal explores how Arab citizens decide whether to back existing regimes, regime transitions, and democratization projects, and how the global position of Arab states shapes people's attitudes toward their governments. While the Cold War's end reduced superpower hegemony in much of the developing world, the Arab region witnessed an increased security and economic dependence on the United States. As a result, the preferences of the United States matter greatly to middle-class Arab citizens, not just the elite, and citizens will restrain their pursuit of democratization, rationalizing their backing for the status quo because of U.S. geostrategic priorities. Demonstrating how the preferences of an international patron serve as a constraint or an opportunity to push for democracy, Jamal questions bottom-up approaches to democratization, which assume that states are autonomous units in the world order. Jamal contends that even now, with the overthrow of some autocratic Arab regimes, the future course of Arab democratization will be influenced by the perception of American reactions. Concurrently, the United States must address the troubling sources of the region's rising anti-Americanism.

A magnificent reckoning with the extraordinary changes engulfing the Middle East, by one of our greatest reporters on the region. Robin Wright first landed in the Middle East on October 6, 1973, the day the fourth Middle East war erupted. She has covered every country and most major crises in the region since then, through to the rise of al Qaeda and the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Dreams and Shadowsis an extraordinary tour de horizon of the new Middle East, with on-the-ground reportage of the ideas and movements driving change across the region-and the obstacles they confront. Through the powerful storytelling for which the author is famous, Dreams and Shadows ties together the players and events in Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey, the Gulf states, and the Palestinian territories into a coherent vision of what lies ahead.

"Action-packed, well-woven reading . . . will leave readers wondering how safe they are in the post-9/11 era, and how much their government is really telling them." -Foreword /Clarion Review "The author delivers a . . . stirring thriller that relies on political maneuvering . . . just as much as action." -KIRKUS REVIEWS "Scheming politicians, spies, terrorists, and clandestine power brokers converge in . . . Requiem for the Phoenix." -Blueink Review Two years have passed since the Phoenix operation - al Qaida's secret attack on the American Heartland with a biological weapon of mass destruction. Since then, al Qaida has undergone an unexpected reversal. They broadcast a series of strange messages, offering - with one hand - an olive branch of peace to end terrorism and help support the U.S. president's worldwide democratic reforms. In al Qaida's other hand, however, is their secret plot to launch the second phase of the Phoenix operation - a series of attacks comprising their most devastating wave of terror since 9/11. As the suspense-filled plot unfolds across three continents, al Qaida stops at nothing to make America and the free world yield to their fanatical domination.

Lasting over 120 years, the Arab-Israeli conflict involves divergent narratives about history, national identities, land ownership, injustices and victimhood. Domestic forces and actors as well as international and regional dynamics have ensured the conflict's durability. A distinguished team of authors comprising an Israeli, a Palestinian and an Egyptian present a broader Arab perspective in this innovative textbook that offers a balanced and nuanced introduction to a highly contentious subject. Providing an overview of key developments in the history of the conflict, it explores attempts at resolution, before going on to portray the perspectives of the important parties. It places the events of the conflict within a regional and international context, providing an invaluable insight into the opposing narratives behind the conflict. The much-anticipated second edition of Arabs and Israelis includes: - Up-to-date coverage of key developments since the Arab Awakening, including the shifting pattern in relations from Obama to Trump, the Abraham Accords, the fall of Netanyahu and the resurgence of the war in early 2021. - Brand new 'Key Developments', 'Key Documents' and 'Key Figures' feature boxes to help students zoom in on landmark events, policies and actors throughout history. - Detailed full colour maps, timelines and photos to visually complement the text. - A rich companion website including interactive timelines and maps, discussion questions, chapter summaries and more. A comprehensive and engaging account of the Arab-Israeli conflict, it is the ideal companion for students at undergraduate and postgraduate level taking History, Politics and Middle Eastern Studies degrees.

Intends to serve as a prism through which the EU's external relations and security can be assessed, with contributions from its US and Russian partners. This book contains working papers on a variety of topical strategic issues including the EU's role in the Middle East conflict, missile defense, recognition of Kosovo, and more.

This book assesses the claim that peacebuilding is a moribund international practice. Its contributors trace the origins of peacebuilding, bring back to memory its moments of triumph, and reflect on the reports of its decline. The story of peacebuilding parallels the broader story of liberalism’s rise and fall in world politics, including the attempt to remedy an ailing patient by administering a magic medicine – “the local turn”. Its contributors further write about what may come after peacebuilding as we still know it. They describe more locally rooted attempts at building peace and how they operate in the shadows of, and in an ambiguous relationship with, governmental and international peacebuilders. The book finally suggests that reports of the pending death of peacebuilding are probably premature. Peacebuilding is a resilient international practice, apt to adjust itself to a changing environment, and too important a source of legitimacy for those that wield power.

Democracy promotion in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remains a central pillar of the foreign policy the European Union (EU). Rather than concentrating on the relations between the incumbent authoritarian regimes and the opposition in the relevant countries, and on the degree to which these relations are affected by EU efforts at promoting democracy, human rights and the rule of law (an outside-in approach), this collection of articles inverts the focus of such relationships and attempts to look at them ‘inside-out’. While some contributions also emphasise the ‘outside-in’ axis, given that this continues to be analytically rewarding, the overarching thrust of this book is to provide some empirical substance for the claim that EU policy making is not unidirectional and is influenced by the perceptions and actions of its ‘targets’. Thus, the focus is on domestic political changes on the ground in the MENA and how they link into what the EU is attempting to achieve in the region. Finally, the self-representation of the EU and its (lack of a) clear regional role is discussed. This book was published as a special issue of Democratization.