Conflict and Diplomacy in the Middle East

The Middle East’s geographical and strategic uniqueness has made every great power in history to seek to advance its interests in the region. Yet the region constitutes the greatest single reserve of oil in the world which has made it a regular source of foreign powers interference in the post-World War II era. In addition to its geographical and strategic uniqueness the Middle East is the birthplace and spiritual center of the world’s three most important monotheistic religions. Due to its geopolitical importance any inter- and intra-state conflict in the Middle East has the potential not only for destabilizing the region as a whole or upsetting the regional balance of power but also affecting global stability.After employing the Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) in order to define and delimit the region of the Middle East the chapters of this book address the question of regional order examine how regionalism and globalism feature in Middle Eastern integration processes explore regional bids for hegemony and investigate the approaches and policies of major international actors. Contributors: Jonathan Cristol Xi Chen Ali G. Dizboni Onur Erpul Stefanie Georgakis Abbott Spyridon N. Litsas Allison Miller Sofwat Omar and Ays?egu?l Sever.