Routledge Handbook to the Middle East and North African State and States System

<p>Conflict and instability are built into the very fabric of the Middle East and North African (MENA) state and states system; yet both states and states system have displayed remarkable resilience. How can we explain this? This handbook explores the main debates, theoretical approaches and accumulated empirical research by prominent scholars in the field, providing an essential context for scholars pursuing research on the MENA state and states system. Contributions are grouped into four key themes:</p><p>• Historical contexts, state-building and politics in MENA </p><p>• State actors, societal context and popular activism </p><p>• Trans-state politics: the political economy and identity contexts </p><p>• The international politics of MENA </p><p>The 26 chapters examine the evolution of the state and states system, before and after independence, and take the 2011 Arab uprisings as a pivotal moment that intensified trends already embedded in the system, exposing the deep features of state and system—specifically their built-in vulnerability and their ability to survive. </p><p>This handbook provides comprehensive coverage of the history and role of the state in the MENA region. It offers a key resource for all researchers and students interested in international relations and the Middle East and North Africa.</p> <p><strong>Part I. Historical Context, State-Building and Politics in MENA</strong> 1. State, Revolution and War: Conflict and Resilience in MENA’s States and States System 2. Historical Context of State Formation in the Middle East: Structure and Agency 3. States and State-building in the Middle East 4. Political Regimes of the Middle East and North Africa 5. Authoritarian Adaptability and the Arab Spring 6. The Arab Spring and the Gulf Monarchies 7. Leadership and Legitimacy in MENA <b>Part II State Actors, Societal Context and Popular Activism </b>8. The Military in the Arab State 9. Tribes in MENA politics: The Levant Case 10. Political Parties in the Middle East 11. Islam and Islamic Movements and MENA Politics 12. Civil Society in the Middle East and North Africa 13. The Arab Spring Is Not Lost: Moral Protest as the Embodiment of a New Politics 14. Tunisia’s "Civic Parallelism": Lessons for Arab Democratization <b>Part III Trans-state Politics. The Political Economy and Identity Contexts </b>15. The Middle East and North Africa in the Lens of Marxist International Relations Theory 16. Oil and the Rentier State in the Middle East 17. Divergent Development in Egypt and the Gulf 18. Studying identity politics in Middle East international relations: before and after the Arab uprisings 19. Arab Nationalism: A Conceptual and Historical Reassessment <b>Part IV. The International Politics of MENA </b>20. Conflict in the Middle East 21. Regionalism in the Middle East and North Africa 22. An exceptional context for a debate on international relations? Toward a synthetic approach to the study of the MENA’s international politics 23. U.S. Hegemony and MENA 24. Alliances and the Balance of Power in the Middle East 25. War in the Middle East 26. International Relations of the Gulf: From Stable Rivalry to Spreading Instability</p>