The New Middle East: What Everyone Needs to Know

Cover
The New Middle East
Copyright
Contents
Preface
1 Before the Deluge: The Middle East, 1945–​2011
	What is the Middle East?
	Who lives in the Middle East?
	What is the Middle East state system?
	Do the states in the Middle East have anything in common?
	What was political life like in the Middle East up through 2010?
	How did state formation in the region breed autocracies in the Middle East?
	How did great power meddling in the region foster autocracies in the Middle East?
	How has the exploitation of oil affected the Middle East?
	What is the “New Middle East”?
2 The Arab Uprisings and Their Fallout
	How did the Arab uprisings begin?
	How appropriate is the term “Arab Spring” to describe the uprisings?
	What deep-​seated factors made Arab states vulnerable to popular anger?
	What contingent factors made Arab states vulnerable to popular anger?
	What were the uprisings like in Tunisia and Egypt?
	What did almost everyone get wrong about the Egyptian Revolution?
	Why have Islamic movements been so popular in the Middle East?
	Why were uprisings in Yemen and Libya so violent?
	How could regimes in Bahrain and Syria hold on so doggedly?
	Why did the uprisings leave most Arab monarchies relatively unscathed?
	What were protests in hybrid regimes like?
	Were the Arab uprisings bound to fail?
	What were the overall effects of the uprisings that began in 2010–​2011?
3 The Syria Imbroglio
	How did the Syrian uprising begin?
	How did the uprising in Syria differ from the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt?
	What was political and economic life like in Syria before the uprising?
	Who is Bashar al-​Assad?
	How did the regime militarize the uprising?
	How did the regime sectarianize the uprising?
	What foreign assistance has the Syrian government received?
	Who supports the opposition?
	How has foreign intervention prolonged Syria’s agony?
	Who is the Syrian opposition?
	How bad is the damage to Syria?
	How has the Syrian uprising affected Syria’s neighbors?
	How will the Syrian civil war end?
4 The Rise and Decline of ISIS
	What is ISIS?
	Where did ISIS come from?
	What does ISIS believe?
	Is ISIS apocalyptic?
	Is ISIS “Islamic”?
	Why was ISIS able to conquer so much territory so quickly?
	Who joins ISIS?
	Where has ISIS spread?
	What is life in the Islamic State like?
	Why did the United States undertake military action against ISIS?
	Why did ISIS begin its global campaign of terrorist attacks?
	What impact has ISIS had on the Middle East?
	What does the future hold for the ISIS caliphate?
	What happens to ISIS once its caliphate has disappeared?
5 Patrons, Proxies, and Freelancers: The International Relations of the New Middle East
	How much did US strategy in the Middle East change under Barack Obama?
	What has happened between the United States and its partners in the region?
	Did Obama have a strategy for the Middle East?
	What was America’s policy toward Iran under Obama?
	What role does oil play in the New Middle East?
	What are the roots of the Saudi-​Iranian competition?
	What is Turkey’s role in the New Middle East?
	Whatever happened to the Israel-​Palestine conflict?
6 Human Security in the New Middle East
	What is “human security”?
	How do population pressures affect the Middle East?
	What are the effects of diminishing water supplies on the Middle East?
	What is the impact of war on the environment in the Middle East?
	How might climate change affect the Middle East?
	What is the refugee crisis all about?
	What is the status of women in the Middle East?
	How poor is the Middle East?
	What is the state of human poverty in the non–​Gulf Cooperation Council Arab world?
	What is education like in the Arab world?
	Can human security be measured?
	What are the greatest threats to human security in the New Middle East?
	What might the recent history of the Middle East teach us about the possibility of overcoming the lack of good governance?
Notes
Further Reading
Index