Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 208
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-1-4422-4763-5 • Hardback • April 2016 • $116.00 • (£89.00)
978-1-4422-4764-2 • Paperback • April 2016 • $51.00 • (£39.00)
978-1-4422-4765-9 • eBook • April 2016 • $48.50 • (£37.00)
Ashok Swain is a professor in the Department of Peace and Conflict Research and the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University, Sweden.
Anders Jägerskog is Counselor for Regional Water issues in the MENA region at the Embassy of Sweden in Amman, Jordan.
Chapter 1: Introduction: Middle East and Its New Sources of Insecurity
Understanding Security in the Middle East
Study of Security in the Middle East
The Middle East Region
International Actors and Regional Security in the Middle East
The Rise and Fall of the ‘Arab Spring’ and the Rise of the ISIS
Future Security Threats: Emerging Scenarios
Chapter 2: Achieving Food Security: A Critical Challenge
Increasing Food demand in the Region
Import and Export of Water from the Region
Land Investments as a Strategy to Address Food Security
Climate Change, Water Availability and Food Production
Concluding Thoughts
Chapter 3: Water Scarcity: Threat to Peace and Stability
Water Scarcity and Water Governance in the Middle East
Supply versus Demand Side Solutions
High Degree of Shared Water Resources
New Trends in the Region – The Use of Water as a Weapon
Connecting to Security Architecture
Chapter 4. Energy Security and its Changing Dynamics in the Middle East
Exporters of Crude Oil and Natural Gas
Importers of Crude Oil and Natural Gas
New Challenges and New Discoveries
Moving out of Oil and Gas Trap
Relying on Renewables
Evaluating Region’s Energy Security Scenario
Chapter 5: Managing Large Population Migration
Importance of Remittances and Challenges of Foreign Workers
The Middle East: The Region of and for Refugees
Migrants in the Middle East: More as Peace Wreckers than Peace Makers
Chapter 6: Conclusion – In Search of Sustainable Regional Security
Four Fault Lines in Regional Security Structure
Identifying Immediate Security Risks
Region to Regain the Initiative
This comprehensive analysis of the issues that destabilize the national and international politics of the Middle East. It is based on long and skilled observation of the problems of accessing secure water, energy and food supplies in the region. The authors bring the analysis right up to date by discussing the violent first and second decades of the twenty-first century. By deploying comprehensive securitization frame they effectively assist the reader to understand the variable intensity of regional conflict. They also link these dynamics with what has become known as the water, energy and food nexus.
— Prof. J. A. (Tony) Allan, Department of Geography, King's College London
This is an important book that deserves the attention of anyone interested in the condition of the Middle East region and its impact on the world. The book's comprehensive overview of the underlying security challenges facing the Middle East—including water, energy, arable land, urban sprawl, pollution, and demographic issues—highlights existential stresses that drive some current tensions and also threaten the region's future. If you wonder what issues the Middle East region and the world should address to lower tensions and promote stability in the decades ahead, Swain and Jägerskog's work is a compelling starting place.
— Rami G. Khouri, founding director and currently senior fellow, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, American University of Beirut