Lexington Books
Pages: 224
•
Trim: 6 1/4 x 9
978-1-4985-5842-6 • Hardback • September 2018 • $95.00 • (£65.00)
978-1-4985-5843-3 • eBook • September 2018 • $90.00 • (£60.00)
Elisabeth Yarbakhsh is a research scholar at the Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies at the Australian National University
Maria Syed is a doctoral candidate at the Australian National University
Katlyn Quenzer is a doctoral student at the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Alternative Frameworks: Accounting for the Overlooked, Katlyn Quenzer and Maria Syed
Chapter One: Emerging Trends and Debates in Gulf Studies, Matthew Gray
Chapter Two: Impending Decline? A Reassessment of Saudi Power, Maria Syed
Chapter Three: Iranian Nationalism from its (Afghan) Margins, Elisabeth Yarbakhsh
Chapter Four: Between (Ethno-)Nationalism and Political Islam: The Kurdish Movement as a “Third Way” in Turkey, William Gourlay
Chapter Five: State Formation and Social Conflict in Syria: Causalities, Unintended Consequences, and Analytical Trajectories, Harout Akdedian
Chapter Six: Seen from a Distance: Political Contexts for Middle Eastern Contemporary Art, Sam Bowker
Chapter Seven: The Afghan Threat to the Security of the Central Asian Nations: Myth or Reality?, Azam Isabaev
Chapter Eight: When East Looks West to the Middle East, Ian Nelson
About the authors
Index
The thought-provoking essays brought together in this volume address many of the most complex issues facing the contemporary Middle East and Central Asia. The meticulously researched and clearly presented papers within this volume not only provide rich empirical insights into these challenges, but also raise intriguing questions about the prospects of peace, stability, and prosperity across the region.
— Benjamin Isakhan, associate professor, Deakin University
Asking why we often fail to capture the uncertainties of political and social trends, this volume creatively interrogates conventional scholarly approaches. Based on a skillful reading of events from Syria to Afghanistan, it persuasively brings home that to understate the formative influence of local context, agency, and resistance is to miss unraveling the subtleties of Middle Eastern and Central Asian politics.
— James Piscatori, Australian National University