Statecraft in the Middle East: Foreign Policy, Domestic Politics and Security

(Hardback)

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What role do ideas play in state-building and state activity Thisbook argues that government policies in both foreign relationsand domestic politics must always be situated within a broaderideational and societal context. Imad Mansour analyses how governments in thecontemporary Middle East have governed internally and acted externally basedon societal narratives, which bring together a variety of ideas about a society'shistory and place in the world. He argues that there is a dominant societalnarrative that acts as a primary building block of statecraft, where statecraftis understood as an ongoing set of local, regional and global state-buildingprocesses. Mansour investigates the ways in which statecraft in the Middle Easthas been guided by narratives through a close historical reading and comparativediscussion of the political activity of six states - Egypt, Israel, Syria, Turkey,Saudi Arabia and Iran - in the second half of the twentieth century and the earlytwenty-first century. His book demonstrates the analytical power of narrativesin understanding statecraft and explains why governments' decisions need to beunderstood in complex ways.

Reviews

'Well written and authoritative and will make a really helpful addition to the literature for general students of international relations as well as regional specialists.' - James Mayall, Emeritus Professor of International Relations, University of Cambridge, 'Imad Mansour's Statecraft in the Middle East successfully combines an innovative theoretical approach with careful empirical analysis and proposes a new and compelling understanding of statecraft in the Middle East. The conceptual depth and empirical richness are certain to make its research questions and findings of interest to a wide audience both inside and outside academia.' - Michael Brecher, R B Angus Professor of Political Science, McGill University, `important and innovative - Louise Fawcett, The Middle East Journal, `Well written and authoritative and will make a really helpful addition to the literature for general students of international relations as well as regional specialists. - Professor James Mayall, Emeritus Professor of International Relations, University of Cambridge, `Imad Mansours Statecraft in the Middle East successfully combines an innovative theoretical approach with careful empirical analysis and proposes a new and compelling understanding of statecraft in the Middle East. The conceptual depth and empirical richness are certain to make its research questions and findings of interest to a wide audience both inside and outside academia. - Professor Michael Brecher, R B Angus Professor of Political Science, McGill University

Author Bio

Imad Mansour is Assistant Professor of International Affairs at the University of Qatar. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Campus Moyen-Orient Mediterranee of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po Paris) and holds a PhD from McGill University where he was also Faculty Lecturer. He previously studied at the American University of Beirut."