Recent Publications

Prepared with assistance by Evan Eustice, Hobie Kropp, Jacob Passel, and Shannon Rosenberg.

Afghanistan

Beyond Reconstruction in Afghanistan: Lessons from Development Experience, ed. by John D. Montgomery and Dennis A. Rondinelli. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. 256 pages. $28.95 paper. Conceived shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, this study — the product of a series of international conferences in which the contributors participated — seeks to provide analysis and strategy for the reconstruction and development of post-conflict Afghanistan. The authors outline steps towards a stable civil society and address the regional implications of reconstruction. (SR)

Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan, by Seth G. Jones. Arlington, VA: RAND National Defense Research Institute, 2008. xvii + 133 pages. Appends. to p. 138. Refs. to p. 155. About the author to p. 157. $26.50 paper. With the goal of devising a new strategy for Afghanistan, this fourth volume of the RAND Counterinsurgency Study series explores the nature of the insurgency and current US-led counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan in light of similar campaigns in other countries since World War II. Jones finds that the main flaw of recent counterinsurgency operations has been the neglect of indigenous actors. He recommends channeling resources into the Afghan government to build up its police, security forces, and local government capacity. (SR)

Women and Nation-Building, by Cheryl Benard, Seth G. Jones, Olga Oliker, Catherine Quantic Thurston, Brooke K. Stearns, and Kristen Cordell. Arlington, VA: RAND Center For Middle East Public Policy, 2008. xx + 137 pages. Appends. to p. 168. Bibl. to p. 191. $31.50 paper. Using Afghanistan as a case study, this work analyzes the roles and impacts of women in nation-building. The authors examine the importance of gender in Taliban ideology and in Afghanistan’s development strategy in the post-Taliban period. The study discusses Afghan women with respect to security, health and education programs, governance, and economic participation. It concludes with a list of analytic and policy recommendations. (SR)

Egypt

Educational Roots of Political Crisis in Egypt, by Judith Cochran. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008. 240 pages. $65. This work traces the development of Egypt’s current social and political crises through the history of education in Egypt. Cochran outlines educational development in Egypt from the beginning of writing in 4000 BC to the modes of three traditions of religious education, the periods of Mamluk, Ottoman, and British occupation, and the nationalization and reforms of Gamal ‘Abd al-Nasser. The author examines the current educational crisis in Egypt. She argues that, despite being given substantial aid by the United States and the World Bank over the past 30 years, Egypt has made no attempt to connect academic achievement, employment, and the country’s development needs. (EE)

Iran

Letters from Tabriz: The Russian Suppression of the Iranian Constitutional Movement, by Edward G. Browne, ed. by Hasan Javadi. Washington, DC: Mage Publishers, 2008. xxxi + 289 pages. $35. Appearing for the first time in English, Letters from Tabriz are longtime Cambridge professor Edward G. Browne’s translations of 21 letters he received from contacts in the Iranian constitutionalist movement during their struggle against domestic autocracy and Russian intervention. Browne’s introduction consists of three tracts written in late 1912 to protest the Foreign Office’s tacit support for Russia’s occupation of northern Iran. Originally slated for publication in 1914, Letters was shelved over concerns of disrupting Britain’s alliance with Russia. Editor Hasan Javadi’s contributions, including a biographical sketch of Browne and historical summary of Tsarist involvement in early 20^th century Iran, function as bookends to Browne’s works. (HK)

Israel

The Disenchantment of the Orient: Expertise in Arab Affairs and the Israeli State, by Gil Eyal. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006. xii + 242 pages. Appendix to p. 247. Notes to p. 292. Bibl. to p. 311. Index to p. 320. $65. In this book, Gil Eyal deconstructs how Israelis have perceived their Arab neighbors in relation to themselves, and vice versa, before and after Israeli statehood. Employing the concepts of Max Weber and Edward Said, Eyal details a process of “disenchantment of the Orient” wherein the surrounding Arab-Islamic world was divided into different disciplines...