In this Book
- The Decline of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Middle East Politics and the Quest for Regional Order
- Book
- 1998
- Published by: State University of New York Press
summary
Addresses the inter-Arab dimension of Middle East politics and its impact on the Palestinian conflict. This historical study of international Middle East politics in regional perspective presents a comprehensive analysis of the interplay between inter-Arab politics and the conflict with Israel—the two key issues which have shaped the Middle East contemporary history (and made it simultaneously tumultuous and a focus of international affairs).
The Decline of the Arab-Israeli Conflict addresses the changing political behavior of the regional Arab system in the Palestine conflict, from total enmity to negotiated peace with Israel. This change is explained as a reflection of state formation process and constant thrust of ruling elites to disengage from compelling supra-state commitments stemming from Pan-Arab nationalist ideology and Islamic political culture.
The book scrutinizes the role of Arab summit conferences which, since 1964, became the main collective Arab institution for decision making on common core issues—foremost of which was the conflict with Israel. The summits’ main role was to legitimize incremental departure from the overburdening Palestine conflict whose powerful collective symbolism threatened states’ autonomy. Summits’ consensus sanctioned shifts from hitherto established collective Arab norms toward Israel as well as on inter-Arab relations, in accordance with core actors’ interests. The summits offer a view to the Arab regional system’s evolution as a negotiated inter-state order based on mutual recognition of sovereign states as opposed to compulsive collectivism in the name of Pan-Arabism. They were, in fact, a manipulation of the regional Arab system by primary participants’ coalitions through employment of financial, ideological, and political trade-offs to resolve inter-Arab differences and reach a consensus on redefined collective goals.
Table of Contents
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- ABBREVIATIONS
- pp. xiii-xv
- I. NATION, STATE, AND REGIONAL CONFLICT
- 2 THE REGIONAL ARAB SYSTEM
- pp. 9-30
- II. THE POLITICS OF ESCALATION: FROM THE "ARAB COLD WAR" TO THE JUNE 1967 WAR
- III. THE POLITICS OF REAPPRAISAL AND ADAPTATION
- 6 A TURNING POINT IN KHARTOUM
- pp. 97-110
- 7 THE BELEAGUERED NASIR
- pp. 111-132
- 8 THE ROAD TO THE OCTOBER WAR
- pp. 133-150
- IV. THE POLITICS OF THE PEACE PROCESS
- 9 THE DIVISIVE PEACE DIPLOMACY
- pp. 153-174
- 10 THE LEBANESE CIVIL WAR: BROKERS AND PAWNS
- pp. 175-188
- V. THE DECADE OF FRAGMENTATION ANDDISARRAY
- THE ARAB WORLD IN THE I980s: AN OVERVIEW
- pp. 221-246
- 12 THE IRAQ-SYRIA CONFLICT AND THE GULF WAR
- pp. 221-246
- 13 CROSSROADS OF THE LEBANON WAR
- pp. 247-272
- 14 IN SEARCH OF ANOTHER PEACE PROCESS
- pp. 273-301
- VI. THE DIALECTIC OF FORCE AND DIPLOMACY
- BETWEEN THE PALESTINIAN AND GULF CRISES
- pp. 303-304
- 15 THE INTIFADA AND NEW REGIONAL ALIGNMENT
- pp. 305-320
- CONCLUSION
- pp. 341-350
- Appendices
- pp. 351-360
- SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
- pp. 407-412
Additional Information
ISBN
9781438419398
MARC Record
OCLC
42856353
Pages
440
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No