Middle East at the Crossroads: The Changing Political Dynamics and the Foreign Policy

Middle East at the Crossroads provides a comprehensive account of the post-Cold War Middle East and analyzes the foreign policy challenges that they pose. The essays focus on some of the regional developments in the post-Cold War era and the foreign policies of the United States, Russia, the European Union, China, and Japan toward the region. The contributors present a critical and nuanced analysis sensitive to the regional complexities as well as to the context of foreign policy responses of the great powers. They demonstrate that the Middle East is not out of step with history, but a part of it that is not only shaped by it, but also molds it. These realities have created a new political dynamic that has led to new political configurations. These changes have led to an evolution in the relations among Middle Eastern countries and global politics in general. The essays in this volume expose a complex and unpredictable future in the Middle East that demands a new foreign policy response from the Western world that is more sensitive to the regional realities and aspirations of the people in this area.