Constructing International Relations in the Arab World - Hardcover

Lawson, Fred H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0804753725 ISBN 13: 9780804753722

Publisher: Stanford University Press, 2006

Synopsis

This book explores the emergence of an anarchic states-system in the twentieth-century Arab world. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Arab nationalist movements first considered establishing a unified regional arrangement to take the empire's place and present a common front to outside powers. But over time different Arab leaderships abandoned this project and instead adopted policies characteristic of self-interested, territorially limited states.

In his explanation of this phenomenon, the author shifts attention away from older debates about the origins and development of Arab nationalism and analyzes instead how different nationalist leaderships changed the ways that they carried on diplomatic and strategic relations. He situates this shift in the context of influential sociological theories of state formation, while showing how labor movements and other forms of popular mobilization shaped the origins of the regional states-system.

About this title

About the Author

Fred H. Lawson is Professor of Government at Mills College. He is the author of Why Syria Goes to War (1996) and Bahrain: The Modernization of Autocracy (1989).

From the Back Cover

"Lawson's book salvages the study of the inter-Arab political system from the Middle Eastern ghetto to which it has often been relegated and reintegrates it into a global framework. This work not only strikes another blow against the notion of Middle East exceptionalism, it does so within an interdisciplinary framework that should appeal to both political scientists and historians."--James L. Gelvin, University of California, Los Angeles
"Students of international politics generally throw up their hands at 'exotic' regions like the Middle East. Lawson's fine treatment reveals that standard explanations for the emergence of the state system there are too simple but that the puzzle will yield to careful theorizing and meticulous research. He shows that areas outside of Europe and the United States need not be off-limits to social science, but do need to be approached with deep understanding of the histories and societies involved."--Robert Jervis, Columbia University

From the Inside Flap

This book explores the emergence of an anarchic states-system in the twentieth-century Arab world. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Arab nationalist movements first considered establishing a unified regional arrangement to take the empire's place and present a common front to outside powers. But over time different Arab leaderships abandoned this project and instead adopted policies characteristic of self-interested, territorially limited states.
In his explanation of this phenomenon, the author shifts attention away from older debates about the origins and development of Arab nationalism and analyzes instead how different nationalist leaderships changed the ways that they carried on diplomatic and strategic relations. He situates this shift in the context of influential sociological theories of state formation, while showing how labor movements and other forms of popular mobilization shaped the origins of the regional states-system.

Edition details

• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0804753725
• ISBN 13: 9780804753722
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224