An Introduction to Middle East Politics

Dr Benjamin MacQueen is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Political and Social Inquiry at Monash University. His research and teaching focuses on the politics of conflict, its resolution, and issues surrounding post-conflict reconstruction with a specific emphasis on the Middle East and North Africa, with publications including American Democracy Promotion in the Changing Middle East: From Bush to Obama (London: Routledge, 2013), with Shahram Akbarzadeh, James Piscatori, & Amin Saikal and Political Culture and Conflict Resolution in the Arab World: Lebanon and Algeria (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2009).

• The Ottoman Empire and its LegacyThe Colonial PeriodSuperpower Rivalry and the Cold WarNationalism, Islamism and the Politics of IdeologyIsrael, the Palestinians and the Peace ProcessOil, Economy and DevelopmentAuthoritarianismDemocratisation and the Arab UprisingsInternational Relations of the Middle East in the new Global OrderExternal Intervention and InvasionThe Syrian Conflict

An Introduction to Middle East Politics is a fountain of carefully selected information and accessible analysis. The politics of the Middle East could be very confusing, even for veteran observers. But Benjamin MacQueen has managed to present a seamless account of the most pressing challenging in the region with just the right dose of historical and cultural background. The discussion of the politics of oil, challenges to democratisation, and the US policy in the region in the aftermath of the Arab Spring is superb. This book is a tour de force and an essential item for any collection on the Middle East.