• The Sharia State

In contrast to the prevailing view which sees the Arab Spring as a revolution, this book argues that the phenomenon has been neither a Spring, nor a revolution. The term ‘Arab Spring,’ connotes a just rebellion that led to toppling dictators and authoritarian rulers, yet in The Sharia State, Bassam Tibi challenges the unchecked assumption that the seizure of leadership by Islamists is a part of the democratization of the Middle East.

Set against the backdrop of the Arab Spring, The Sharia State examines the Islamist concept of political order. This order is based on a new interpretation of sharia and has been dubbed "the Islamic state" by Islamists. The concept of "the Islamic state," has been elevated to a political agenda and it is this agenda that is examined here.

• Routledge Handbook of the Arab Spring

What is the nature of the symbiosis of the ‘Arab Spring’ and ‘democratisation’? How does democratisation lend support to the ‘Arab Spring’? In turn, how does the ‘Arab Spring’ lend sparkle to ‘democratisation’? What are the wider reverberations of this political ‘tsunami’ within and without the Middle East? How do they inform the ‘story’ of democracy and democratisation? This book seeks to answer these questions, both theoretically and empirically.

• Democratic Transition in the Middle East

Popular uprisings and revolts across the Arab Middle East have often resulted in a democratic faragh or void in power. How society seeks to fill that void, regardless of whether the regime falls or survives, is the common trajectory followed by the seven empirical case studies published here for the first time. This edited volume seeks to unpack the state of the democratic void in three interrelated fields: democracy, legitimacy and social relations. In doing so, the conventional treatment of democratization as a linear, formal, systemic and systematic process is challenged and the power politics of democratic transition reassessed.

Through a close examination of case studies focusing on Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, this collection introduces the reader to indigenous narratives on how power is wrested and negotiated from the bottom up. It will be of interest to those seeking a fresh perspective on democratization models as well as those seeking to understand the reshaping of the Arab Middle East in the lead-up to the Arab Spring.
 

News from Journals:
 

• Enjoy FREE ONLINE ACCESS to all Routledge articles published about the Arab Spring in the last year from across our titles.
• What are the social impacts of the unrest? How have countries outside of the Middle East responded to the crisis? What are the implications for the region’s military and security?
• The latest content relevant to the Arab Spring has been selected for you to view, with the articles chosen spanning our Area Studies and Politics and International Relations portfolios.

You can win copies of Dynamics of Change in the Persian Gulf, The Transformation of the Gulf, and Legal and Political Reforms in Saudi Arabia, by simply purchasing any title(s) from the Middle East Studies catalogue. Information on these prizes can be viewed below.

For more information on all the titles included in this promotion, please see the Middle East Studies catalogue:

To claim your 20% discount and to be entered in to the competition, simply enter discount code MEC13 at the checkout when purchasing any eligible title.

This offer expires 31/05/2013 and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. The winner of the competition will be notified the week beginning 03/06/2013.

All you have to do is enter the code IRK62 at checkout to activate the 20% discount. Terms and conditions apply*.

The ten Major Works listed below are all available with a 20% discount for one month only. Each collection allows users to gain exclusive access to pre-published material that is inaccessible, not widely available or is scattered throughout a variety of specialist journals and books. This is a great opportunity to complete your library with cutting-edge collections edited by leading scholars in the field!

Want to know more about Routledge Major Works? Why not visit our FAQ page?

If you have any questions or want to find out more about this exclusive offer, please don't hesitate to contact Kate Reavill: kathryn.reavill@tandf.co.uk

* - Offer available until 31st May and applies only to books purchased on the Routledge website. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or discount.

Both catalogs are available online; all you need to do is follow the links below.

• Islam Online Catalog 2013
• Buddhism Online Catalog 2013

Jeremy North, Managing Director of Routledge Books, says: "The Books of the Month selection is individual and quirky. The books are chosen to display the wonderful range of our publishing; to highlight interesting design and production challenges; and to reflect recent acquisitions. Or just because they catch the eye in some way."
 

This month, two Area Studies titles have made it into the Books of the Month List:

Routledge Handbook of Modern Israel

Organised thematically, a full range of topics are discussed, including:
•Politics and international relations

•The foundation of the Israeli state

•The birth and development of the Israeli economy

•Israeli culture

•Israel’s role in the Middle East

Bringing together more than thirty notable contributors from across the globe, this Handbook sheds light on the multifaceted reality of modern Israel in order to better understand, beyond clichés, this complex society.
 

Clouds above the Hill

"In the highly unusual category, you’ll see a Japanese epic novel in two volumes – Clouds Above the Hill. This is one of the most notable and successful works of fiction in Japan in the last 100 years, which we are publishing in English for the first time."

An epic portrait of Japan in crisis, it combines graphic military history and highly readable fiction to depict an aspiring nation modernizing at breakneck speed. Best-selling author Shiba Ryotaro devoted an entire decade of his life to this extraordinary blockbuster, which features Japan's emerging onto the world stage by the early years of the twentieth century.

Volume I describes the growth of Japan’s fledgling Meiji state, a major "character" in the novel. We are also introduced to our three heroes, born into obscurity, the brothers Akiyama Yoshifuru and Akiyama Saneyuki, who will go on to play important roles in the Japanese Army and Navy, and the poet Masaoka Shiki, who will spend much of his short life trying to establish the haiku as a respected poetic form.

Anyone curious as to how the "tiny, rising nation of Japan" was able to fight so fiercely for its survival should look no further. Clouds above the Hill is an exciting, human portrait of a modernizing nation that goes to war and thereby stakes its very existence on a desperate bid for glory in East Asia.

 

What prompted you to write this book?

Two personal perspectives. With over twenty years of experience in the industry as a public relations practitioner, Margalit identified a significant gap in the way public relations was practiced and perceived in Israel compared to the developed countries she visited as a member of the international PR community. While studying and working in the US she became intrigued by those differences. Israel for example, had no academic program in public relations till 2011 while in the US it was a recognised discipline within many universities. She decided to respond to scholars such as Sriramesh and Vercic who in the late 1990s called for the discipline of public relations to research the profession within the context of specific cultural and political environments rather than follow the assumption that all public relations experiences follow the US model.
As a Scottish republican, David has been questioning national identity almost since birth and has been researching PR since 1997. Only recently, however, did he appreciate the formative role of public relations in personal and national narratives and the impact of national identities on the evolution of PR as a profession. Our joint trips to Israel helped us both to identify the interplay of nation building and PR as a distinctive way to understand both the uniqueness of the Israeli system and its possible relevance to other unique national experiences.

What makes Israel stand out from other countries, in terms of the use of PR to inform/build national identity?

Israel, at 65, is relatively a new state that was established by immigrants from around the world with about 70 different cultural identities and languages. The Zionist movement that established the state made a phenomenal effort to unite them into one society and to create a new Israeli identity. The first public relations practitioners were employed by Zionist institutions. They used PR to enlist the new immigrants to the challenging tasks involved in building a nation and a state. They also provided the enlisting narratives, symbols, and emotional messages that inspired the sacrifice of personal individual goals, and sometimes, lives, for the sake of building a state.

Does the definition of PR change when used in the context of nation building?

Current definitions of public relations emphasise the role of the practitioners as facilitators of dialogue between organisations and their constituents, and as builders of networks of relationships. We argue that in situations of nation building, the pressure to use propaganda-style communication is intense. The whole society, including the media, tends to cooperate and support the agendas set by the national leadership. Typically, there is no tolerance for dissident voices as happens during wars. Enlisted societies rarely offer the democratic environment that allows PR to flourish in line with contemporary definitions.
 

Do other techniques form national identities in Israel?

There is a special term in Hebrew called Hasbara which, literally, means “explanation.” It is used to describe the effort of government, or other organisations, to influence public opinion within Israel and abroad. A paternalistic approach to persuasive communication, Hasbara is based on the assumption that the receivers of the message are ignorant or lack the background knowledge to understand correctly without guidance. Hasbara, or the lack of it, is often blamed for the poor image of Israel abroad and the international criticism on its behaviour, especially in the context of its conflict with Palestinians. Hasbara is often used to describe public relations campaigns though it is closer to propaganda and does not recognise the need for interactive dialogue.

What is the difference between political propaganda and public relations, or is it that political propaganda is a tool of public relations?

Any type of propaganda, not just political propaganda, is one sided and involves half-truth or lies while ignoring or shutting down the voices of opponents. Public relations aims to be more dialogical and to present activists and other critical voices to the decision makers of their organisations. The profession aspires to ethical communication and to the building of relations of trust with stakeholders, the public, and the media. In reality, however, it can operate akin to many features of propaganda and only pay lip service to the attitudes and demands of internal and external publics.

Why do you think PR has not been examined before in terms of nation building and national identity?

There have been a few scholars who did examine this interaction and, more recently, there’s been increased research in the area. Nonetheless, most of the literature on public relations has been produced since the 1920s in the US. That literature assumed American leadership of the profession and the academic research. With the rise of globalisation, and less US-centric approaches, scholars have studied different professional experiences in different parts of the world. Jacquie L’Etang’s (2004) pioneering book on the history of public relations in Britain was a first of its kind. In a sense our book follows her steps by providing a different story from another political, economic, and socio-cultural environment.

What is the overall message of the book?

That unity should not ride roughshod over democracy and that dissenting voices need to be heard. We see an urgent need to make the future activities of public relations contribute positively and transparently to the growth of “fully functioning societies.” In a climate of nation building and nationalism, PR can be too easily pressed into the service of government propaganda. It needs to build a history of resistances to these pressures. By remembering that it functions best in a democratic environment, it can help to speak truth to power to preserve that environment. Israel’s success in providing narratives that enlist society to unite and to sacrifice for the state offers lessons that unity sometimes comes at the cost of democracy.

If you were pressed to name one lesson to be taken away from this research, what would it be?

We hope our narrative will encourage public relations practitioners and scholars from all over the world to make their histories visible, to learn from both their positive and negative aspects and to share both as widely as possible. Our deeper aspiration is that PR practitioners, activists, and media workers can jointly contribute to more democratic societies.

Who did you write this book for?

We have ongoing discussion with Margalit’s family and friends in Israel and Israelis, Jews and non-Jews outside of the country. While writing the book we were trying to clarify our position to them and work out how our experiences in our nations had shaped us. Our colleagues and friends from all over the world who research and study the role of public relations in society were a significant audience in our mind. We also tried to create a book that would help Israelis understand PR and the Israeli PR industry to acknowledge its professional roots and be inspired by the socially responsible aspirations of contemporary public relations practitioners across the world.
 

To receive a 20% discount on your copy of Dynamics of Change in the Persian Gulf, simply enter the code GDC71 when you check out.

1. You’re regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on the international relations of the Middle East. How did you become interested in teaching International Relations? (Anoush is Professor of International Relations at Durham University, UK and was the University’s Dean of Internationalisation, 2009-2011 as well as the founding Head of the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University (2004-9)

I must say my lecturers during my undergraduate degree provided the inspiration for my perpetual learning! They opened so many doors in my mind that frankly I did not know even existed. Nevertheless, the range of subjects I was studying provided the basic intellectual infrastructure for my future learning and research. Combining political ideology, philosophy and economics helped me in putting the planks in place for my interest in international relations and international political economy. My research since then has been rooted in these two extraordinary disciplines.

2. You’ve written many books already (Globalization and Geopolitics in the Middle East: Old Games, New Rules ; The International Politics of the Red Sea; Iran and the Rise of its Neoconservatives; Globalization, 9/11 and the Middle East; and The Foreign Policies of Middle East States- to name but a few). What factors led you to writing Dynamics of Change in the Persian Gulf?

What an interesting question, as the Dynamics of Change in the Persian Gulf is in some ways a culmination of a number of strands that my earlier writings have explored. Firstly, I wanted to develop a conceptual framework for the analysis of sub-regions such as the Gulf. The classic work of Buzan and Waever provided the tools for understanding ‘regional’ politics – so called regional security complexes. What I wanted to do (similar to Greg Gause) was to ‘drill down’ to the sub-regional level and apply the RSC model to the Persian Gulf. I wanted to understand its insecurities and think about how these may be overcome.

But this was just the beginning, for having established the conceptual framework for understanding sub-regional analysis, I wanted to try and make sense of the drivers of change in this sub-region and the underlying currents which have determined inter-state relations here and also the sub-region’s interactions with the rest of the international system. So, I look at the nature of the sub-region’s globalization, for example, but in this I was keen to show that as globalization has become an ‘unevenizing’ process in the sub-region – which I detail extensively – it can at the same time magnify differences in the Gulf and thus raise tensions even further. I also wanted to show the dynamism of the sub-region by exploring the Gulf’s ‘eastward’ shift. But, always I have been asking what do these currents mean for the Gulf itself? How do they change it?

Insecurity has been one of the sub-region’s main problems, leading to three major wars and dozens of other internal and cross-border security incidents. I wanted to go beyond just cataloguing the insecurities besetting the sub-region and try and show the longer term impact and consequences of conflict and violence on the well-being of the sub-region as a whole.

Then there is the discussion about the process of political change in the Gulf – what has been going on? Previous studies had tended to focus on one side or country or another, which has yielded a rich literature on the Gulf monarchies, Iran, or Iraq. I wanted to go a step further and survey the political process right across the Persian Gulf, in the republics and the monarchies.
This book, in its four parts, tries to explain the sources of the sub-region’s dynamism, drivers of change and the frictions that these generate. Only the reader can judge if this has been done adequately, or well enough!

3. Have you read any Routledge books? If so, which is your favourite Routledge book at the moment?

I have many Routledge books! Currently I am enjoying Murray and Brown’s edited volume entitled Multipolarity in the 21st Century. I am actually using their insights in a volume on Middle East-East Asian Nexus that I am currently co-editing with a colleague at St Andrews.

4. How do you feel about the future of the Persian Gulf?

I am worried about the future stability of the Persian Gulf, the security of its smaller states, and its future in a post-hydrocarbons world. The latter may be a long way off yet, but the Gulf’s inter-state problems, underpinned as they are by religious and ethnic tensions, are clear and present dangers. My main concern is that for all the sub-region’s importance, to the riparian states themselves as much as to the rest of the international system, we have failed to devise credible ways and means of addressing its security short-comings! There is, for example, no acceptable security structure for mediating between its states, and indeed moderating. All its members are busy building huge arsenals on the back of unprecedentedly-high oil prices and I worry that someday in not too distant a future one party or another will use its arsenal for tactical advantage. Such an act will be a strategic mistake, setting the whole region back for a generation or more, as was the case in the 1980s and 1990s.

But, I also am hopeful that the actors themselves, as well as the rest of the international community, will find an inclusive and constructive mechanism for building confidence. The key to this, I think, lies in the peaceful resolution of Iran’s nuclear dispute with the international community, which by definition will include the neighbours. I am also hopeful that the Gulf Cooperation Council will mature into a robust regional organization, and, learning from the EU, will increasingly lend itself to the promotion of dialogue and peaceful resolution of disputes in the Gulf itself but also beyond.

5. You’re the Series Editor for the Routledge Durham Modern Middle East and Islamic World Series. How did this come about? How would you describe the series?

The Series came about as a consequence of a number of conversations that I had had with academics from around the world and which I related to colleagues at Routledge, and the expression of my frustration that at that time little systematic focus was being given to the study of the Middle East in its wider context. We both agreed that there was a clear need for systematizing – an awkward word, I know! – scholarship on the region and with some 30 volumes under our belt (and counting), the rest, as they say, is history.

I am likely to be biased here, but I would say that this is one of the most innovative book series out there! Its aim is to encourage new and cutting edge research on a wide range of subjects, topics, and issues pertaining to the Middle East and the wider Muslim world. But the Series is also unique for its philosophy of encouraging and supporting the research of early career researchers and budding scholars while also publishing the works of some of the greatest and experienced minds of our time. The mix of volumes is also, I would like to think, interesting and thought-provoking – just look at what we commission and what we have published!

6. You’ve said that Dynamics of Change provides the most complete analysis of the geopolitics of the Persian Gulf since the Second World War. What makes this book different from others on the market and why do you think people should buy Dynamics of Change?

I would like the reader to appreciate the complexity, and in a sense the uniqueness of the Persian Gulf and the critical role that this sub-region plays in the international system. But I also want the reader to see the wider canvass; this is just one part, albeit an important one, of the complex international order and dynamics of change here should not be divorced from the global currents. The comprehensiveness of the study also sets it apart from many others.

To summarise in a (long!) sentence: This book compacts years of experience of watching the political and economic currents flowing in and out of the Persian Gulf, and as such provides a one-stop shop for better understating what drives change in this important sub-region and the forces which are shaping it today and will be into the future.
 

Visit the British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce website to read his thoughts about 'Sanctions, Presidents and the Iranian Crisis'.

To order a complimentary inspection copy of Professor Ehteshami's book - Dynamics of Change in the Persian Gulf - simply email kathryn.reavill@tandf.co.uk
 

Why not take a look at our Routledge Research on Gender in Asia series?

Women’s Day originated as a Socialist political event in Eastern Europe and Russia (the Soviet bloc) but gradually the day became more global and as a result partially lost its political overtones. For some, the day has become simply an occasion for men to express their love for women whilst in other regions the original political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are remembered.

Have a look below at the diverse selection of titles we have exploring the role of women in Russia, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Join in the discussions about International Women's Day on March 8th on our Asian Studies Twitter and also our Middle East Studies Twitter.

To see the full interview, visit Jadaliyya here.

Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted in Egypt from the late 1990s to 2011, Environmental Politics in Egypt shows how experts and activists used distinctive approaches to influence state and firm decision-making in three important environmental policy domains. These include; industrial pollution from large-scale industry, the conservation of threatened habitat, and water management of the irrigation system.

These cases show how environmental networks sought to construct legal, discursive, and infrastructural forms of authority within the context of a fragmented state apparatus and a highly centralized political regime. ‘Managerial networks’, composed of environmental scientists, technocrats, and consultants, sought to create new legal regimes for environmental protection and to frame environmental concerns so that they would appeal to central decision-makers. Activist networks, in contrast, emerged where environmental pollution or exclusion from natural resources threatened local livelihoods and public health. These networks publicized their concerns and mobilized broader participation through the creative use of public space, media coverage, and strategic use of existing state-sanctioned organizations.

With the increased popular mobilization of the 2000s, and the mass protests of the 2011 revolution, environmental politics has become highly topical. Expert and activist networks alike have sought to broaden their appeal and diversify their approaches. The result may well be a more contested, participatory, and dynamic phase in Egyptian environmentalism.
 

The two works of Peter Mangold, despite being written in 1978 and 1990, remain as relevant as ever. The two texts focus on key critical debates in areas such as International Relations, the Middle East, Terrorism and Security Studies. These Revivals will appeal directly to those interested in the historical events within these fields – such as national security in the twentieth century and the role of the Middle East in The Cold War.

The first of Mangold’s titles, Superpower Intervention in the Middle East, reissuing in March of this year, is a fascinating work that deals largely with the role of the Middle East at the forefront of the Cold War. As the Middle East became disillusioned with British and French imperialism, the Soviet Union managed to build relations with Egypt, Syria and Iraq. When the United States reacted, confrontation was inevitable. Written during the peak of the conflict, the book looks at the role of the world’s superpowers in the local conflicts of the Middle East and the threat that ensued in the form of both nuclear confrontation and the risk to Western oil supplies.

The second of the reissued titles by Peter Mangold, National Security and International Relations, provides a concise look at the problems facing national security in the twentieth century. In the wake of two world wars and nuclear threat, Peter Mangold argues that war was one of the main factors of insecurity and explores the different approaches that were attempted to improve the security crisis that was taking place.

You can read the new piece, The Superpowers and the Middle East: A Twenty-First Century Perspective, written by Mangold here.

For further information on either of these titles, please visit: http://www.routledge.com/books/search/author/peter_mangold/

In a time of great political change and unrest, these highly topical texts offer succinct accounts of the contemporary political environment in the Middle East.
 

Written in a clear and accessible manner, this series fills a conspicuous gap in the existing academic literature on the MENA region. It will be of interest not only to students of international politics and Middle East studies, but also to anyone travelling in or wanting to learn more about the region. Here we have provided a selection of the most recent titles, but you can see below for links to the rest of the series. 

To receive 20% off any of the series titles for a limited time only*, enter the code GDC72 at checkout.

 Lebanon: The Politics of a Penetrated Society

Systematically exploring Lebanon’s history, society and politics, the author stresses the importance of the crucial role of external actors in the Lebanese system. The analysis encompasses:

• the formation of the state
• weaknesses and dynamics of the Lebanese state
• the civil war
• post-war government and change
• the Lebanese economy
• foreign policy

 Libya: Continuity and Change

Following a brief look at pre-independence Libya, the author explores the way in which the fragility of the post-independence state, unable to contain rising Arab nationalist struggles and growing economic expectations, opened the way for the Free Unionist Officers led by Muammar al-Qaddafi to seize power. He then traces the progressive development of the revolutionary state through four stages:

• the consolidation of power to 1973
• the projection of power to 1986
• withdrawal and retrenchment to 1999
• the redefinition of the state after 1999.

Jordan: A Hashemite Legacy, 2nd Edition

Under the rule of King Abdullah II, Jordan has remained an influential regional player in the Middle East Peace Process, its strategic position on the borders of Palestine, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq ensuring that it cannot be overlooked in the regional and international politics. The new edition includes coverage and discussion of:

• the reign of King Abdullah II
• the involvement of the US in the Iraq war and the effect on this on Jordan’s alignment with the West
• the country’s recent economic growth, with an emphasis on economic liberalisation, privatisation, promotion of tourism and encouragement of foreign investment
• the position of Jordan as a point of continuity in an increasingly unstable Middle East.

Turkey: Challenges of Continuity and Change

The authors put issues relevant to Turkey today – such as consolidating democracy, dealing with economic development issues, improving its human rights record and its foreign policy – in an historical context, allowing comparisons with other late developers in the world and reflecting the complexity of Turkish political and socio-economic developments. Turkey also argues that the modernization process that started in the nineteenth century, with all its elements including secularization and Westernization, has taken root.

* = Offer valid until 26th February 2013.
 

Since 2000, there has been a considerable effort in Turkish cinema to come to terms with the military’s intervention in politics and subsequent national trauma. It has resulted in an outpouring of cinematic texts. Texts such as Women and Turkish Cinema, The Routledge Dictionary of Turkish Cinema and Understanding Media and Culture in Turkey will be invaluable resources for students and scholars of Film Studies, Gender Studies and Middle East Studies, amongst others.
 

Women and Turkish Cinema: The central proposition of this book is that enforced depolticisation introduced after the coup is responsible for uniting feminism and film in 1980s Turkey. The feminist movement was able to flourish precisely because it was not perceived as political or politically significant. In a parallel move in the films of the 1980s there was an increased tendency to focus on the individual, on women’s issues and lives, in order to avoid the overtly political.

The Routledge Dictionary of Turkish Cinema (forthcoming: This book is a comprehensive dictionary of Turkish cinema, which offers reliable, up-to-date and independent information from a critical and analytical point of view regarding prominent filmmakers, films, actors, screenwriters, cinematographers, editors, producers, significant themes, genres, movements, theories, production modes, film journals, film schools and professional organizations. 

Understanding Media and Culture in Turkey (forthcoming): Three themes, "Structures," "Spaces" and "Voices," make up the core structure of the book, providing an intellectual and epistemological arc. Following an introductory chapter written by the co-editors, the first section, "Structures," provides critical examinations of the structural underpinnings of contemporary Turkish media and culture through analyses of, for example, journalism, cultural policy, Information Society and citizenship. The second section, "Spaces," connects Turkish media and culture to spatial/locational factors: Turkey’s role and place in Europe; the Turkish diasporic space; representations of the Turkish "East;" and Istanbul as urban/social space. In the final section, "Voices," the book turns toward chapters that address central issues in contemporary Turkish media—for example, Islam, arabesk music and the presentation of Kurds on national television—from a cultural perspective.

For more books on Turkish Cinema, view our online catalogue.