Roger Owen has fully revised and updated his authoritative text to take into account the latest developments in the Middle East. This book continues to serve as an excellent introduction for newcomers to the modern history and politics of this fascinating region.

This third edition continues to explore the emergence of individual Middle Eastern states since the fall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War and the key themes that have characterized the region since then.

Introduction  Part 1: States and State Building  1. The End of Empires: The Emergence of the Modern Middle Eastern State System  2. The Growth of State Power in the Arab World: The Single-Party Regimes  3. The Growth of State Power in the Arab World under Family Rule and the Libyan Alternative  4. Arab Nationalism, Arab Unity and the Practice of Arab Interstate Relations  5. State and Politics in Israel, Iran and Turkey from the Second World War  6. The Re-Making of the Middle Eastern Political Environment in the 1980s and 1990s: The Arab States  7. The Re-Making of the Middle Eastern Political Environment: Israel, Turkey and Iran  Part 2: Themes in Contemporary Middle Eastern Politics  Introduction  8. Parties, Elections and the Vexed Question of Democracy in the Arab World  9. The Politics of Economic Restructuring  10. The Politics of Religious Revival  11. The Military In and Out of Politics  12. Civil Society: In Theory and Practice.  Conclusion: The Middle East at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century ? September 11, the Attack on Iraq and Beyond