First Published in 1959, The Soviet Union and the Middle East attempts to shed light on the evolution of Soviet attitudes toward the Middle East, its problems, challenges, and opportunities since 1917. Divided into two parts, the first part "The Soviet Image of the Middle East" presents an investigation into the sources of Soviet policy in that area, while the second part "The Great Breakthrough" explores the political, social, and economic conditions in the Middle East. The volume discusses themes like storm over Asia, the arms deal, the year of Suez, the Syrian Crisis of 1957, Soviet trade and economic aid (1954-1958), Soviet cultural policy and the intellectual climate in the Arab world, communism in the Middle East (1955-1958) and communism and Arab nationalism, to ask larger questions like did the Soviet Communists expect the revolutionary events in Asia? Were they instrumental in bringing them about or did they occur quite independently? This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of political history, international relations, West Asian Studies, Russian Studies, and history of communism.

First published in 1967, The Soviet Middle East provides an analysis of the economic and political status of the national republics of Central Asia and Transcaucasia, which were, at the time of the book’s initial publication, a part of the Soviet Union. The authors analyse their economic achievements, as well as their rapid progress in health and education, comparing their situation with that of their non-Soviet neighbours and indeed with the rest of the USSR. They seek to define the relevance of the Soviet planning system and Soviet ideology to the development of these countries, and also to contextualise their study in terms of the problems of other developing countries and the political stability of the Soviet Union as a multi-nation state. Written by two leading authorities on the Soviet Union, this reissue will be welcomed by students of Soviet and Middle-Eastern history, and by all those interested in the political, social and economic development of Communist republics.