Based on his own field research and the ethnographic reports of other scholars, anthropologist Salzman presents an analysis of Middle Eastern culture that goes a long way toward explaining the gulf between Western and Middle Eastern cultural perspectives

For undergraduate Political Science courses in International Relations, World History, World Cultures, Nonwestern History, Third World Countries, Military Science, and Political Geography, with a focus on the Middle East. An introduction to the Middle East, this text captures the broad sweep of history, geography, cultures, and religions and leads up to the regions twentieth-century (and more current) conflicts, including the 2003 Iraq War. With its emphasis on basic concepts and vocabulary, and it use of illustrative case studies, Politics of the Middle East provides an exciting tool for the basic understanding of this very complex region.

The region of the Middle East has been called the cradle of mankind. This volume studies historical, cultural, religious, social and political legacies, which play a central role in obstructing intercultural dialogue in the Middle East. The region became home to numerous cultures, religions and ethnicities with long experience of living together in a multicultural environment and has an immense impact on the entire human civilization as first human civilizations were born there. Today, more than 50% of world population follow Abrahamic religions (e.g. Christianity, Islam, Judaism), which have their roots in the Middle East. This book focuses on multiple topics related to the Middle East, including ancient history, the religion and mythology of the Ancient Near Eastern regions, Arabic, Persian and Islamic studies, Persian, Turkish and Arab literature, as well as modern Middle Eastern issues related to politics, security, society and the economy.

"[Cohen] discusses in lucid detail the manner by which policymakers in Israel and Egypt were caught in difficulties of intercultural communication. . . . a most interesting and persuasive argument." —Middle East Journal "Culture and Confict is a tour de force, and this reviewer's candidate for 1990 book-of-the-year on the Middle East. Cohen's wide reading and analytic brilliance enable him to offer stunning insights and build a persuasive argument about the importance of culture in relations between states." —Orbis " . . . Raymond Cohen's dazzling interpretation of political culture in diplomacy and the relations between states." —Daniel Pipes, The American Spectator "Like tourists caught on different sides of the Niagara Falls, Egyptians and Israelis could only gesticulate at each other across the roaring, spray-filled divide in grotesque and mutual incoherence." —from the Introduction Proceeding from markedly different religious, linguistic, and historical traditions, Egyptian and Israeli cultures have found great difficulty in communicating with each other, even when objective grounds for accommodation have existed. Extensively illustrated from the historical record, this book demonstrates that Egyptian-Israeli relations before and after Camp David have been and still are dogged by problems of intercultural communication.

fills a gap in the market on conflict resolution in the Arab world examines conflict management in the Arab world through comparative case study analysis will be of much interest to students of conflict resolution, Middle Eastern politics, peace and conflict studies, security studies and IR

Middle East and North Africa: Climate, Culture, and Conflicts – too hot to handle? The volume offers an account of ideas, historical case studies and current debates on climate change and its consequences from perspectives of eco-theology, archeology, history, geography, political science and technology.

Political Culture and Conflict Resolution in the Arab MIddle East develops a method for examining the explanatory capacity of political culture in relation to the issues of civil war and conflict resolution in Lebanon and Algeria. How perception, shaped by values and assumptions, affects political behaviour presents scholars with potentially valuable but also dangerous possibilities. Namely, seeking to explore the explanatory capacity of the nebulous concept of political culture can prospectively lead to the cul de sacs of essentialism or relativism. In an attempt to engage with the concept of political culture, this book develops a method for examining the explanatory capacity of political culture in relation to the issues of civil war and conflict resolution in Lebanon and Algeria. Applying strict limits on the implementation of political culture in an explanatory capacity, namely its role as a secondary, relational and comparative concept, this book demonstrates how political culture operates to shape the form and affect the legitimacy of conflict resolution processes. This is applied to two peace agreements, Lebanon's Taef Agreement and Algeria's Civil Concord. Here. the importance of 'contextuality' is emphasised in developing a space where political culture can provide explanatory capacity whilst remaining connected to 'macro' theoretical concepts.