The Middle East and Globalization

"Stephan Stetter's edited volume on globalization and the Middle East is a roll call of the critical thinkers on the subject. In fourteen immensely rich chapters, the contributors dig deep into the body of the debates about globalization and present the reader with a feast of ideas and insights on this unique phenomenon. The volume deliberately widens the conceptual boundaries of debates about globalization and regions to include the critical, non-economic aspects of the process: ICTs, civil society, politics of identity, Islamic reform, the role of imperialism, and human development. This volume is unique and rich in method and argument - indeed at a time of great uncertainty in the Middle East this is the kind of sure footing one would need to try to begin and make sense of it all." - Anoush Ehteshami, Nasser Al-Sabah Professor of International Relations, Durham University, UK

"Conceptually rigorous and historically rich, The Middle East and Globalization builds solid bridges between area studies and social science disciplines and contextualizes the study of the region in the era of globalization. Puncturing holes in the notion of Arab and Middle East exceptionalism, the contributors insist that socio-economic and socio-political structures and trends in the region can only be understood in their complexity if studied against the background of globalization, defined as a theoretical concept - an "integrated approach" - to which various social science disciplines contribute. Timely and critical, this volume throws further light on the 2011 large-scale Arab popular uprisings which have shaken the autocratic order to its very foundation and introduced a new language and era of contentious politics that challenges conventional ways of thinking about the region. A must-read for both area studies specialists and theorists." - Fawaz A. Gerges, Professor of International Relations, Director of the Middle East Centre, London School of Economics, UK