The Middle East Journal articles from March 2009

The Middle East Journal archives from March 2009

Editor's note.(Editorial)
March 22, 2009... Among the offerings in this spring issue of the Journal are: an assessment of the possible role of Arab journalists in a new "Arab Awakening;" a case study of a major jihadi-ist group in Algeria and its evolution; an examination of the...

Border guards of the "imagined" watan: Arab Journalists and the New Arab Consciousness.(Report)
March 22, 2009... Media plays a fundamental role in the formation of national identity, most famously detailed in Benedict Anderson's theory of the imagined community. In the Arab world, a media revolution is contributing to the emergence of a reawakened...

The local and global jihad of al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghrib.(Report)
March 22, 2009... Al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghrib (AQIM) was founded in 2007 as the latest offshoot of the global jihad. But it is deeply rooted in a long and complex history of Algerian violence, with the "Afghan" volunteers in the 1980s, the civil war raging...

Azerbaijan's foreign policy and challenges for energy security.(Report)
March 22, 2009... This article examines Azerbaijan's foreign policy by demonstrating the interplay between the oil-led development process and early post-independence regional conflicts that enforced a Western orientation in the country's foreign policy. It is...

Shari'a under challenge: the political history of Islamic legal institutions in Israel.(Report)
March 22, 2009... This article examines the evolving relationship between Israel and the legal institutions of its Muslim minority since 1948. The Israeli case study demonstrates how, over the long run, an inherently conflictual relationship between a non-Muslim...

"That so fair a thing should be so frail:" the Ford Foundation and the failure of rural development in Iran, 1953-1964.(Report)
March 22, 2009... From 1954 to 1964, the Ford Foundation attempted to implement an ambitious program of rural development in Iran. Through education, grassroots initiatives, and better credit, the Foundation hoped to transform Iran's peasant population into a...

Chronology: October 16, 2008-January 15, 2009.(Chronology)
March 22, 2009... Arab-Israeli Conflict See also Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morrocco, Palestinian Affairs, Syria, Yemen Oct. 20: Nine Jews suspected of recent assaults against Arabs in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv were arrested by Israeli...

The big chill: democracy promotion in the Arab Middle East.('The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation', 'Freedom's Unsteady March: America's Role in Building Arab Democracy' and 'More Freedom, Less Terror?')(Book review)
March 22, 2009... The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation, by Marwan Muasher. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008. viii + 269 pages. Appends to p. 290. Notes to p. 297. Index to p. 312. $30. Freedom's Unsteady March: America's Role in Building Arab...

The Makings of Modern Afghanistan.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... The Makings of Modern Afghanistan, by B.D. Hopkins. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. xix + 258 pages. Maps. Bibl. to p. 248. Index to p. 258. $80. The book under review examines the evolution of the Afghan state in reaction to...

Negotiating Under Fire: Preserving Peace Talks in the Face of Terror Attacks.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Negotiating Under Fire: Preserving Peace Talks in the Face of Terror Attacks, by Matthew Levitt. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2008. xv + 340 pages. $44.95. If only the Oslo Accords had been successful, we would have been...

American Evangelicals in Egypt: Missionary Encounters in an Age of Empire.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... American Evangelicals in Egypt: Missionary Encounters in an Age of Empire, by Heather J. Sharkey. Princeton, N J: Princeton University Press, 2008. xvi + 231 pages. Notes to p. 281. Bibl. to p. 306. Index to p. 318. $39.50. Heather J....

A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind, by Michael Axworthy. New York: Basic Books, 2008. xvii + 294 pages. Notes to p. 313. Select bibl. to p. 323. Index to p. 341. $27.50. This new general history of Iran succinctly chronicles how the...

Honeymoon in Tehran: Two Years of Love and Danger in Iran.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Honeymoon in Tehran: Two Years of Love and Danger in Iran, by Azadeh Moaveni. New York: Random House, 2009. 338 pages. Bibl. to p. 340. $26. Azadeh Moaveni, a California-raised Iranian-American, has tried hard to make a go of it in her...

Persian Dreams: Moscow and Tehran since the Fall of the Shah.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Persian Dreams: Moscow and Tehran since the Fall of the Shah, by John W. Parker. Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2009. xiv + 310 pages. Notes to p. 392. Bibl. to p. 404. Index to p. 422. $34.95. In this volume, US State Department analyst...

Iran's Intellectual Revolution.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Iran's Intellectual Revolution, by Mehran Kamrava. Cambridge, UK and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. xi + 268 pages. Tables. Bibl. to p. 227. Index to p. 262. $90 cloth; $32.99 paper. Mehran Kamrava investigates an intellectual...

Becoming Hebrew: The Creation of a Jewish National Culture in Ottoman Palestine.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Becoming Hebrew: The Creation of a Jewish National Culture in Ottoman Palestine, by Arieh Bruce Saposnik. Oxford, UK and New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. 254 pages. Notes to p. 303. Index to p. 314. $65. Zionism is a more contested...

Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism, by Stephen Spector. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2009. ix + 253 pages. Notes to p. 310. Bibl. to p. 324. Index to p. 338. $29.95. "God has blessed America because...

Israel's Occupation.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Israel's Occupation, by Neve Gordon. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2008. 344 pages. $55 cloth; $21.95 paper. In 1967, during the Six-Day War, Israel conquered the West Bank of the Jordan River as well as East Jerusalem, the...

Inter-Arab Alliances: Regime Security and Jordanian Foreign Policy.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Inter-Arab Alliances: Regime Security and Jordanian Foreign Policy, by Curtis R. Ryan. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2009. x + 209 pages. Notes to p. 237. Bibl. to p. 258. Index to p. 264. $69.95. The periodic shifts in...

King Hussein of Jordan: A Political Life.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... King Hussein of Jordan: A Political Life, by Nigel Ashton. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008. xv + 370 pages. Bibl. to p. 378. Notes to p. 420. Index to p. 431. $35. Following the political intrigues and challenges of King Husayn...

Kurdistan: Crafting of National Selves.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Kurdistan: Crafting of National Selves, by Christopher Houston. Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press, 2008. vi + 163 pages. Refs. to p. 178. Index to p. 186. $37.50 paper. This relatively short treatise is a...

Libya: From Colony to Independence.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Libya: From Colony to Independence, by Ronald Bruce St John. Oxford, UK: Oneworld, 2008. xx + 261 pages. Maps. Illust. Further Reading to p. 274. Notes to 281. Index to 291. $19.95 paper. Scholars like Ronald Bruce St John that have written...

Swat State (1915-1969): From Genesis to Merger.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Swat State (1915-1969): From Genesis to Merger, by Sultan-i-Rome. Karachi, Pakistan and Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2008. ix + 357 pages. Index to p. 363. Rs. 695. Since the horrific events of September 11, 2001, much attention has...

Mountain against the Sea: Essays on Palestinian Society and Culture.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Mountain against the Sea: Essays on Palestinian Society and Culture, by Salim Tamari. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2009. ix + 189 pages. Notes to p. 214. Bibl. to p. 221. Index to p. 237. $34.95. In the 11 chapters of this...

Religion and Politics in Saudi Arabia: Wahhabism and the State.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Religion and Politics in Saudi Arabia: Wahhabism and the State, ed. by Mohammad Ayoub and Hasan Kosebalaban. London, UK and Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2008. 385 pages. $49.95. The stated purpose of this book is to "unravel the...

Charity in Islamic Societies.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Charity in Islamic Societies, by Amy Singer. Cambridge, UK and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. xii + 224 pages. Bibl. to p. 239. Index to p. 246. $90 cloth; $32.99 paper. This recent volume in the "Themes in Islamic History"...

Beaches, Ruins, Resorts: The Politics of Tourism in the Arab World.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Beaches, Ruins, Resorts: The Politics of Tourism in the Arab World, by Waleed Hazbun. Minneapolis, MN and London, UK: University of Minnesota Press, 2008. xli + 236 pages. Acknowledgements to p. 238. Notes to p. 275. Bibl. to p. 303. Index to...

Jewish Property Claims against Arab Countries.(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Jewish Property Claims against Arab Countries, by Michael R. Fischbach. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. xvii + 271 pages. Notes to p. 317. Bibl. to p. 327. Index to p. 355. $35. The virtual disappearance of the Jews of Arab...

Beyond Reconstruction in Afghanistan: Lessons from Development Experience.(AFGHANISTAN)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Beyond Reconstruction in Afghanistan: Lessons from Development Experience, ed. by John D. Montgomery and Dennis A. Rondinelli. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. 256 pages. $28.95 paper. Conceived shortly after the terrorist attacks of...

Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan.(AFGHANISTAN)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan, by Seth G. Jones. Arlington, VA: RAND National Defense Research Institute, 2008. xvii + 133 pages. Appends. to p. 138. Refs. to p. 155. About the author to p. 157. $26.50 paper. With the goal of devising a new...

Women and Nation-Building.(AFGHANISTAN)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Women and Nation-Building, by Cheryl Benard, Seth G. Jones, Olga Oliker, Catherine Quantic Thurston, Brooke K. Steams, and Kristen Cordell. Arlington, VA: RAND Center For Middle East Public Policy, 2008. xx + 137 pages. Appends. to p. 168....

Educational Roots of Political Crisis in Egypt.(EGYPT)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Educational Roots of Political Crisis in Egypt, by Judith Cochran. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008. 240 pages. $65. This work traces the development of Egypt's current social and political crises through the history of education in Egypt....

Letters from Tabriz: The Russian Suppression of the Iranian Constitutional Movement.(IRAN)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Letters from Tabriz: The Russian Suppression of the Iranian Constitutional Movement, by Edward G. Browne, ed. by Hasan Javadi. Washington, DC: Mage Publishers, 2008. xxxi + 289 pages. $35. Appearing for the first time in English, Letters from...

The Disenchantment of the Orient: Expertise in Arab Affairs and the Israeli State.(ISRAEL)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... The Disenchantment of the Orient: Expertise in Arab Affairs and the Israeli State, by Gil Eyal. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006. xii + 242 pages. Appendix to p. 247. Notes to p. 292. Bibl. to p. 311. Index to p. 320. $65. In this...

Israeli Culture Between the Two Intifadas: A Brief Romance.(ISRAEL)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Israeli Culture Between the Two Intifadas: A Brief Romance, by Yaron Peleg. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2008. xiv + 131 pages. Notes to p. 148. Bibl. to p. 151. Index to p. 156. $60. With significant advances in the peace process and...

We Look Like the Enemy: The Hidden Story of Israel's Jews from Arab Lands.(ISRAEL)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... We Look Like the Enemy: The Hidden Story of Israel's Jews from Arab Lands, by Rachel Shabi. New York: Walker & Company, 2008. ii + 239 pages. Acknowledgements to p. 242. Notes to p. 252. Index to p. 265. $25. Of Iraqi Jewish descent, Rachel...

The Man From Pakistan: The True Story of the World's Most Dangerous Nuclear Smuggler.(PAKISTAN)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... The Man From Pakistan: The True Story of the World's Most Dangerous Nuclear Smuggler, by Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins. New York: Twelve, 2008.432 pages. $25. Abdul Qadeer (A.Q.) Khan earned his nickname as "the father of the Islamic...

Kemalism in Turkish Politics: The Republican People's Party, Secularism and Nationalism.(TURKEY)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Kemalism in Turkish Politics: The Republican People's Party, Secularism and Nationalism, by Sinan Ciddi. London, UK and New York: Routledge, 2009. xi + 196 pages. Notes to p. 181. Bibl. to p. 193. Index to p. 196. $140. University of Florida...

Living Diplomatically: A Life in the U.S. Foreign Service.(AUTOBIOGRAPHY/MEMOIRS)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Living Diplomatically: A Life in the U.S. Foreign Service, William N. Dale. Lanham, Maryland: Hamilton Books, 2008. vi + 71 pages. $17.95. In this collection of anecdotes, Sir William Dale shares his favorite memories and most poignant...

Whitewashed: America's Invisible Middle Eastern Minority.(CULTURE AND SOCIETY)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Whitewashed: America's Invisible Middle Eastern Minority, by John Tehranian. New York: New York University Press, 2009. ix + 184 pages. Notes to p. 226. Index to p. 245. $35. Interweaving his own experience as an American of mixed Iranian...

Muslims in Western Politics.(MODERN HISTORY AND POLITICS)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Muslims in Western Politics, ed. by Abdulkader Sinno. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2009. xi + 301 pages. List of contributors to p. 291. Index to p. 301. $24.95. This study, a compilation of papers submitted to a September 2005...

Terrorism in Asymmetrical Conflict: Ideological and Structural Aspects.(MODERN HISTORY AND POLITICS)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Terrorism in Asymmetrical Conflict: Ideological and Structural Aspects, by Ekaterina Stepanova. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. 200 pages. $25.95 paper. This report, commissioned by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute...

Democracy in Islam.(MODERN HISTORY AND POLITICS)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Democracy in Islam, by Sayed Khatab and Gary D. Bouma. London and New York: Routledge, 2007. vii + 264 pages. Notes to p. 242. Bibliography to p. 255. Index to p. 264. n.p. In this collaborative work, Melbourne-based Monash University...

The Meeting of Civilizations: Muslim, Christian, and Jewish.(PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, AND SCIENCE)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... The Meeting of Civilizations: Muslim, Christian, and Jewish, ed. by Moshe Ma'oz. Portland, OR: Sussex Academic Press, 2009. x + 245 pages. Author bios to p. 252. Index to p. 264. $59.95. The declared aim of this volume is to counter the growing...

Sasanian Iran (224-651 CE): Portrait of a Late Antique Empire.(PRE-20TH CENTURY HISTORY)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Sasanian Iran (224-651 CE): Portrait of a Late Antique Empire, by Touraj Daryaee. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2007. xxiii + 104 pages. Appendix to p. 108. Bibl. to p. 135. Index to p. 140. $25. Using the most up-to-date sources, Touraj...

Europe Through Arab Eyes, 1578-1727.(PRE-20TH CENTURY HISTORY)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2009... Europe Through Arab Eyes, 1578-1727, by Nabil Matar. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. xxviii + 135 pages. Translations to p. 248. Notes to p. 276. Bibl. to p. 300. Index to p. 313. $45. Nabil Matar challenges common assertions that...