The Middle East and North Africa
Rowman & Littlefield (Verlag)
978-1-5381-8252-9 (ISBN)
Few regions of the world have been featured so prominently in the news in recent years as the Middle East and North Africa, invariably in a negative context. With two-thirds of the world’s proven oil reserves and a strategic location at the junction of three continents, it has seen almost constant military intervention and political interference from outside, most recently in the form of US involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This has fueled powerful local responses, both culturally and politically. Today, bloody internal wars rage in several countries. The region is also the birthplace and focal point of Islam, the world’s second largest universal faith, ensuring that its global importance will endure. But Judaism and Christianity also have strong historical and spiritual connections with this region, connecting it to the larger world in numerous ways.
Because the contemporary political map of the Middle East was largely an arbitrary product of European colonial rule, it remains deeply flawed, contributing to territorial and boundary conflicts that have contributed to extreme militarization. The combination of religious and linguistic diversity aggravates the region’s political problems, destabilizing states. In a world facing rapid climate change, the Middle East and North Africa face particularly grave challenges, with water scarcity already a serious problem and likely to get worse at a time when population is growing rapidly. Yet most American students are still largely uninformed about this vitally important region, viewing it through a lens that is distorted by ignorance, fear, demagoguery, and cultural prejudice. This book aims to sharpen and clean that lens, providing students with an understanding of key regional characteristics, challenges, and issues.
Alasdair Drysdale is the co-author of The Middle East and North Africa: A Political Geography and Syria and the Middle East Peace Process and the author of numerous book chapters, journal articles, and encyclopedia entries on the region. The winner of the Lindberg Prize for Outstanding Teaching at the University of New Hampshire, he has taught a course on the Middle East and North Africa for over forty years. He has been invited to offer testimony at hearings on the Middle East before a US Congressional subcommittee on Foreign Affairs and served on the editorial board of Arab World Geographer.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction
Regional Definition and Nomenclature
The Region Defined in this Book
Global Importance
Organization of the Book
Chapter 2. Physical Environment
Physical Landscape
Climate
Climate Change
Chapter 3. Water
Dimensions of Water Stress
Water Sources
Chapter 4. Population
Spatial Distribution and Density
Human Impact
Population Data
Concepts and Processes
Family Planning
Aging
Chapter 5. Migration
Theories and Concepts
Overview of Major Flow
Countries Receiving Immigrants
Countries Mostly Providing Emigrants
Transit Migration
Forced Migration: Refugees
Human Trafficking
Chapter 6. Religion
Islam as a Global Faith
Links with Judaism and Christianity
Origins and Diffusion
Scriptures and Laws
Five Pillars
Sunnis and Shi’is
Other Dimensions of Diversity
Non-Muslims
Chapter 7. Language
Key Concepts
Afro-Asiatic Languages
Turkic Languages
Indo-European Languages
Chapter 8. Political Map
From Empires to States
From State to Nation
Boundaries
Regional Integration
Chapter 9. Economy
Offshore Interests
National Jurisdiction Offshore
Boundaries and Boundary Disputes
Access to the Sea
International Straits and Waterways
Chapter 10. Petroleum
Global Context
The Transportation of Oil
Evolution of Concessions and Ownership
Prices
The Regional Impact
Changing Sources of Global Energy
Chapter 11. A Summary: Subregions and States
The Northern Tier
The Central Middle East
Arabian Peninsula
The Nile Valley
Northwestern Africa
About the Author
| Erscheinungsdatum | 25.10.2024 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Changing Regions in a Global Context: New Perspectives in Regional Geography Series |
| Zusatzinfo | 16 BW Illustrations, 131 BW Photos, 6 Tables |
| Verlagsort | Lanham, MD |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 183 x 261 mm |
| Gewicht | 943 g |
| Themenwelt | Naturwissenschaften ► Geowissenschaften ► Geografie / Kartografie |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Spezielle Soziologien | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-5381-8252-1 / 1538182521 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-5381-8252-9 / 9781538182529 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
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