Joseph Kostiner – författare

The period covered in this book saw Saudi Arabia emerge as the state we know today. With British backing, the Saudi state expanded from its Najdi origins eastweard, westward, northward and southward, embracing at the end of the period, the greater part of the Arabian peninsula. Kostiner focuses in particular on the development of the political role of the chieftaincy into a more centralized political structure. Ibn Saud emerged as the most prominent of the tribal leaders, shrewdly exploiting the revolts of religious zealots to gain supremacy over his rivals. Drawing on an impressive range of materials, The Making of Saudi Arabia is the most complete study of the creation of the Saudi state to date.

This study focuses on South Yemen's attempts to instigate, maintain and defend a revolutionary process in its neighboring regions during 1970–1985. It also analyzes the elites' strategy-making according to their known cultural, social and political inclinations.

This study focuses on South Yemen's attempts to instigate, maintain and defend a revolutionary process in its neighboring regions during 1970–1985. It also analyzes the elites' strategy-making according to their known cultural, social and political inclinations.

Tribes and State Formation is the first effort to bring together the disciplines of history, anthropology, and political science around a major topic that none of these alone is adequately equipped to address. How and why did certain tribal societies metamorphose over time into states? Scholars concerned with general questions of theory and methodology and the interaction of anthropology and history, as well as political scientists and sociologists concerned with concepts of the state in the Middle East and other developing regions, will be well served by this innovative work. The articles by an array of distinguished scholars cover a wide range of topics: the relationship of ideology to tribal and state power, comparisons between different regional patterns of tribe-state interaction, historical case studies from North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Iran extending to the contemporary period; theoretical and methodological inquiries, and systematic reviews of the literature on tribes and states.The articles argue against a unilinear approach to the study of tribes and state formation by emphasizing that states often existed alongside tribes and even created tribes for their own purposes. Some case studies emphasize the incompatibility of states and tribalism, while others illustrate the many areas in which tribes actually enhanced rather than impeded state formation.

South Yemen was long a key spot in the strategic geography of the West. Before the Second World War, it was important for the British as an outpost on the way to India. From the mid-1940s it was a crucial gateway to the oil rich Arabian Peninsular and a vital area in the context of superpower rivalry. This book, first published in 1984, traces the development of nationalist sentiment in South Yemen and the emergence of the two main groups in the struggle for independence: the NLF and FLOSY. Analysing both the impact of these groups on Yemeni society and demonstrating how they struggled with each other for supremacy, the book provides an perceptive account of how the revolutionary process in an Arab country unfolded.

South Yemen was long a key spot in the strategic geography of the West. Before the Second World War, it was important for the British as an outpost on the way to India. From the mid-1940s it was a crucial gateway to the oil rich Arabian Peninsular and a vital area in the context of superpower rivalry. This book, first published in 1984, traces the development of nationalist sentiment in South Yemen and the emergence of the two main groups in the struggle for independence: the NLF and FLOSY. Analysing both the impact of these groups on Yemeni society and demonstrating how they struggled with each other for supremacy, the book provides an perceptive account of how the revolutionary process in an Arab country unfolded.