Yezid Sayigh – författare

The Cold War has been researched in minute detail and written about at great length but it remains one of the most elusive and enigmatic conflicts of modern times. With the ending of the Cold War, it is now possible to review the entire post-war period, to examine the Cold War as history. The Middle East occupies a special place in the history of the Cold War. It was critical to its birth, its life and its demise. In the aftermath of the Second World War, it became one of the major theatres of the Cold War on account of its strategic importance and its oil resources. The key to the international politics of the Middle East during the Cold War era is the relationship between external powers and local powers. Most of the existing literature on the subject focuses on the policies of the Great Powers towards the local region. The Cold War and the Middle East redresses the balance by concentrating on the policies of the local actors. It looks at the politics of the region not just from the outside in but from the inside out. The contributors to this volume are leading scholars in the field whose interests combine International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies.

This masterly new work spans an entire epoch in the history of the contemporary Palestinian national movement, from the establishment of Israel in mandate Palestine in 1948, to the PLO-Israel accord of 1993. Contrary to the conventional view that national liberation movements proceed with state-building only after attaining independence, the case of the PLO shows that state-building may shape political institutionalization throughout the previous struggle, even in the absence of an autonomous territorial, economic, and social base. That is the central argument of this insightful study, which traces the political, ideological, and organizational evolution of the PLO and its constituent guerrilla groups. Taking the much-vaunted 'armed struggle' as its connecting theme, it shows how conflict was used to mobilize the mass constituency, assert particular discourses of revolution and nationalism, construct statist institutions, and establish the legitimacy of a new political class and bureaucratic elite. The book draws extensively on PLO archives, official publications and internal documents of the various guerilla groups, and over 400 interviews conducted by the author with the PLO rank-and-file. Its span, primary sources, and conceptual framework make this the definitive work on the subject.

The Third World Beyond the Cold War presents an overview of the changes brought about in Third World countries since the end of the cold war. The book does so in two ways: by highlighting major areas of change in the Third World, and using regional case-studies as a meas of islating changes specific to certain regions.The themes chosen by the editors--economics, politics, security--are not, of course, exhaustive, but are broadly interpreted so as to encompass the major areas of change among Third World countries. The regional case-studies--Asia-Pacific, Latin America, South Asia, Africa, the Middle East--were selected to bring out both the themes and the diversity of experience. The essays, written by leading scholars in the field of International Relations, caters for a variety of constituencies: those who seek the `big picture' in understanding the Third World in International Relations, those who look for general patterns, explanations, and trends in Third World politics, and those who seek up-to-date information and analysis on the progress of different regions.