Arab and Regional Politics in the Middle East

Three main themes are explored in this book, first published in 1984: the first is the problem of religion and politics as a major and long-standing preoccupation of Middle-easterners or Arab Muslims themselves; the second is that of the conflict-ridden inter-Arab and regional politics, approached largely from a local rather than an international perspective; the third deals with Egypt. The book also enquires into the nature of rule and regimes in the Middle East, the basis of authority and the arrangements for the organisation, exercise and use of power. Drawing examples from Egypt and the Fertile Crescent, the emphasis is on the relation between tradition and politics, historical evolution and state policy, domestic factors and external constraints.

P.J. Vatikiotis

Part 1. Islam and Politics 1. Muhammad 'Abduh and the Quest for a Muslim Humanism (1957) 2. Recent Trends in Islam (1958) 3. Islam and the Foreign Policy of Egypt (1965) 4. The Rise of the Clerisocracy (1982) Part 2. Inter-Arab and Regional Politics 5. Inter-Arab Relations (1976) 6. Regional Politics (1980) 7. Authoritarianism and Autocracy in the Middle East (1981) 8. Conflict in the Middle East Reconsidered (1981) Part 3. History and Politics of Modern Egypt 9. Some Political Consequences of the 1952 Revolution in Egypt (1968) 10. The Modern History of Egypt Alla Franca (1974) 11. Relations between Egypt and Israel, 1977-82 (1982) 12. The National Question in Egypt (1983)