Contemporary West Asia : Politics and Development

Contents: About the book. About the editor. Contributors. 1. Neo-liberalism and development debates: contextualizing in Saudi Arabia/Jajati K. Pattnaik. 2. The GCC country’s response to desertification/A. Kannan 3. Globalisation and social change: the case of United Arab Emirates (UAE)/Asif Suja. 4. Migrant work and human rights in the GCC countries: emerging scenario after migrant labour unrest/M.V. Bijulal. 5. Water sharing in West Asia: a case study of the Euphrates River System/Gazzala Sabana. 6. Aspects of economy and human resource development in Israel/Kumar Raka. 7. Situating the Hobbesian State of Iraq in contemporary international relations/Arshit Khan. 8. Oil, democracy and terrorism: an inevitable nexus in the Gulf/Vrushal Ghoble. 9. Islamic responses to the Western Modernity Project: within and beyond/Kundan Kumar. 10. Changing dynamics of Muslim brotherhood in Egyptian politics/Fazzur Rahman. 11. Islamic resurgence in the age of globalization and democracy: Hamas’ changing strategies in Palestinian National Movement/Rajeesh Kumar P.P. Index.

“War, conflict and terrorism define the face of contemporary West Asia at popular level. However, there are far more other important issues and challenges that are currently troubling the governments of West Asian nations. These include (a) political, economic and social challenges, (b) Islamic militancy, (c) growing unemployment, (d) democratic reforms, (e) human rights, (f) living conditions of expatriates, and (g) urbanization. Added to this list are environmental risks with such dimensions as overfishing, soil and water pollution by petroleum industry, scarcity of fresh water and desertification.

This book -- containing 11 contributions by scholars in the field-deals with these internal challenges of the region.” (jacket)