Shocks and Rivalries in the Middle East and North Africa is the first book to examine issue-driven antagonisms within groups of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) states and their impact on relations within the region. The volume also considers how shock events, such as internal revolts and regional wars, can alter interstate tensions and the trajectory of conflict. MENA has experienced more internal rivalries than any other region, making a detailed analysis vital to understanding the region's complex political, cultural, and economic history. The state groupings studied in this volume include Israel and Iran; Iran and Saudi Arabia; Iran and Turkey; Iran, Iraq, and Syria; Egypt and Saudi Arabia; and Algeria and Morocco. Essays are theoretically driven, breaking the MENA region down into a collection of systems that exemplify how state and nonstate actors interact around certain issues. Through this approach, contributors shed rare light on the origins, persistence, escalation, and resolution of MENA rivalries and trace significant patterns of regional change. Shocks and Rivalries in the Middle East and North Africa makes a major contribution to scholarship on MENA antagonisms. It not only addresses an understudied phenomenon in the international relations of the MENA region, it also expands our knowledge of rivalry dynamics in global politics.
1. Introduction: A Theory of Shock and RivalryImad Mansour and William R. Thompson 2. Crucial Fault Lines in the Middle East: Interstate Rivalries in Comparative PerspectiveThomas J. Volgy, Kelly Marie Gordell, and Paul Bezerra 3. Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall? Making Sense of Longer-Term Ups and Downs in Middle Eastern and North African RivalriesWilliam R. Thompson 4. The Saudi-Iran Strategic Rivalry: "Like Fire and Dynamite" John Calabrese 5. Rethinking Rivalry Fluctuation: Iranian Rivalry Behavior and the Domestic Level of AnalysisThomas Keith Wilson 6. Iran-Iraq-Syria: Shocks and Rivalries in a Triadic Pattern Marwan Kabalan 7. Iran-Turkey Relations: Between Rivalry and Competition Meliha Benli Altunisik 8. Dangerous Entanglements: The Rivalry Effects of the Iran and Israel Narratives Imad Mansour 9. Revolution and Rivalry Onset: The Emergence of the Egyptian-Saudi (1955-70) and Iranian-Saudi (1979-2018) Rivalries Karen Rasler 10. The Algerian-Moroccan Rivalry: Constructing the Imagined Enemy Yahia H. Zoubir 11. Conclusion: Assessing Shocks and Rivalry Processes in the Middle East and North Africa Imad Mansour and William R. Thompson References Index List of Contributors
