Offering a fuller understanding of the complexities and particular patterns of state formation in regions where tribes have exercised a significant influence, this volume focuses on the continuing existence of tribal structures and systems in contemporary times, within contemporary nation-states. The contributors offer hypotheses as to why these groups have managed to survive and what impact they have had on modern states ... --backcover.

At the outset of the twenty-first century and in the midst of the Arab Spring, tribe-state relations are a useful frame of reference through which to analyze the Middle East on a state-by-state basis. Tribes and States in a Changing Middle East looks beyond the dichotomy between tribe and state. Its central theme is the role of tribes and tribalism in state politics, society, and identity, as demonstrated in case studies from the Arab East (mashriq). The book is a comparative endeavour that seeks to address questions related to the interplay between tribal organizations and state institutions, tribal solidarity and nationalism, and tribal power and the centralized government. It further discusses the impact and role of tribal polities in modern states in times of regional and national turmoil.

This book traces the origins, history, and memory of the Jalayirid dynasty, a family that succeeded the Mongol Ilkhans in Iran and Iraq in the 14th and early 15th centuries. The story of how the Jalayirids came to power is illustrative of the political dynamics that shaped much of the Mongol and post-Mongol period in the Middle East. The Jalayirid sultans sought to preserve the social and political order of the Ilkhanate, while claiming that they were the rightful heirs to the rulership of that order. Central to the Jalayirids' claims to the legacy of the Ilkhanate was their attempt to control the Ilkhanid heartland of Azarbayjan and its major city, Tabriz. Control of Azarbayjan meant control of a network of long-distance trade between China and the Latin West, which continued to be a source of economic prosperity through the 8th/14th century. Azarbayjan also represented the center of Ilkhanid court life, whether in the migration of the mobile court-camp of the ruler, or in the complexes of palatial, religious and civic buildings constructed around the city of Tabriz by members of the Ilkhanid royal family, as well as by members of the military and administrative elite.

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. This text aims to fill a gap in the field of Middle Eastern political studies by combining international relations theory with concrete case studies. It begins with an overview of the rules and features of the Middle East regional system—the arena in which the local states, including Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Israel and the Arab states of Syria, Jordan and Iraq, operate. The book goes on to analyse foreign-policy-making in key states, illustrating how systemic determinants constrain this policy-making, and how these constraints are dealt with in distinctive ways depending on the particular domestic features of the individual states. Finally, it goes on to look at the outcomes of state policies by examining several major conflicts including the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Gulf War, and the system of regional alignment. The study assesses the impact of international penetration in the region, including the historic reasons behind the formation of the regional state system. It also analyses the continued role of external great powers, such as the United States and the former Soviet Union, and explains the process by which the region has become incorporated into the global capitalist market.

The Making of Saudi Arabia focuses on the transformation of the Saudi state from a loose tribal confederation into a more organized, monarchical state, a process which evolved mainly between 1916 and 1936. The study analyzes the formation and evolution of Saudi Arabia's main state attributes: its territorial hub and borders, central government, and basic social and regional cohesion. Relying on a careful analysis of vast archival and other sources, Joseph Kostiner explains the historical dynamics of the myriad of relations among tribal groups, rulers, and British authorities in the Arabian Peninsula, and the changing nature of local political and social institutions. Contributing both to historical knowledge of the Middle East and to comparative analysis on tribes and states, this book offers new information and understanding of Saudi Arabia, one of the most important states in the Middle East. The strategies and dynamics of Saudi territorial expansion; the subsequent attempts to integrate new regions into a united kingdom; the institutionalization of Islamic and lay ruling bodies; the coexistence among nomadic and town-based populations, and the development of the Saudi "elite" are analyzed.

Offering a fuller understanding of the complexities and particular patterns of state formation in regions where tribes have exercised a significant influence, this volume focuses on the continuing existence of tribal structures and systems in contemporary times, within contemporary nation-states. The contributors offer hypotheses as to why these groups have managed to survive and what impact they have had on modern states ... --backcover.

This valuable collection of essays brings leading Middle Eastern scholars together in one volume and provides an unparalleled view of the modern Middle East. Covering two centuries of change, from 1789 to the present, the selection is carefully designed for students and is the only available text of its kind. It will also appeal to anyone with a general interest in the Middle East. The book is divided into four sections: Reforming Elites and Changing Relations with Europe, 1789-1918; Transformations in Society and Economy, 1789-1918; The Construction of Nationalist Ideologies and Politics up to the 1950s; and The Middle East since the Second World War. This valuable collection of essays brings leading Middle Eastern scholars together in one volume and provides an unparalleled view of the modern Middle East. Covering two centuries of change, from 1789 to the present, the selection is carefully designed for students and is the only available text of its kind. It will also appeal to anyone with a general interest in the Middle East. The book is divided into four sections: Reforming Elites and Changing Relations with Europe, 1789-1918; Transformations in Society and Economy, 1789-1918; The Construction of Nationalist Ideologies and Politics up to the 1950s; and The Middle East since the Second World War.

Why do tribal genealogies matter in modern-day Saudi Arabia? What compels the strivers and climbers of the new Saudi Arabia to want to prove their authentic descent from one or another prestigious Arabian tribe? Of Sand or Soil looks at how genealogy and tribal belonging have informed the lives of past and present inhabitants of Saudi Arabia and how the Saudi government's tacit glorification of tribal origins has shaped the powerful development of the kingdom’s genealogical culture. Nadav Samin presents the first extended biographical exploration of the major twentieth-century Saudi scholar Ḥamad al-Jāsir, whose genealogical studies frame the story about belonging and identity in the modern kingdom. Samin examines the interplay between al-Jāsir’s genealogical project and his many hundreds of petitioners, mostly Saudis of nontribal or lower status origin who sought validation of their tribal roots in his genealogical texts. Investigating the Saudi relationship to this opaque, orally inscribed historical tradition, Samin considers the consequences of modern Saudi genealogical politics and how the most intimate anxieties of nontribal Saudis today are amplified by the governing strategies and kinship ideology of the Saudi state. Challenging the impression that Saudi culture is determined by puritanical religiosity or rentier economic principles, Of Sand or Soil shows how the exploration and establishment of tribal genealogies have become influential phenomena in contemporary Saudi society. Beyond Saudi Arabia, this book casts important new light on the interplay between kinship ideas, oral narrative, and state formation in rapidly changing societies.

Based on his own field research and the ethnographic reports of other scholars, anthropologist Salzman presents an analysis of Middle Eastern culture that goes a long way toward explaining the gulf between Western and Middle Eastern cultural perspectives

In 1978 and 1979 revolutions in Afghanistan and Iran marked a shift in the balance of power in South West Asia and the world. Then, as now, the world is once more aware that tribalism is no anachronism in a struggle for political and cultural self-determination. This books provides historical and anthropological perspectives necessary to the eventual understanding of the events surrounding the revolutions.