FREEDOM'S UNSTEADY MARCH & Power and Water in the Middle East

Freedom's Unsteady March.
Rhodes, Fred
205 words
1 July 2008
The Middle East
65
ISSN: 0305-0734; Issue 391
English
Copyright 2008 Gale Group Inc. All rights reserved.

FREEDOM'S UNSTEADY MARCH

by Tamara Cofman Wittes

published by Brookings Institution Press

ISBN 978 0815794940

price 15.99 [pounds sterling] hardback


Tamara Cofman Wittes argues that the promotion of democracy in the Arab world remains an essential component of any strategy to achieve long-term American goals in the region. A volatile combination of growing populations, economic stagnation and political alienation poses a serious threat to stability in today's Middle East. These forces are severely testing the governability of key states such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, limiting their ability to work with the United States on regional priorities such as stabilising Iraq and combating terrorism.

Freedom's Unsteady March shows why America cannot afford to be neutral or passive in the face of the momentous changes taking place in Arab states and why it must wield its power and influence in support of democratic reform. Wittes also dissects the Bush administration's failure to advance freedom in the Middle East. She diagnoses the roots of America's ambivalence about Arab democracy, and shows how to confront more honestly the risks of change and act more effectively to contain them.

Power and Water in the Middle East.
Rhodes, Fred
184 words
1 July 2008
The Middle East
64
ISSN: 0305-0734; Issue 391


POWER AND WATER IN

THE MIDDLE EAST

by Mark Zeitoun,

published by IB Taurus

ISBN 978-1845114640

price: 47.50 [pounds sterling] hardback


Power and Water in the Middle East provides a perspective on the Palestinian Israeli water conflict.

Adopting a new approach to understanding water conflict 'hydro-hegemony' the author reveals how existing tactics to control water are leading away from peace and towards continued squandering of this vital resource.

Existing approaches tend to play down the negative effects of non-violent water conflict, and what is often presented as cooperation between countries hides a deep imbalance and underlying state of conflict between them.

Mark Zeitoun shows how the new framework of hydro-hegemony may be used to expose the hidden dynamics of water conflict around the world and how, in particular, it yields critical insights into the Middle East water problem.

Power and Water in the Middle East offers new findings that will also help to stimulate the debate on the water conflict in more general terms.