Environmental Politics in the Middle East

Description

This book investigates how ecology and politics meet in the Middle East and how those interactions connect to the global political economy. Through region-wide analyses and case studies from the Arabian Peninsula, the Gulf of Aden, the Levant and North Africa, the volume highlights the intimate connections of environmental activism, energy infrastructure and illicit commodity trading with the political economies of Central Asia, the Horn of Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

The book’s nine chapters analyse how the exploitation and representation of the environment have shaped the history of the region—and determined its place in global politics. It argues that how the ecological is understood, instrumentalised and intervened upon is the product of political struggle: deconstructing ideas and practices of environmental change means unravelling claims of authority and legitimacy. This is particularly important in a region frequently seen through the prism of environmental determinism, where ruling elites have imposed authoritarian control as the corollary of ‘environmental crisis’. This unique and urgent collection will question much of what we think we know about this pressing issue.

Reviews

‘A comprehensive assessment of the problems and challenges linked to the process of greening arid Gulf landscapes . . . this book is a must-read.’ — Arab News

‘An enormously valuable contribution to the increasing global concern with Middle Eastern water politics. This volume should be required reading for scholars, experts, and social activists, as well as all those who have a stake in managing the dangerous future of our over-crowded planet.’ — Roger Owen, A.J. Meyer Professor of Middle East History, Harvard University

‘To call this volume pioneering would not do it justice. Rich in historical and technical detail, it makes sense of the challenges facing a region awash with crude oil yet beleaguered by rapidly degrading environmental conditions. An urgent and pathbreaking book, it will shape debates for years to come.’ — Anoush Ehteshami, Director of the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and Al-Sabah Chair in the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University

‘Drawing on novel and empirically rich case studies, this book is a necessary and powerful call to center environmental politics in discussions of authoritarianism, social mobilization, financial accumulation, and the political economies of development and infrastructural manipulation — in the Middle East, and beyond.’ — Alan Mikhail, Professor of History, Yale University

Editor(s)

Harry Verhoeven is a Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy, School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is the Convenor of the Oxford University China-Africa Network and a Senior Adviser at the European Institute of Peace. He is the author of Water, Civilisation and Power in Sudan, Why Comrades Go To War and editor of Environmental Politics in the Middle East.