Fred Halliday

Much has been written in recent years about the Middle East. At the same time, no other region has been as misunderstood, nor framed in so many clichés and mistakenly-held beliefs.In this much-needed expose Fred Halliday selects one hundred of the most commonly misconstrued facts in the political, cultural, social and historical spheres and illuminates each case without compromising its underlying complexities. The Israel-Palestine crisis, the Iran-Iraq war, the US-led Gulf incursions, the Afghan-Soviet conflict and other significant milestones in modern Middle East history come under scrutiny here, with conclusions that will surprise and enlighten many for going so persuasively against the grain.

Fred Halliday writes: The Arab Middle East is probably the most misunderstood of all regions; the one with the longest history of contact with the west; yet it is probably the one least understood. Part of the misunderstanding is due to the romantic mythology that has long appeared to shroud the deserts of the peninsula. Where old myths have broken down, new ones have absorbed them or taken their place. Now the Sheikh of Arabia has stepped down from his camel. Instead, through the delusive lens of the energy crisis he is seen to be riding a Cadillac and squeezing the powerless Western consumer of oil. First published in the 1970s, Arabia Without Sultans retains its validity for the present as it analyses the Arabian peninsula and Iran within the global context of western post-colonial strategy and the political economy of oil. Halliday offers a thorough study of the history, the politi and the economi of this region in an ambitious, encompassing and entertaining manner. This classic work remains indispensable for students, academi, and all those who wish to have a greater understanding of the Arabian peninsula. A well-documented work, written by an author who knows the language of the area. Maxime Rodinson Halliday provides an unusual view-point and a well-documented description of the history of these states. Middle East International Anyone interested in this area will want to read this. International Affairs A most valuable account of the developments which have taken place in the Arab Gulf over the last hundred years. Tariq Ali

This collection of essays offers a general analysis of the Middle East and more focused country-by-country examples. Nationalism and Islamism are re-examined to demonstrate their ongoing relevance and relationship to the present-day Arab context and identity. This is followed by a closer look at Islamist movements in Turkey, Iran and Tunisia and how these forces may either come to erode the secular state (as in Turkey and Tunisia) or bolster the Islamic one (in the case of Iran). The author also examines the fate of the eight remaining monarchies of the Arab world and the conditions of their emergence, consolidation and continuation.

Mucho es lo que se ha escrito en los últimos años sobre Oriente Próximo y, sin embargo, ninguna otra región del mundo ha dado pie a tantos malentendidos, lugares comunes y opiniones infundadas. Sami Nair, filosofo y sociologo frances, reflexionaba en su articulo Israelies y palestinos: una mirada al futuro (EL PAIS, 02/02/2007), acerca de las propuestas apuntadas por Andre Azoulay y Hubert Vedrine (Un Libro Blanco para Oriente Proximo, EL PAIS 17/01/2007) a proposito del conflicto palestino-israeli, sobre la importancia de promover una labor de verdad, de analisis frio y racional de sus causas y efectos, porque decir la verdad sobre la historia de los pueblos de la region es la mejor manera de reconciliarlos. No es empresa facil pretender elaborar una historia objetiva de este conflicto, ni tampoco pretende Fred Halliday, con este revelador estudio, ceñirse a ese proposito. El objeto de estudio de esta obra trasciende los limites espacio-temporales del conflicto arabe-israeli con el fin de abordar, desde una perspectiva multidisciplinar, el estudio del origen de ciertos mitos, falsedades, concepciones erroneas y bulos propagandisticos que han empañado y dificultado enormemente la comprension de la historia y el presente de Oriente Proximo. En esta obra imprescindible Fred Halliday selecciona un centenar de entre las mas populares y malinterpretadas verdades sobre Oriente Proximo del ambito politico, cultural, social o historico y desentraña cada una de ellas sin menoscabo de su complejidad inherente. Fred Halliday analiza con rigor temas tan diversos como la crisis palestina, la guerra entre Iran e Irak, las intervenciones militares en el Golfo encabezadas por EE.UU., el conflicto afgano-sovietico y otros hitos de la historia modern

Fred Halliday always combined the broad sweep of modern history, its currents and ideas, with a profound knowledge of modern revolutions, the Middle East and national movements. This collection of columns written for openDemocracy between 2004 and 2009 is proof of a subtle worldview that continues to generate questions: what is the relation between religion, nationalism and progress? Is a new international order possible? When is intervention a force for progress? From the big headline topics like the Iraq war or the Danish cartoons, to the unexpected comparisons, of Tibet and Palestine or Afghanistan and the Falklands, Halliday is a perennially surprising and enlightening guide to the major issues of international politics.

Examines the causes of the September 11, 2001 attacks, and also provides a reasoned approach as to what the future may hold. As the dust settled around the devastation of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, a host of questions emerged surrounding the attacks, the motives behind them and their future implications. In Two Hours that Shook the World Fred Halliday expands on the many socio-cultural, religious and political problems that have plagued the Middle East and Central Asia in the last half-century. Much has been written about global terrorism and the need to eliminate it but also about the divide between East and West, the clash of civilisations. Halliday dispels the idea that the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds are poised for conflict. He explains the causes and rise of Islamic fundamentalism, how terror became an instrument of political and military conflict, and why seemingly well-educated and sane individuals are taking drastic actions to voice their desperation. The burden of history is also invoked, as with the Palestinian-Israeli situation, the festering malaise at the heart of Middle Eastern consciousness and identity. While Hallidays book examines the causes of what has happened, it also provides a reasoned approach as to what the future may hold.

The international relations of the Middle East have long been dominated by uncertainty and conflict. External intervention, interstate war, political upheaval and interethnic violence are compounded by the vagaries of oil prices and the claims of military, nationalist and religious movements. The purpose of this book is to set this region and its conflicts in context, providing on the one hand a historical introduction to its character and problems, and on the other a reasoned analysis of its politics. In an engagement with both the study of the Middle East and the theoretical analysis of international relations, the author, who is one of the best known and most authoritative scholars writing on the region today, offers a compelling and original interpretation. Written in a clear, accessible and interactive style, the book is designed for students, policymakers, and the general reader.

¿Existe una «excepción islámica» en la sociología e historia políticas contemporáneas o bien los instrumentos de análisis de la realidad islámica son los mismos que sirven –previos los ajustes necesa

La obra de Halliday es un intento de respuesta a la combinación de turbulencia política y confusión teórica que viven en estos momentos las Relaciones Internacionales. El planteamiento novedoso estriba en tratar de abrir una nueva vía teórica de las Relaciones Internacionales y sugiere un plan para su estudio basado en una mayor presencia de conceptos que hasta ahora han tenido un lugar secundario o marginal en la disciplina y en una orientación metodológica que evite el culto a la cuantificación, la predicción y la cientificidad. Entre esos conceptos que reclama como indispensables para una educada comprensión y explicación de las Relaciones Internacionales, se encuentran la ética como criterio inspirador, el materialismo histórico liberado del dogmatismo y la conformidad, el reconocimiento del papel clave de la historia, la adopción de un enfoque sociológico para el estudio tanto de la sociedad internacional como del Estado, la introducción del enfoque de género, la importancia de la consideración de los factores socio-económicos e ideológicos, y la necesidad de entender a lo "interno" para entender lo "internacional". La obra, sin embargo, no es sólo una argumentación sólida a favor de un nuevo enfoque teórico, sino que además lo aplica tratando de explicar las profundas transformaciones experimentadas por la sociedad internacional a raíz del final de la guerra fría analizando toda una serie de cuestiones y problemas fundamentales, como por ejemplo, el "fin de la historia", el papel del Estado y las profundas transformaciones experimentadas por la sociedad internacional a la luz del concepto de "homogeneidad, que puede servir para explicar los efectos de la globalización, la extensión de la democracia y el derrumbamiento de la Unión soviética.