Humanities & Social Sciences
June 2023
Your Search Results
-
Promoted Content
-
Promoted Content
Humanities & Social SciencesMay 2025The Caucasus Emirate
Ideology, identity, and insurgency in Russia’s North Caucasus
by Mark Youngman
Insurgency has plagued the North Caucasus since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Between 2007 and 2015, rebels waged their struggle under the banner of the Caucasus Emirate (Imarat Kavkaz, IK). This book systematically examines the IK's ideology to explain what the group claimed to be fighting for and against and how it sought to mobilise people behind its cause. It reveals a group with a weakly developed political programme, which aligned itself with global jihadism but consistently prioritised local concerns. It demonstrates the priority rebel leaders afforded to shaping local identities, but also their failure to forge a unified movement or revitalise armed struggle. Re-evaluating the IK's ideology helps us better understand the past and future of armed struggle in the North Caucasus.
-
Trusted Partner
Humanities & Social SciencesJuly 2025Urbicide in Syria
A postcolonial understanding of civil war
by Gabriel Garroum Pla
This book provides an exhaustive analysis of the relationship between violence, urban space, and political subjectivity in Syria. It does so through an exploration of how urbicide, the violent destruction and alteration of the urban fabric, becomes a tool for the regime's governmental and sovereign exercise of power, decisively redefining state-society dynamics and cementing political loyalty in Syria. Adopting a critical and postcolonial perspective, and through the cases of Damascus and Aleppo, the volume presents a unique perspective on the civil war by examining socio-material changes in everyday political spaces and processes, from mundane destruction to urban development and reconstruction efforts, and how these are experienced by local communities. Featuring rich data collection through interviews, archival research, and aesthetic sources, the book ultimately foregrounds Syrians' political agency and creativity despite ruination.
-
Trusted Partner
October 2025Beirut. Fragments of a metropolis
by Meret Michel
The tragic history of a cosmopolitan city: Beirut and the fate of LebanonOn August 4, 2020, the port of Beirut is shaken by a massive explosion that was to have an impact on the entire city: Hundreds of thousands of houses are destroyed, more than 200 people killed and thousands injured. This was not to be the first and last catastrophe for a country shaken by multiple crises. In this book, ten people tell their stories from their city - a city that has been the hub of the Middle East region for many decades. They live in the once glamorous district of Hamra or in the south of the city, which is controlled by Hezbollah. They are devout Muslims or atheists, come from the upper classes or have been struggling to survive for a long time.
-
Trusted Partner
-
Trusted Partner
Humanities & Social SciencesJuly 2025International Relations in a multipolar Middle East
by Francesco Belcastro, Edward Wastnidge
This volume explores the international relations of today's Middle East, a region that has become increasingly multi-polar. The tumult following the Arab Uprisings has expanded the arenas competed over by regional powers, global actors and non-state players. The United States, once seemingly intent on a hegemonic 'Pax Americana' has stepped back, leaving powers such as Russia, China, India and the EU, with opportunities to increase their reach and expand their influence. Meanwhile, regional rivalries and alliances have continued to shape conflict and cooperation in the Middle East. As global politics moves towards a new, multipolar era, this volume sheds important light on how this transition will impact on the region. Comprised of two macro sections that offer theoretical reflections and empirical case studies, this volume is essential reading for scholars of the politics and international relations of the Middle East.
