Books by "David W. Lesch"
5 books found
Since its creation, the State of Israel has been a magnet for attention. A country beset by conflict in its region and faced with the need to integrate mainly Jewish immigrants of disparate backgrounds into a modern and advanced democratic state and society, Israel has preoccupied observers, scholars and journalists since its independence in May 1948. Although a Jewish state Israel is also a democratic state that guarantees the rights of all of its citizens, including its large Arab and Moslem minority, in law and in practice. Israel and its modern history and politics have been the subject of substantial and often highly partisan literature, being hotly and vigorously debated both at home and abroad. This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Israel contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1100 cross-referenced entries onsignificant persons, places, events, government institutions, political parties, and battles, as well as entries on Israel’s economy, society, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the various diplomatic and political personalities, institutions, organizations, events, concepts, and documents that together define the political life of the Jewish state of Israel.
Historical Dictionary of Tibet, Second Edition is a comprehensive resource for Tibetan history, politics, religion, major figures, prehistory and paleontology, with a primary emphasis on the modern period. It also covers the surrounding areas influenced by Tibetan religion and culture, including India, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Central Asia, and Russia. It contains a chronology, a glossary, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities as well as aspects of the country’s politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Tibet.
Combining elements of comparative politics with a country-by-country analysis, author David S. Sorenson provides a complete and accessible introduction to the modern Middle East. With an emphasis on the politics of the region, the text also dedicates chapters specifically to the history, religions, and economies of countries in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf, the Eastern Mediterranean, and North Africa. In each country chapter, a brief political history is followed by discussions of democratization, religious politics, women's issues, civil society, economic development, privatization, and foreign relations. In this updated and revised second edition, An Introduction to the Modern Middle East includes new material on the Arab Spring, the changes in Turkish politics, the Iranian nuclear issues, and the latest efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dilemma. Introductory chapters provide an important thematic overview for each of the book's individual country chapters and short vignettes throughout the book offer readers a chance for personal reflection.
The Ambiguous Foreign Policy of the United States toward the Muslim World
by David S. Oualaalou
2016 · Bloomsbury Publishing USA
This book sheds light on key issues in the Middle East. As the politics and society of the Middle East change, American foreign policy has become stagnant and stubborn. However, the changes occurring in the Middle East have brought into existence new, unfamiliar policies from regimes that reject old alliances and demand new solutions. Ongoing civil war in Syria, chaos in Yemen, and the recent conquests of ISIS have changed geopolitical calculations in the region for everyone concerned. However, American foreign policy lacks the vision to predict the consequences of such changes. The United States needs a major change in approach if it is to maintain both its leadership and credibility in the Muslim world. The political leadership in Washington naïvely and unrealistically assumes that it can impose its style of governance and way of thinking to make the Muslim world secular and democratic based on Western values. This work constructively criticizes and objectively analyzes the present American political strategy to make possible an honest national debate about American foreign policy toward the Muslim world. This book questions the judgment of American foreign policymakers and argues the United States has no coherent policy in place to address ongoing challenges. It highlights the need for creative thinking, flexibility, systematic understanding, cultural awareness, and effective strategy.