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 analyze 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, instrumentalized 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.

Introduction: The Middle East in Global Environmental PoliticsHarry Verhoeven1. Environmental Activism in the Middle East and North AfricaJeannie Sowers2. Tunisian Phosphates and the Politics of the PeripheryFrancis Ghil?s and Eckart Woertz3. The Securitization of Oil and its Ramifications in the Gulf Cooperation Council StatesJill Crystal4. Greening Gulf Landscapes: Economic Opportunities, Social Trade-offs, and Sustainability ChallengesAli Al-Keblawy5. Burning Somalia's Future: The Illegal Charcoal Trade between the Horn of Africa and the GulfIlya Gridneff6. Illegal Fishing and Piracy in the Horn of Africa: The Role of the MENA RegionAfyare Elmi7. Learning Geopolitical Pluralism: Toward a New International Oil Regime?Clement Henry8. Scarcity Drives Economic Development: The Effect of Energy Subsidies on Export Diversification in the Middle EastWessel N. Vermeulen9. The Politics of Natural Resources in the Caspian Sea: A New Great Game in an Ancient WorldAbbas MalekiBibliography