As a cultural centre for Islamic interests across the world and as a focus point for increasing levels of economic and security interdependence, the Middle East remains a stage on which international politics will be played for the foreseeable future. This comprehensive study looks at the important international and regional actors and their interaction with, and reaction to, US foreign policy toward the region. The volume elucidates the trends in great power interest and interaction in the Middle East and studies the impact of the United States as the region's foremost military power. It highlights the changing nature of actors' relationships with the US and each other as their interests and policies evolve in response to changes in the region. Scholars, graduate and undergraduate students and the interested public will find this volume a useful guide and an ideal companion work for courses on the Middle East, US foreign policy and international security issues.

Contents: Preface; Section I Europe and the US in the Middle East: Britain and the Middle East: in pursuit of eternal interests, Mark Sedgwick; Old interests, new purpose: French foreign policy in the Middle East, Daniel W. Kuthy; Germany and the Middle East: the construction of moral interests, Jack Covarrubias and Chris White; US-Russian competition in the Middle East: convergences and divergences in foreign security policy, Mira Duric and Tom Lansford. Section II The Far East and the US in the Middle East: China's Middle East policy since the post-Mao reform, Chunlong Lu and Jie Chen; Japan between the United States and the Middle East, George Ehrhardt; At the crossroads of foreign policy decisions: India in the Middle East, Anna Rulska and David Jackson. Section III The Middle East and the US: The United States and Israel: the implications of alignment, Daniel J. Graeber; Realpolitik and religion: the twin sources of Saudi Arabia's foreign policy, Evan Campbell and Steve A. Yetiv; The centrality of Egypt to the future of the greater Middle East, B.J. Jordan and Robert J. Pauly Jr; Iran and the Middle East: the pursuit of security and legitimacy in the American age, Vaughn P. Shannon. Section IV International Organizations and the US in the Middle East: NATO and the Middle East: the road to greater engagement, Chris Zambelis and Eva Svobodová Sigmon; The United States and the Arab League, Jack Kalpakian; The United States and the United Nations: partnership for peace?, Tom Lansford; Index.