Mixing political and film analysis with exclusive interviews with Hollywood movers and shakers, Ben Dickenson dissects the social context of the last twenty-five years, from Reagan’s Presidency to Geo
With the growing importance of emerging markets the focus of analysts has begun to concentrate on the contribution of Latin America and the Middle East to the global economy, and the relations between
In the aftermath of World War I, the British Empire was hit by two different crises on opposite sides of the world—the Jallianwala Bagh, or Amritsar, Massacre in the Punjab and the Croke Park Massacre
Saudi Arabia, with its US alliance and abundance of oil dollars, has a very different economic story to that of Iran, which despite enormous natural gas reserves, has been hit hard by economic, trade,
What do new technologies taste like? A growing number of contemporary artists are working with food, live materials and scientific processes, in order to explore and challenge the ways in which manipu
The Kosovo question posed a great challenge to the international order in the western Balkans for a number of decades prior to the outbreak of war in the 1990s. Yugoslavia, Albania, the USSR, the USA,
By the nineteenth century the British had ruled India for over a hundred years, and had consolidated their power over the sub-continent. Until 1858, when Queen Victoria assumed sovereignty following t
Kiryat Shmona, located on the Israeli-Lebanese border, often makes the news whenever there is an outbreak of violence between the two countries. Israel's northernmost city, its residents are mostly Mi
Gay pornography, online and onscreen, is a controversial and significantly under-researched area of cultural production. In the first book of its kind, Gay Pornography: Representations of Sexuality an
Rethinking Heritage brings together leading writers and thinkers to examine the ways in which ingrained assumptions about heritage are being challenged today. It explores the key questions that surrou
Humanitarian intervention has increasingly become the prevalent means of providing protection and aid at a global level. Yet alongside its success concerns have been raised that humanitarianism has in
Migration has been a phenomenon throughout human history but today, as a result of economic hardship, conflict and globalization, a higher percentage of people than ever before live outside their coun
At a time when the European Union is further expanding and countries such as Turkey are being accepted for eventual membership, the question of what is meant by a unified Europe and how that might be
Medieval Islamic philosophers were occupied with questions of cosmology, predestination and salvation and human responsibility for actions. For Ismailis, the related notions of religious leadership, n
The Deccan sultans left a grand architectural and artistic legacy. They commissioned palaces, mosques, gardens and tombs as well as decorative paintings and coins. Of these sultanates, the Nizam Shahs
After the granting of the vote to women in 1918, the struggle for women's rights intensified with a nationwide campaign for the right to birth control. This campaign was met with a great deal of hosti
The great German theologian Albert Schweitzer famously drew a line under 19th century historical Jesus research by showing that at the bottom of the well lay not the face of Joseph's son, but rather t
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Arab-speaking regions of the Ottoman Empire saw a crucial change in attitudes towards sexuality. Notions of 'respectability', 'propriety' and 'sexu
During World War II, one kind of music embodied everything that was appealing about a democratic society as envisioned by the Allied powers-Jazz. Labeled 'degenerate' by Hitler himself, jazz was adopt
Does the internet facilitate social and political change, or even democratization, in the Middle East? Despite existing research on this subject, there is still no consensus on the importance of socia
Why has Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) achieved popularity beyond any other American police procedural television series? How does its unique focus on sex crimes reflect currents in popular
While the Western perception of the 'the Orient' has become a well-worn topic in the field of Asian and Middle Eastern studies, the way in which the Arab world has come to perceive the West has been l
In the age of the Great Powers, with Russia and France at war, and the Ottoman Empire at the height of its influence and majesty, the British diplomat Stratford Canning arrived in Constantinople. The
Elaborate and sensational gifts were the hallmark of Mamluk diplomacy. From Cairo, where they controlled the medieval spice trade and the holy sites of Christianity and Islam, the Mamluk Sultans-consc
On the brink of World War I, Germany was often depicted by Allied propagandists as an evil puppet master manipulating the Ottoman Empire. Behind closed doors, however, the Ottomans worked hard to expl
Edward FitzGerald's translation of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam is one of the best known poems in the English language. Its lines and verses have become part of the western literary canon and his tran
The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Hizbullah in Lebanon had or have as part of their raison d'être the idea of pan-Islamist activism. But in addition to this, both are in reality serious players in t
In the mid-1860s Arthur J Munby began to collect the first mass-produced photographic images of working-class women in England, recording fascinating details about the women, the places he purchased t
Officials and religious scholars in the Gulf states have repeatedly banned the teaching and researching of the theory of evolution because of its association with atheism. But Jorg Matthias Determann
Since the Shah went into exile and the Islamic Republic was established in 1979 in the wake of the Iranian Revolution, the very idea of monarchy in Iran has been contentious. Yet, as Persian Kingship
Lina Khatib examines the cinematic depictions of major political issues, from the Arab-Israeli conflict to the Gulf War, to Islamic fundamentalism, looking at films made in the US, in Egypt, Tunisia,
The development of European diplomacy has long been recognised as one of the main achievements of the early modern period. This story of diplomatic accord, however, often fails to take into account th
In 10th century Iraq, a group of Arab intellectuals and scholars known as the Ikhwan al-Safa began to make their intellectual mark on the society around them. A mysterious organisation, the identities
At the beginning of the 18th Century, the Ottoman Empire remained the grandest and most powerful of Middle Eastern Empires it was also the 'Golden Age' of Ottoman patronage. One hitherto overlooked
During the 2003 War in Iraq, American news media found it difficult to convey their pro-war perspective outside the United States. Since the war was unpopular in many parts of the world, failure to wi
In tenth-century Iraq, a group of Arab intellectuals and scholars known as the Ikhwan al-Safa began to make their intellectual mark on the society around them. A mysterious organisation, the identitie
Living continuously in Iran for over two millennia, Jews have played an integral role in the history of the country. Frequently understood as a passive minority group and often marginalized, first by
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries revolutionary dissent, political upheaval and social protest spread throughout Europe, and Wales was no exception. In this unique examination of British soci
For more than two centuries following its formation in 1581, the Levant Company enjoyed a monopoly of British trade with the Ottoman Empire and provided Britain's diplomatic representation at the Sult
