From Migrants to Masters of the Middle East

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-64
Author(s):  
Nikolaus Leo Overtoom
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
The State ◽  
International Environment ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Power And Influence

This chapter considers the reasons for the success of the Parthians in their rise from a minor nomadic group to a dominant imperial force. It analyzes the most important cultural factors of the early Parthian state, namely the versatility of Parthian society, the innovations of the Parthian military, and the early Arsacids’ ability to manage and exploit these qualities to the benefit of the state through their capable leadership and dynastic stability. These important qualities of the Parthian state established the exceptional advantages the Parthians needed to create, maintain, and expand their power and influence within the hotly contested and dangerously competitive international environment of the Hellenistic Middle East.

scholarly journals The Power-Transition Crisis of the 160s–130s BCE and the Formation of the Parthian Empire

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-155
Author(s):  
Nikolaus Leo Overtoom
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Power Transition ◽  
International Environment ◽  
Military Conflicts ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Rapid Transformation

Abstract Alexander the Great’s conquests ushered in the Hellenistic era throughout the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East. In this period, the Seleucids, one of most successful of the Successor dynasties, ruled over most of the Middle East at the height of their power. Yet two rising powers in the ancient world, Rome and Parthia, played a crucial role in the decline and eventual fall of the Seleucids. In a prior article, I argued that geopolitical developments around the Eastern Mediterranean in the middle third century BCE were indirectly responsible for the emergence of the Parthian state in Iran. Disastrous military conflicts at home and abroad in the west caused a sudden decline of Seleucid power in the 240s–230s, triggering what political scientists call a power-transition crisis. This article utilizes similar approaches to historical analysis and International Relations theory to contend that, after a period of recovery, a further sudden decline of Seleucid power in the 160s–130s triggered another power-transition crisis that brought an end to Seleucid hegemony over the Middle East permanently. The crisis facilitated the rapid transformation of the Parthian state from a minor kingdom to a major empire, drastically changing the international environment of the ancient world.

The State of Nutrition in the Arab Middle East, by Vinavak N. Patwardhan, Ph.D., and William J. Darby, M.D., Ph.D. Nashville, Tennessee: Vanderbilt University Press, 1972, 308 pp., $15

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 630-630
Author(s):  
Mahin Sadre
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
The State ◽  
Nutrition Surveys ◽  
Detailed Review ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Vanderbilt University ◽  
Unpublished Research ◽  
Arab Middle East

Drs. Patwardhan and Darby have awarded the medical world with a fine and richly detailed review of the state of nutrition in the Arab Middle East. Their book is based on published and/or unpublished research findings and data on nutrition surveys in those countries chosen for their subject. The geographical location of study is a veritable storehouse for in-depth studies in nutrition; however, the authors repeatedly deplore the insufficiency and limitation of available data due perhaps to political and certainly to cultural factors.

The Open Society and the Democracy to Come: Bergson, Deleuze and Guattari

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 352-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Baugh
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
The State ◽  
Open Society ◽  
Minor Literature ◽  
Deleuze And Guattari ◽  
The People ◽  
To Come ◽  
Polar Opposite ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Gain Access

In Bergsonism, Deleuze refers to Bergson's concept of an ‘open society’, which would be a ‘society of creators’ who gain access to the ‘open creative totality’ through acting and creating. Deleuze and Guattari's political philosophy is oriented toward the goal of such an open society. This would be a democracy, but not in the sense of the rule of the actually existing people, but the rule of ‘the people to come,’ for in the actually existing situation, such a people is ‘lacking’. When the people becomes a society of creators, the result is a society open to the future, creativity and the new. Their openness and creative freedom is the polar opposite of the conformism and ‘herd mentality’ condemned by Deleuze and Nietzsche, a mentality which is the basis of all narrow nationalisms (of ethnicity, race, religion and creed). It is the freedom of creating and commanding, not the Kantian freedom to obey Reason and the State. This paper uses Bergson's The Two Sources of Morality and Religion, and Deleuze and Guattari's Kafka: For a Minor Literature, A Thousand Plateaus and What is Philosophy? to sketch Deleuze and Guattari's conception of the open society and of a democracy that remains ‘to come’.

Iraq's regional standing In the International Competition situation in the Middle East

2019 ◽  
pp. 484
Author(s):  
Arkan Ibrahim Adwan
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
The State ◽  
International Competition ◽  
Regional Powers ◽  
Competition Situation

The researcher aimed to identify the most important elements of power for the state of Iraq. As a historically had a country of prestige and influence in its regional, which has made it very important to global and regional powers, in order to achieve their interests in the region.

Fragmentation as a Challenge: Tribal and Sectrarian Identities in the Middle East

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-85
Author(s):  
Kleanthis Kyriakidis
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Arabian Gulf ◽  
The State ◽  
Islamic Revolution ◽  
Direct Response ◽  
Tribal Identity ◽  
Gulf States ◽  
The Ideal

In the Arabian Gulf two identities can be really considered almost as important as the national one: the tribal and the sectarian ones. Someone should expect that the reinforcement of these identities is a direct response to inequality and processes of exclusion. Furthermore, parochial tribalism is expected to arise as the protector of cultural heritage, especially in a region where the ex-pats vastly outnumber the locals. Nonetheless, both statements are far from truth. In this paper we will analyze how in the Gulf, sectarian identity came to play a significant role only after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran and it keeps on surviving through mainly instigations and Iranian propaganda, provocations and support. It should be noted that Sunni identity has been allegedly subjugated in other Middle East States (mainly in Syria and Iraq) but in the Gulf the sectarian challenge stems from the Shia communities, openly supported by Tehran. Strangely enough, the tribal identity does not pose that much of a challenge, since tribes are more the friend than the enemy of all Gulf States. Actually, these countries could not have survived without the loyalty and commitment of the tribes not only to the Royal families but also to the idea of the State and the ideal of the Nation – and Gulf Nations do protect their cultural heritage. Keywords: Gulf, Globalization, Fragmentation, Sectarianism, Tribalism

Reign of Arrows

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolaus Leo Overtoom
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
World State ◽  
State Security ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
International Environment ◽  
Hellenistic World ◽  
Material Evidence ◽  
Comprehensive Study

From minor nomadic tribe to major world empire, the story of the Parthians’ success in the ancient world is nothing short of remarkable. In their early history, the Parthians benefited from strong leadership, a flexible and accommodating cultural identity, and innovative military characteristics that allowed them to compete against and indeed eventually overcome Greek, Persian, Central Asian, and eventually Roman rivals who were often more powerful. Reign of Arrows provides the first comprehensive study dedicated entirely to early Parthian history within the Hellenistic world prior to contact with Rome and the first comprehensive effort since 1938 to evaluate early Parthian political history. It is a major effort to synthesize a wide array of especially recent scholarship across numerous fields of study in order to present the reader with the most cogent, well-rounded, and up-to-date account of the intersections of Hellenistic and Parthian history possible. It draws on a wide variety of sources to explain the political and military encounters that shaped the international environment of the Hellenistic Middle East from the middle third to the early first centuries BCE. This study treats broader issues of international relations in the ancient world, state decision-making, royal identity and ideology, evolving spatial perspectives and power relations, and state security concerns. It combines traditional historical approaches, such as source criticism and the integration of material evidence, with the incorporation of modern international relations theory to better examine the rise of the Parthians to dominance over the ancient Middle East.

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