No region of the world has been more affected by the forces of instability and the factors of war and insecurity than has the Middle East. The area has seen more violence and conflict in the last three or four decades than all of the other world regions put together. Moreover, conflict in the area has an international significance far beyond its borders. These events and issues have also been of the greatest international and academic interest, with much study generated.

The editor’s choice of materials in this new Routledge collection is based on an effort to cover a full range of issues concerning external and internal threats to the stability of Middle Eastern states as well as the means by which they try to ensure their security both at home and abroad. The topics include military, ideological, sub-national, Islamist, and economic challenges. In geographic terms it encompasses the greater Middle East: the Arab world, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, and Afghanistan.