What Next for Britain in the Middle East?

As the UK enters a period of intense public introspection in the wake of Brexit, this book takes on one of the key questions emerging from the divisive process: what is Britain’s place in the world? The Middle East is one of the regions the UK has been most engaged in historically. This book assesses the drivers of foreign policy successes and failures and asks if there is a way to revitalise British influence in the region, and if this is even desirable.

The book analyses the values, trade and security concerns that drive the UK’s foreign policy. There are separate chapters on the non- Arab powers – Israel, Turkey and Iran – as well as chapters on the Middle Eastern Arab states and regions including the Gulf, Iraq, Egypt, and Syria and the Levant. The contributions are from leading specialists in the field: Rosemary Hollis, Michael Clarke, Ian Black, Bill Park, Christopher Phillips, Sanam Vakil, Michael Stephens and Louise Kettle. They each explain and re-assess the declining western influence and continued instability in the region and what this means for the UK’s priorities and strategy towards the MENA. This is an essential book for policy makers, journalists and researchers focused on foreign policy towards the Middle East.

Christopher Phillips is Reader in International Relations at Queen Mary, University of London, U.K and associate fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. He has written for The Guardian, The Washington Post, Newsweek and CNN, among others. He has also made numerous media appearances on outlets including BBC Newsnight, Radio 4’s Today Programme, BBC News, Al-Jazeera, Sky News and Channel 4 News. He is the author of The Battle for Syria: International Rivalry in the new Middle East (2016).

Michael Stephens is a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), and an Associate Fellow at RUSI where he previously worked as the Research Fellow for Middle East Studies. Michael was seconded to the Foreign and Commonwealth in 2017 serving as the Senior Research Analyst for Lebanon and Syria. He is a regular broadcast commentator and has written for many of the world’s top news publications.