N O W I N PA P E R B A C K
N O W I N PA P E R B A C K
HAMAS CONTAINED
OILCRAFT
The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance
The Myths of Scarcity and Security That Haunt U.S. Energy Policy
TA R E Q B AC O N I
R O BE R T V I TA L I S
Hamas rules Gaza and the lives of the two million Palestinians who live there. Various accusations and critical assumptions have been used to justify extreme military action against Hamas, which is demonized in media and policy debates. The reality of Hamas is, of course, far more complex. Neither a democratic political party nor a terrorist group, Hamas is a multifaceted liberation organization, one rooted in the nationalist claims of the Palestinian people. Hamas Contained offers the first history of the group on its own terms. Drawing on interviews with organization leaders, as well as publications from the group, Tareq Baconi maps Hamas’s thirty-year transition from fringe military resistance toward governance. He breaks new ground in questioning the conventional understanding of Hamas and explores the implications of Israeli efforts to contain the movement in the Gaza Strip, further fragmenting the Palestinian struggle. Hamas Contained was shortlisted for the Palestine Book Award from MEMO, Middle East Monitor. Tareq Baconi is a former Senior Analyst for Palestine/Israel at the International Crisis Group, based in Ramallah. His writings have appeared in The Nation, Foreign Affairs, and The Guardian, and he has provided commentary on Middle East affairs to National Public Radio, Democracy Now, and Al Jazeera.
S TA N F O R D S T U D I E S I N M I D D L E E A S T E R N A N D I S L A M I C S O C I E T I E S A N D C U LT U R E S M AY 20 1 8 368 pages | 6 × 9 Paper $24.00 (£17.99) AC 9781503632622 Cloth $30.00 (£23.99) HC 9780804797412 eBook 9781503605817 General Interest / Middle East Studies / Politics
There is a conventional wisdom about oil—that the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf guarantees access to this strategic resource; that the “special” relationship with Saudi Arabia is necessary to stabilize a volatile market; and that these assumptions in turn provide Washington leverage over Europe and Asia. Robert Vitalis debunks these myths and reveals “oilcraft,” a line of magical thinking closer to witchcraft than statecraft. Oil is a commodity like any other: bought, sold, and subject to market forces. With this book, Vitalis exposes the suspect fears of oil scarcity and conflict, and investigates the significant geopolitical impact of these false beliefs. In particular, he shows how we can reconsider the question of the U.S.–Saudi special relationship. The House of Saud does many things for U.S. investors and government agencies, but guaranteeing the flow of oil isn’t one of them. Named to Foreign Policy’s 2021 summer reading list, Oilcraft offers a bracing corrective to the myths that have shaped U.S. economic, military, and diplomatic policy, and dispels our oil-soaked fantasies of dependence.
Robert Vitalis is Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. His books include America’s Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier (Stanford, 2007), named one of the best books of the year by the London Guardian and an essential read by Foreign Affairs, and White World Order, Black Power Politics: The Birth of American International Relations (2015).
J U LY 2020 240 pages | 5.5 × 8.5 Paper $22.00 (£16.99) AC 9781503632592 Cloth $24.00 (£18.99) HC 9781503600904 eBook 9781503612341 General Interest / Politics / International Relations / History / Middle East Studies S U P. O R G
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