Table of Contents

Part 1 The classical Eastern question - 1774-1923: when did the Eastern question begin?, the turbanned humpty dumpty, major regional power bids in the Greater Ottoman World, 1774-1923 - Ali Pasha, Muhammad Ali, the Serbs, the Greek revolt; the pattern of national liberation movements; non-nationalist Muslim challenges to the Ottoman system; established Middle Eastern political authority facing the Eastern question; conclusion - stability and flux. Part 2 New wine, old bottles: old/new Eastern question - the fertile crescent - Balkans of the twentieth century, continuing great power rivalries; Britain's Arab policy - the Ottoman background, moving toward the Arabs, Franco-British rivalry and the emerging Arab policy, the interwar illusion of Hegemony, World War II, pinnacle of success?, Palestine, decline and fall; Arabism in the Eastern question context; Arabism in the Eastern question context - the politics of Arab nationalism, fertile crescent Arabism, basic characteristics of interwar Arabism, Palestine and Arabism, the Nasser era, why did Nasserist Arabism fail?, Nasser and the Soviet Union, Nasser's failure - the Eastern question answer; after Britain's "moment" - the great power pattern in the Middle East; conclusion - stability and flux. Part 3 The Eastern question system at work: the myth of the great power puppeteer and regional puppets - twentieth-century examples, Eisenhower, 1953, Johnson, 1967, Nixon, 1970, Zumwalt, 1976; nineteenth-century examples - Hunkar Iskelesi, the second Syrian crisis, the Crimean war, the Eastern crisis, 1875-1878, the continuing game with new players; Eastern question systemic durability - an agenda for future research - the outside manipulator, the arms nexus, the Arab-Israeli confrontation in the Eastern question perspective, from concert of Europe to UN; conclusion: changes in the rules of the Eastern question game?; present policy options in the light of the Eastern question experience; the distinctive Middle Eastern diplomatic culture - a bibliographical essay. Appendices: Eastern question chronology 1774-1923; dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire 1774-1923; major regional power bids in the Greater Ottoman world from the beginning of the Eastern question to the outbreak of the First world War; established authority and the Eastern question - Ottoman Empire, Tunisia, and Egypt; Middle Eastern politics and international relations, 1919-1982.