Background information can help you prepare for further research by explaining all the issues related to your topic, especially when you're investigating a field that's unfamiliar to you. Getting more background information on a topic enables you to:
Before conducting in-depth research, it is important to gather information you have about your topic and consider what you still need to know. This can include dates, places, terminology, and names of persons/entities involved in events or phenomenon you’re studying. Reference tools like dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks are useful for this preliminary research phase.
Conflict in the Modern Middle East
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This book provides detailed coverage of all the key conflict-related developments since the Arab Spring, a seminal event that began in December 2010 and continues to have major influence on events in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond.This important reference offers readers a thorough understanding of the nature of the various conflicts that have erupted in the Middle East and North Africa following the Arab Spring. Clear and concise explanations of important concepts related to Islam, ideology, and ethnicity and the economic, social, and cultural forces propelling conflict and revolution in the region will enable readers to gain insight into key developments there. Biographical and organizational profiles combined with succinct overviews of each country provide a strong research foundation for students.The book offers detailed descriptions of the minority groups that have suffered violence from both the countries and the societies around them, sometimes generating refugee flows that engage neighboring states in security issues. It also discusses the role of women in the region during these turbulent times. Primary source documents and a chronology highlight political struggles to reach durable agreements and develop institutions to meet basic human needs in the modern Middle East.
Historical Dictionary of United States-Middle East Relations
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U.S. foreign relations in the Middle East has remained crucial through many decades and the complications facing the United States in the Middle East have become even more acute. While the United States downgraded its military operations in Iraq, that country failed to achieve a stable, democratic footing and instead experienced schism and civil strife. Israeli-Palestinian disputes over land, the status of refugees, and control of Jerusalem intensified, and international conflicts between Arab states and Israel escalated for the first time since the 1980s. The Arab Spring protest movements of 2011 and after ignited political turmoil across the region, leading to revolutionary change in several states and triggering persistent unrest and violence in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq. During the recent decade, in short, the Middle East has become the most unstable, dangerous, and complicated region of the world and the United States remains near the center of the maelstrom. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of United States-Middle East Relations contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on national leaders, non-governmental organizations, policy initiatives, and armed conflicts, as well as entries on such topics as intelligence, immigration, and weapons of mass destruction. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the US and Middle East Relations.
Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa
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In our age of globalization and multiculturalism, it has never been more important for Americans to understand and appreciate foreign cultures and how people live, love, and learn in areas of the world unfamiliar to most U.S. students and the general public. The four volumes in our cultural sociology reference encyclopedia take a step forward in this endeavor by presenting concise information on those regions likely to be most "foreign" to U.S. students: the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The intent is to convey what daily life is like for people in these selected regions. It is hoped entries within these volumes will aid readers in efforts to understand the importance of cultural sociology, to appreciate the effects of cultural forces around the world, and to learn the history of countries and cultures within these important regions.
