This edited volume discusses security policy and strategic policymaking in the Middle East region. Due to its unique geopolitical, geoeconomic and geostrategic features, the Middle East region has been confronted with challenging security issues. Combined with a lack of an efficient regional security regime this has led to the formation of a full-fledged arms race which is contrary to recent efforts aimed at arms control at the regional and international levels. This book draws together contributions from international experts to address the factors that have been contributing to the ongoing formation of an arms race in the Middle East as well as the impact of this phenomenon on the regional and global security environment. The book is organized in four sections. The first section outlines conceptual and historical perspectives on the arms race in the Middle East, including approaches from international relations, defense economics, and area studies. Section Two provides a multi-faceted overview of current arms races in the Middle East, by focusing on its most recent dynamics and their implications for regional and international security. The third section conducts systematic case studies of country-specific drivers of the arms race. The fourth and final section examines role of external actors in the arms race, evaluating both the responses of regional actors to external interventions as well as the implications of the arms race for extra-regional countries. weiterlesen