Lexington Books Rising Powers and the Arab-Israeli Conflict since 1947

What has been the role of rising powers in the Arab-Israeli conflict? What does this tell us about rising powers and conflict management as well as rising powers' behavior in the world more generally? This book studies the way that five rising powers-Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the BRICS countries-have approached the conflict since it first became internationalized in 1947. Conflict management consists of different methods, from peacekeeping to mediation and the use of economic incentives and sanctions and (non)enforcement of international legal decisions. What distinguishes them is whether they are active or passive: active measures seek to transform a conflict and resolve it; passive measures seek to ameliorate its worst effects, but do not change their underlying causes. Since 1947 rising powers' active or passive use of these methods has coincided with their rise and fall and rise again in the international system. Those rises and falls are tied to global changes, including the Cold War, the emergence of the Third World, economic and ideological retrenchment of the 1980s and 1990s and the shift from unipolarity to multipolarity after 2000. In summary, rising powers' management of the Arab-Israeli conflict has shifted from active to more passive methods since 1947. Their actions have occurred alongside two key changes within the conflict. One is the shift from a primarily state-based conflict between Israel and the Arabs to one that is more ethnic and territorial in scope, between Israel and the Palestinians. The other the emergence of the Oslo framework which has frozen power imbalance between Israel and the Palestinians since 1993. By pursuing the Oslo process, rising powers have separated conflict management from developing 'normal' diplomatic and economic exchanges with Israel and the Palestinians. In adopting this more passive conflict management approach, rising powers are disregarding both emerging alternatives that may potentially transform the conflict's dynamics (including involvement with civil society actors like the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement) and undertaking more active efforts at conflict resolution-and presenting themselves as global powers. Review It is truly impressive that Burton mastered knowledge of such a temporal and geographic reach: seven decades of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as domestic and foreign policies of these five BRICS states.--The Journal of Palestine Studies In this relatively slim but fascinating and comprehensive book, Dr. Guy Burton, Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government in Dubai, offers a succinct account of the foreign policies of India, Brazil, South Africa, China, and the Soviet Union (Russia after 1991) regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict from 1947 to the present. . . . Burton's book is an excellent read for students of international relations in general, and those interested in the history and evolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict in particular. The author's historical description is brilliant and pointed, and his (perhaps too) brief analysis that concludes every historical chapter is also very illuminating. It is especially refreshing to learn about BRICS involvement (or relative lack thereof) in managing and resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict, distinguishing itself from the myriad studies dealing with the United States and Europe. I strongly recommend his book as a balanced account of the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, told from the perspective of middle/rising powers. Burton accomplishes what he set out to do, producing a sophisticated study that is directed at those interested in the evolution of the international system, the role of regional and emerging powers, and the never-ending story of conflict management and failed attempts at peaceful resolution.--Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs Guy Burton's book is a highly timely and readable accoun