Israel in a Turbulent Region: Security and Foreign Policy

This anthology examines and deconstructs what Israeli security looks like and how its various security identities have evolved both before the establishment of the state and in the years and decades since 1948. It casts light on how aspects of Israel’s foreign relations have been shaped as much by internal politics as by external challenge. Further, not only does it answer the questions surrounding Israel’s past, but examines carefully what type of country it has now become.

Compared to much of the turbulence in the region, Israel’s diplomacies have been remarkably resilient and inventive. With the background of 100th anniversary of the Balfour declaration this book is a multidisciplinary study using several different methodological approaches; from discursive analyses, to theories of memories and identity, to interviews with Israeli soldiers in the field, to a legal approach to the topic, as well as International Relations studies and traditional archival studies. South Africa was one of Israel’s main partners in terms of security cooperation and weapons research and development until the fall of the apartheid regime. This has been compensated with Israel opening up diplomatic relations with China (1991) and India (1992) and extending its ties with Japan. While the EU often criticize Israel’s policies against the Palestinians, this is mostly rhetoric as for practical purposes Israel is like a member of the EU.

This comprehensive volume studying contemporary Israel is an invaluable resource for students and scholars interested in Foreign and Security Policy, Israel and the Middle East.

Tore T. Petersen is Professor of Diplomatic History at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim. He has thought at the University of Minnesota; Southwest University in Marshall, Minnesota as well as several colleges in the Trondheim region before joining the NTNU. He has published extensively on Anglo-American relations in the Middle East. His last book was, The Military Conquest of the Prairie: Native American Resistance, Evasion and Survival, 1865–1890 (2016). He is currently working on a study of American Grand Strategy from Nixon to Trump.