This contribution to the Magill's Choice series examines crisis areas in the nations of the Middle East and South, Southeast, and East Asia. World Conflicts: Asia and the Middle East applies a broad definition to "Middle East" that encompasses the predominantly Muslim nations of both the eastern Mediterranean region and North Africa. As this definition corresponds closely to the U. S. State Department's definition of "Near East," the scope of the set should be familiar to both librarians and users.
The thirty-four articles in World Conflicts: Asia and the Middle East first appeared in Salem's World Conflicts and Confrontations (2000). They include every article in volume 3 of the latter set, as well as the four articles on North African nations that first appeared in the set's second volume. Two of the articles in World Conflicts: Asia and the Middle East cover broad regions (Middle East and Asia); the rest cover individual nations. All of these articles have been significantly updated.
The original World Conflicts and Confrontations set was designed to meet the needs of middle and high school students and others seeking clear explanations of what has been going on in the world's many troubled countries. As in that set, World Conflicts: Asia and the Middle East identifies the "hot spots" in Asia and the Middle East and offers in-depth analyses of the countries facing the most difficult and dangerous problems. The nations covered in individual essays have been selected because of the intensity of their recent and current conflicts, as well as the roles they play in the world as a whole. The essays on Asia and the Middle East explore regional patterns, analyzing why some countries within the regions have been more prone to conflict than have others.
A measure of the pace of events in the Middle East and Asia since World Conflicts and Confrontations was published only a few years ago is the volume of changes that had to be made to the articles to bring them up to date. Government leaders have risen and fallen, the specter of thermonuclear war has developed in both South and East Asia, and the struggle for Palestinian sovereignty has intensified. Perhaps most significantly, however, the Middle East has emerged as the presumed center of world terrorism, whose growing significance was dramatized by the devastating attacks on New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon building on September 11, 2001. Articles in these volumes take into account all these changes. Moreover, in addition to updating the essay texts, profiles, and time lines, the Editors have also added recent publications to the notes for further reading.
Each essay opens with a statement summarizing the most pressing problems of the country—or group of countries— followed by an analysis of the origins, nature, and history of these problems. Every article contains at least one map, a detailed time line emphasizing modern events, and a discussion of sources of further information, with special attention to the growing availability of the online resources of the World Wide Web. Basic facts and statistics pertaining to each country are summarized in boxed profiles that list the nations' common and official names, dates of independence, former colonial rulers (if any), locations, areas, capital cities, population sizes, official languages, major religions, gross domestic products, and major exports. This information, which draws primarily on the CIA World Factbook, has been brought as up to date as possible. As these volumes go to press in late March, 2003, the United States and Great Britain are attacking Iraq. Every attempt is being made to keep the articles as up to date as possible. However, it should be understood that the exigencies of page composition and production limit most last-minute changes and additions to the time lines.
As always, we wish to thank the many scholars who wrote the original articles appearing these volumes. Their names can be found in the list of contributors that follows this note. We are especially indebted to Professor Carl L. Bankston III of Tulane University, who wrote several original articles, served as Editor of this edition, and was primarily responsible for updating the articles.
World History
