Space Science and the Arab World: Astronauts, Observatories and Nationalism in the Middle East

Abstract

gency bargaining (p. 93). Saudi overtures to Khatami are explained in terms of long-term strategic calculations, along with deepening irritation at Washington (p. 109). The notable improvement in Saudi-Iranian relations that took place in early 1998 occurred because “both countries were facing economic problems due to a very low [world] oil price and were anxious to cooperate to solve these difficulties” (p. 117). On the other hand, the unprecedented bilateral security agreement that was signed in April 2001 might well have been connected to struggles between the ministry of defense and the ministry of the interior (p. 119), although evidence for this contest appears to be drawn from a competing study. It has becomecommonplace to grouse that the existing scholarship on foreign policy in theMiddle East and North Africa ignores domestic determinants, and overemphasizes the importance of leaders’ idiosyncrasies and systemic circumstances. Fahad Alsultan and Pedram Saeid echo such complaints and promise to give us an alternative perspective that highlights a wide range of other independent variables. Nevertheless, their account does little to push things forward conceptually, and the evaluative framework that is presented at the outset vanishes from the ensuing narrative.