'Ewan Stein has delivered a sophisticated and innovative rethinking of the international relations of the Middle East. By highlighting the domestic benefits of ideological ambition abroad and the importance of securing external patrons, Stein offers a new reading of regional international history which challenges prevailing theories and opens up new vistas for constructivist theories of regional politics.' Marc Lynch, The George Washington University'Ewan Stein has produced a deeply ambitious text that works as both an introduction to the international relations of the Middle East, and as a valuable contribution to a set of enduring debates about how to understand the regional order. By framing the international politics of the Middle East in terms of competition for external support and ideological positioning, Stein provides an original and compelling account of how to understand how the dynamics of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the War on Terror, the Arab Uprisings and regional armed conflict - one that must be taken seriously by anyone interested in global politics today.' Dr Glen Rangwala, University of Cambridge Biografía del autor Ewan Stein is a Senior lecturer in International Relations at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of Representing Israel in Modern Egypt: Ideas, Intellectuals and Foreign Policy from Nasser to Mubarak (2012) and editor of Intellectual Dynamics in the Middle East and North Africa (2015).