Book Review
| Author | NAVEED S. SHEIKH |
| Published date | 01 June 2002 |
| Date | 01 June 2002 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00108360221962703 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
• Birthe Hansen, Unipolarity and the Middle East. Richmond: Curzon
Press, 2000.288 pp. ISBN 0700709894
Having spent childhood and adolescence in that state, one is only too
pleased to observe that Denmark, a geographic and strategic Lilliputian
realm, has entered the international scene of professional academia in a
grand style reminiscent of David’s fearless challenge to Goliathan
supremacy.Within the discipline of security studies,the Copenhagen School
represented by Barry Buzan (admittedly,imported labour) and Ole Waever
(truly Danish design) has occasioned much debate. So, I predict, will Birthe
Hansen, a new player in the field, albeit one whose ballgame would meet
scepticism, and perhaps outright dismissal,by post-positivists and discursive
fundamentalists such as Waever & Co.
Hansen, self-acknowledgedly, is a fundamentalist, too, but of an alto-
gether different brand. Notwithstanding the onslaught on neo-realism from
quarters as diverse as postmodernism, constructivism and critical theory
having seriously undermined neo-realist premises, she remains faithful to
the ontological and epistemological assumptions of that paradigm. Indeed,
she is blunt about declaring herself a disciple of Waltz and Karsh, whom she
cites cumulatively well over a hundred times in the course of her exposi-
tion. Thus five stars for originality: shameless conceptual orthodoxy, rather
than another homebrewed brand.
Unipolarity and the Middle East (with no subtitle but the pervasive sub-
text ‘in defence of neo-realist orthodoxy’) deals with both the theory and
politics of unipolarity as it relates to the Middle-Eastern order. She is well
at home in either arena, laying the ground with a trilogy of theoretical chap-
ters during which she makes explicit her assumptions pertaining to neo-
realist analysis, bipolarity and unipolarity, albeit all too frequently
repetitive. She bridges her theory and policy analysis with a brief descrip-
tion of the ‘US world order’ (an analytical category); and proceeds to indi-
vidual chapters that discuss important events in the post-bipolar
transformation of the Middle East. These include the (re)unification of the
Yemens, the invasion of Kuwait, Operations Desert Shield and Desert
Storm, developments in Lebanon and Western Sahara, along with a discus-
sion of the Arab–Israeli peace process. Throughout, Hansen displays a
hard-earned tendency to distinguish broad (allegedly systemic) patterns
from complex/complicating details on geopolitical wrestling in the issues at
stake; thus producing a crisp and readable narrative,suitable even for late-
night reading. A vast number of linguistic eccentricities (spelling, syntax
and inflection), however,serve to lessen the quality of the prose; though this
is almost inescapable when thinking in one language and writing in another.
Still, on the more substantive level, Hansen’s narrative is no less prob-
lematic.
Cooperation and Conflict: Journal of the Nordic International Studies Association
Vol.37(2): 233–236. Copyright ©2002 NISA
Sage Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi)
0010-8367[200206]37:2;233–236;023986
BOOK REVIEW
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