These elements, combined, make the study of the region increasingly relevant to the field of International Relations, especially after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, in the USA. The event started a new era in international politics, with direct impacts on the Middle East. This can be seen, for example, in the Iraq War in 2003. The consequences of the conflict, together with the events of the so-called Arab Spring, in 2011, led to the Syrian Civil War, contributing to the emergence of the Islamic State in 2014, which destabilized several countries in the region.
In that sense, MacQueen’s book An Introduction to Middle East Politics can be considered an important effort. The work, initially published in 2013 and expanded in 2018, aims to be a new model of textbooks about the Middle East. To accomplish this, the author uses an approach focused on issues such as democratization, political change, human rights and political economy. The second edition maintains almost the same structure as the first, changing only the order and the title of some chapters. Besides, it contains an additional chapter on the Syrian Civil War and its consequent refugee crisis. The phenomenon was still in its early stages, when the first edition was released, changing significantly in later years.
