Few issues in international affairs and energy security animate thinkers more than the classic topic of hegemony, and the case of the Persian Gulf presents particularly fertile ground for considering this concept. Since the 1970s, the region has undergone tumultuous changes, with dramatic shifts...

Pt. I: The West's East. Brussels : the new Rome ; The Russian devolution ; Ukraine : from border to bridge ; The Balkans : eastern questions ; Turkey : marching east and west ; The Caucasian corridor ; Conclusion : stretching Europe -- Pt. II: Affairs of the heartland. The Silk Road and the...

Introduction / Jonathan Friedman and Christopher Chase-Dunn -- Escaping a closed universe : world-system crisis, regional dynamics and the rise of Aegean palatial society / Johnny Persson -- The final collapse of the Mediterranean-Egyptian Near Eastern bronze age as a global systemic phenomenon...