ABSTRACT
Throughout the twentieth century, the Middle East remained as an arena of incessant conflict attracting global attention. As the recent developments in Israel/Palestine and the US-led war on Iraq have showed, it is difficult to exaggerate the significance of Middle Eastern insecurities for world politics. By adopting a critical approach to re-think security in the Middle East, this study addresses an issue that continues to attract the attention of students of world politics. Focusing on the constitutive relationship between (inventing) regions, and (conceptions and practices of) security, the study argues that the current state of ‘regional security’ – often a euphemism for regional insecurities – has its roots in practices that have throughout history been shaped by its various representations – the geopolitical inventions of security. In doing this, it lays out the contours of a framework for thinking differently about regional security in the Middle East.
