ABSTRACT
The occasion o f Paul Noble’s retirement provides an appropriate moment for us to reflect on the study o f international relations and the Middle East. Specialists in these fields are indebted to ‘the Montreal school’ in general and to Paul Noble in particular for their contributions to the discipline. His classic analysis o f ‘the Arab system’1 has been a cornerstone reading for many students for nearly two decades, and his more recent work2 has helped us unravel the multiple, divergent effects of the post-Cold War environment on the prospects for inter-Arab cooperation in the new century. With his exemplary scholarly comprehensiveness, diligence and clarity to guide us, perhaps we will be inspired in our effort to interpret the extraordinary changes o f recent decades in the region and the world.
