Confronting the Costs of War: Military Power, State, and Society in Egypt and Israel

What determines the strategies by which a state mobilizes resources for war? And does war preparation strengthen or weaken the state in relation to society? In addressing these questions, Michael Barnett develops a novel theoretical framework that traces the connection between war preparation and changes in state-society relations, and applies that framework to Egypt from 1952 to 1977 and Israel from 1948 through 1977. Confronting the Costs of War addresses major issues in international relations, comparative politics, and Middle Eastern studies.

Michael N. Barnett is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin. The dissertation on which this book was based won the 1991 Gabriel Almond Prize of the American Political Science Association.