Sujata Ashwarya, Israel’s Mediterranean Gas: Domestic Governance, Economic Impact and Strategic Implications
| Published date | 01 October 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020881720962890 |
| Author | S. Samuel C. Rajiv |
| Date | 01 October 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Book Review 409
the rest of the world, but politics is rather a lust for power, the realm of egotism,
violence and recurrence. States only prioritize self-interest and survival in an
anarchic international system. They cooperate with other states and help in
institution-building for preserving their own interests. Countries rise and fall over
periods of time. This time, it would be no different. Thus, merely wanting a
dominant country to cede its place to a new claimant may be pointless. Instead,
some practical and concrete mechanism should be devised for the upcoming
transfer of world power from the United States to China.
Nonetheless, Has the West Lost It? A Provocation is indeed a provocation,
which has tried to examine the underlying causes of Western decline and
recommended strategies for how the West could adjust to the changing realities of
world politics. The author’s overall assessment that the West must no longer
impose its ideology on the world and that it must stop seeking to intervene,
politically and militarily, in the affairs of other nations is apposite and even
necessary. It is a useful read, activating some critical questions and issues to
ponder over.
References
Acharya, A. (2014). The end of American world order. Polity Press.
Emmott, B. (2018). The fate of the West: The battle to save the world’s most successful
political idea. Economist Books.
Zakaria, F. (2009). The post-American world: And the rise of the rest. Penguin Books.
Syed Eesar Mehdi
Doctoral Scholar,
Department of International Relations,
South Asian University,
New Delhi, India
E-mail: eesar.mehdi@gmail.com
Sujata Ashwarya, Israel’s Mediterranean Gas: Domestic Governance,
Economic Impact and Strategic Implications (New Delhi: Routledge,
2019; South Asia Edition), 312 pp., `1,495. ISBN: 978-0367375034
(hardcover)
DOI: 10.1177/0020881720962890
Israel has had an eventful journey in the two decades that it discovered natural gas
in the waters of the eastern Mediterranean abutting its coastline. For a country that
was almost entirely dependent on imports for meeting its energy requirements, the
discoveries at the beginning of the new century led to the accrual of enormous
economic benefits domestically. It has also opened up spaces for the pursuit of
economic well-being with regional countries.
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