Book review: Proche-orient: le pouvoir, la terre et l’eau

"Proche-Orient: Le Pouvoir, La Terre et L’Eau." Pierre Blanc. SciencesPo Les Presses. September 2012. --- In the arid Near East region, water and land resources are the object of rivalries and intense power struggles; and agriculture, by far the biggest user of land and water, lies at the heart of power strategies, sovereignty and security. Proche-Orient considers agriculture’s central role in conflicts and power strategies, with Melanie Conroy finding that Pierre Blanc is absolutely right that the Middle East cannot be understood without reference to its complex politics of water.