Brief learning objectives have been made available by the author, to assist you with your studies.

This chapter will enable a greater understanding of:

• The size and relative power of military forces across the region.

• The impacts of ongoing territorial disputes in the Middle East and North Africa.

• The significance of nuclear proliferation and the impacts of Israeli and Iranian nuclear programmes.

• The development of sub-state and trans-state terrorism and political violence in the region and its global impacts.

• The ramifications of the ‘War on Terror’ in the Middle East and North Africa.