America and the Persian Gulf The Third-Party Dimension in World Politics by Steve A. Yetiv. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1995, 180 pp. with tables, appendix, bibliography, and index.

Abstract

Steve A. Yetiv, an assistant professor of political science at Old Dominion
University in Virginia and a research affiliate at the Center for Middle Eastern
Studies at Harvard University, has written a most interesting book on what he
calls the "third-party dimension in world politics." Based on his doctoral dissertation, Yetiv’s thesis, which at first glance seems a simple and natural way to
view the cause-and-effect relationships of historical events and conflicts, is far
more complex. No “domino theory,” which focuses on the primary actors, the
third-party dimension in world politics, as its name implies, focuses on the
“third-party” actor, or actors, vis-8-vis events on the world stage.
Primarily concerned with how conflict in the Persian Gulf area in the late
1970’s, 1980’s and early 1990’s affected the United States’ position in the
Middle East, America and the Persian Gulf generally examines the third-party
situation and, in particular, how its position changes-for better or worse-as a
result of the actions of the main participants and other third parties who are
active or passive participants in diplomatic crises, conflicts, and revolutions.
Furthermore, in emphasizing its importance, Professor Yetiv writes that by
examining “the conditions under which the third party is weakened or strengthened
by conflict. . . we may learn more about the utility of statecraft, the politics
of rapidly changing conflictual regions of the world, conflict processes and
outcomes, and conflict avoidance and resolution.” He goes on to state that “the
study of the third party will tell us something about the third party itself be it a
state, an international organization, or some other actor in world politics.” Last
but not least, it “can also inform us about the context in which the third party
plays a role, the long-term role of the third party in that context, other contexts
which the third party affects, and the nature and impact of conflict in general”
(p. 158).