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Introduction When hundreds of thousands of people poured into the central public squares and traffic roundabouts of capital cities in the Middle East and North Africa, demand- ing political change, regional analysts admitted surprise, while people around the world paid attention. The wave of protest movements in 2011, which overthrew the governments of Tunisia and Egypt, initially inspired hope that people in this region might gain greater political freedom. These dreams died in the civil wars that developed in Yemen and Syria. When the government of Mohamed Morsi in Egypt turned dictatorial, and the military replaced him, it also reinforced the value of gaining a deeper understanding of the regional dynamics of conflict. This book offers a strong foundation and starting point for research in these issues. The story of conflict in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) offers inspi- ration from the lives of heroic personalities striving for liberty, and also warning from the monstrous behavior of leaders who terrorize their people and destroy their own countries to hold on to power. This chronicle gained global attention due to technological advancements enabling vast numbers of people not only to access information, but also to produce and broadcast video to the world. Their narrative, portraying the pain of everyday life, the suffering of the people, and their griev- ances against their governments, fueled the spread of protests, and drew the atten- tion of the world. Tarek al-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia and Khaled Said in Egypt became internationally renowned as martyrs for the cause of freedom. However, the meaning that outsiders impute to the deaths of the thousands of people killed in these conflicts, and the hundreds of thousands displaced and driven into exile, reflects in part the history of the region, its demographic compo- sition, the character of the people and their values, the nature of their political systems, and the involvement of other states. The following introduction provides that background. CHANGING FORMS OF CONFLICT When European states grew in power after the Industrial Revolution, they began seeking resources, extracted from colonies all over the world. Their military