Armies of sand : the past, present, and future of Arab military effectiveness / Kenneth M. Pollack.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 611-645) and index.

Introduction : the Six-Day War and the mystery of Arab military ineffectiveness -- Pattens of Arab military performance -- Soviet doctrine -- The Soviet way of war -- Arab militaries and Soviet doctrine -- North Korea, Cuba, and Soviet doctrine -- Politicization -- Politicization -- Arab militaries and politicization : Egypt -- Arab militaries and politicization : Iraq -- Politicization and the South Vietnamese armed forces -- Politicization and the Argentine armed forces -- Underdevelopment -- Economic development and military effectiveness -- Economic development and Syrian military effectiveness -- Economic development and the Libya-Chad wars -- Economic development and Chinese military effectiveness -- Economic development and Arab military effectiveness -- Culture -- War and culture -- Arab culture as an explanation for military ineffectiveness -- Arab culture : patterns and predilections -- Arab culture and Arab military effectiveness -- Arab culture and civilian organizations -- Culture and education : the causal link -- Arab military training methods -- Exceptional Arab militaries : state armed forces -- Exceptional Arab militaries : non-state armies -- Conclusions : the past, present, and future of Arab military effectiveness.

Armies of Sand asks, 'why have Arab militaries fought so poorly in the modern era?' It examines the performance of over two-dozen Arab militaries from 1948 to 2017, and compares them to a half-dozen non-Arab militaries, to conclude that politics, economics, and culture all contributed to the past weakness of Arab armies.