From "the world's powder keg" and "terror" to the recent "Arab Spring," the political realities of the Middle East as we know them are among the most pressing issues in contemporary international politics.

Regarding such a Middle East, Professor Choi Seong-gwon of our university, in his book Reexamining the Middle East: International Politics (Hanul, 2011), states, "The Middle East should be understood not as a policy object seen from a Western perspective but as the trajectory of Middle Eastern peoples' active lives."

The book prompts reflection that negative or narrow perspectives on the Middle East were not primarily self-generated but were constructed by Western powers such as the United States and European countries.

This book, in which Professor Choi presents diverse perspectives and discourses on Middle Eastern international politics, was selected as an Outstanding Academic Book by the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Korea in 2012.

The book is composed of Part I, "Analysis of Modern Middle Eastern International Politics," and Part II, "The Present and Future of the Middle East." It reexamines Middle Eastern international politics from World War I to the present.

The work holds high academic value both because it represents an achievement in an academic community where Middle East specialists are rare and because the author himself sought to interpret Middle Eastern political realities from a "new perspective."

Professor Choi emphasizes that, although the Arab–Israeli confrontation is the Middle East's most painful problem, it is not the essential problem of Middle Eastern politics. He insists that to properly understand the truth about the Middle East, we need a new perspective that views the region not only negatively through Western eyes but as the trajectory of its peoples' active lives.

In particular, Professor Choi recently published Reexamining the Middle East: History, which serves as the foundation for this book and attempts a fundamental examination of Middle Eastern civilizations and the world of Islam within a historical context.

Through this book, Professor Choi points out that, among the historical facts we learn in world history, content about the Middle East is often treated as a passive object. He seeks to overcome Westerners' reluctance to accept non‑Christian histories and to newly portray politics and history in which Middle Eastern peoples are agents.