This issue of Middle East Report identifies new methods through which powerful states and transnational actors intervene across the region.  These are found under the guise of humanitarian assistance, democracy promotion or border security—as well as through new methods like urban planning, infrastructure development, crisis research and deprivation—what might also be called biopolitical interventions.  While we still see traditional forms of imperial intervention through direct military force, there are increasingly new forms of intervention that must be understood, assessed and mapped.