Title: The politics of chaos in the Middle East
First published: 2008
Description: In this book, Olivier Roy, Europe's leading scholar of political Islam, argues that the consequences of the "war on terror" have artificially conflated conflicts in the Middle East in such a way that they appear to be the expression of a widespread "Muslim anger" against the West. But in reality, there are no us and them. Instead, the West faces an array of "reverse alliances" that operate according to their own logic and dynamics.

The West supports General Musharraf in Pakistan, yet his military intelligence services are in league with the Taliban; in Iraq, the United States shores up a government that is closely linked to its archenemy, Iran; Iraqi Kurds, allies of the Americans, give sanctuary to the PKK, an adversary of a fellow NATO member, Turkey; while the Saudis support the Iraqi Sunnis who are, in turn, fighting Coalition forces. As if these issues were not complicated enough, the ever-worsening Shia-Sunni divide now threatens to disrupt any future strategic planning the West might attempt in the Middle East.

Roy unravels the complexity of these conflicts in order to better understand the political discontent that sustains them. He also emphasizes that the war on terror should not be regarded merely as a geopolitical blunder committed by a fringe group of neoconservatives. It is instead a problematic outgrowth of our deeply rooted Western perceptions of the Middle East, including the belief that Islam, rather than politics, is the overarching factor in these conflicts, thus explaining the West's support for either would-be secular democrats or (more or less) benign dictators. Roy's conclusion argues that the West has no alternative but to engage in a dialogue with the political forces that truly matternamely the Islamo-nationalists of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Subjects: Politics and government, Foreign relations, War on Terrorism, 2001-, World politics, Islam and politics, Iraq War, 2003-, War on Terrorism, 2001-2009, Iraq War, 2003-2011, Middle east, politics and government, United states, politics and government, 2001-2009, Middle east, foreign relations, united states, United states, foreign relations, middle east
Places: Middle East, United States
Time periods: 2001-, 21st century
LC classification: DS63.1 .R6913 2008