State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East

Bibliographic Data

ID9799630
AuthorsM Yapp (corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume121
Issue491
Pages642-643
Publication date2006-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe English Historical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-8266 • E-ISSN: 1477-4534
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ehr/cel091
OpenAlexW2035091925
LanguageEN
Citations received18

This is the third edition of a text book which was first published in 1992 and is widely used by students of the Middle East. The present edition has been extended to cover briefly events subsequent to the terrorist attack on New York on 11 September 2001 via a new chapter 12, which is entitled ‘America attempts to remake the Middle East’. It is written with the caution and moderation which characterise this book; nevertheless through the chapter shines the author's bewilderment by, not to say contempt for, US policy in Iraq. Owen takes the story down to November 2003; it is doubtful if later events would have made him more enthusiastic for the adventure. For those who are unfamiliar with Owen's book it may be said that it is structured rather differently from the conventional text book. The author has tried to move away from a simple chronological treatment based primarily on the fortunes of the various states and to pick out some larger common themes in Middle Eastern development during the last hundred years. Part I deals with the emergence of the new states and broadly speaking considers the fortunes of the states separately: part II contemplates five themes, namely the political roles of economic restructuring, democracy, religious revival and the military, and the activities of non-state actors. The effort is praiseworthy and the book is always thoughtful, stimulating and knowledgeable, reflecting the benefits of Owen's long experience of teaching the subject. But the realities of the Middle East do conspire often to defeat the author's ambitions. Generalisations for the region as a whole usually fail and the structure commonly breaks down into four units: the Arab states, Turkey, Iran and Israel. Even the grouping of the Arab states (the heart of Owen's interest) frequently fails as a unit. Owen is often obliged to admit the difficulties. ‘The great diversity of the Middle East's experience of economic liberalization makes useful generalization difficult’, he writes. And this about one of the most important themes which he detects in recent Middle Eastern developments. And writing of the post-1990s period he concludes that the only way to capture the complexity of the story is to attend to ‘the question of sequency’, a truly horrible expression which means the chronology of events. Thus Owen reinstates a principle of organisation which he earlier rejected. Perhaps the heart of the difficulty is the unsteadiness of the concept of the Middle East itself, especially when it is also made to include North Africa. Still, when we divide up the world into our Procrustean segments for academic purposes we can do so with an awareness of the perils of the operation such as Owen displays throughout this book. It is another matter when politicians seek to make policies for such shimmering and treacherous units

Adventure · Art history · Contempt · Democracy · Media studies · Middle East · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · State (computer science · Subject (documents · Terrorism · Classics · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East

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