From Deep State to Islamic State: The Arab Counter-Revolution and its Jihadi Legacy. By Jean-Pierre Filiu. Oxford University Press; 311 pages; $24.95. Hurst; £15.99.
THE Arab spring unleashed more than hopes for change in one of the world’s most politically repressive regions. It also inspired a wave of books heralding the freedom and democracy about to engulf the Middle East. Now, as the tide of history has gone out with a vengeance, exposing violent ideologies, raging civil wars and renewed despair, comes a sobering reappraisal of where it all went wrong.
Among authors trying to make sense of why the uprisings of 2011 largely failed, Jean-Pierre Filiu stands out. His new book combines passion, scholarship and insight to present a convincing explanation of the deep malaise afflicting the Arab world. Despite being a professor of Middle Eastern studies at Sciences Po in Paris, Mr Filiu is mercifully disdainful of academic jargon. What the Arabs are experiencing right now, he says bluntly, is a brutal counterrevolution, “this systematic war of the Arab regimes against their people”.
This judgment may...
from The Economist: Books and arts http://ift.tt/1Isq22L
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