Dexter Filkins in today’s New York Times Book Review looks at two recent volumes: Olivier Roy. The Politics of Chaos in the Middle East, trans. by Ros Schwartz. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008; and Noah Feldman, The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008.
Roy’s book comes out ahead in Filkins’ rating. Among Roy’s conclusions: conditions have gone so bad that a Palestinian state is probably impossible; the actions of non-state actors like HAMAS and Hizbullah and increasing sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shiites are contributing to the growing chaos in the region; and Iran is changing the balance of power in the region at the expense of Sunni regimes.
Feldman’s thesis - that the region’s salvation might just be Islamic Sharia law - causes Filkins to shake his head. Filkins thinks even Feldman seems to have doubts in the end and finds more credible Feldman’s conclusion that Muslim countries, in order to reach stability, must build “‘institutions that perceive themselves and are perceived by the public as committed to the rule of law.’”
See: Dexter Filkins, “The Rule of Law,” New York Times Book Review, April 27, 2008.
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