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Summary
Summary
A stunning exploration of the Greater Middle East, where lasting stability has often seemed just out of reach but may hold the key to the shifting world order of the twenty-first century
"Engaging . . . Even those who resist Kaplan's tragic sensibility have much to learn from his look at the emerging Middle East and its recent history."- National Review
The Greater Middle East, which Robert D. Kaplan defines as the vast region between the Mediterranean and China, encompassing much of the Arab world, parts of northern Africa, and Asia, existed for millennia as the crossroads of empire- Macedonian, Roman, Persian, Mongol, Ottoman, British, Soviet, American.But with the dissolution of empires in the twentieth century, postcolonial states have endeavored to maintain stability in the face of power struggles between factions, leadership vacuums, and the arbitrary borders drawn by exiting imperial rulers with little regard for geography or political groups on the ground. In the Loom of Time , Kaplan explores this broad, fraught space through reporting and travel writing to reveal deeper truths about the impacts of history on the present and how the requirements of stability over anarchy are often in conflict with the ideals of democratic governance.
In The Loom of Time , Kaplanmakes the case for realism as an approach to the Greater Middle East.Just as Western attempts at democracy promotion across the Middle East have failed, a new form of economic imperialism is emerging today asChina's ambitions fall squarely within the region as the key link between Europe and East Asia. As in the past, the Greater Middle East will be a register of future great power struggles across the globe. And like in the past, thousands of years of imperial rule will continue to cast a long shadow on politics as it is practiced today.
To piece together the history of this remarkable place and what it suggests for the future, Kaplan weaves together classic texts, immersive travel writing, and a great variety of voices from every country that all compel the reader to look closely at the realities on the ground and to prioritize these facts over ideals on paper. The Loom of Time is a challenging, clear-eyed book that promises to reframe our vision of the global twenty-first century.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The vast Muslim heartland of Afro-Eurasia is a tumult that might find stability and prosperity but rarely democracy, according to this sweeping geopolitical meditation. Drawing on travelogue, interviews, scholarly literature, and 50 years of reporting on the region, Kaplan (The Coming Anarchy) surveys a "Greater Middle East" stretching from the Nile to the Uyghur community of Xinjiang, China. In Istanbul he ponders President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's turn from secularism toward a reprise of the Ottoman Empire. In Cairo he notes Egyptians' preference for Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's stolid dictatorship over the chaos of the elected Islamist government of Mohammad Morsi. He deplores Iran's "bleak, radical, utterly despised, and dysfunctional" theocracy but holds out hope that the ancient civilization might attain liberal democracy. From these and other examples, Kaplan distills larger themes: geography is destiny; the West's modernizing influence has energized the region's oscillation between secular dictatorship and Islamist reaction; and that "along with empire, monarchy is the most natural form of government," so that a competent, nonideological autocrat may be preferable to an anarchic democracy. (He somewhat credulously paints Saudi crown prince Muhammad bin Salman as a dynamic ruler who is liberalizing Saudi society.) Some may criticize Kaplan's conservative outlook and grand pronouncements, but he offers much provocative food for thought. (Aug.)
Kirkus Review
The bestselling author specializing in geopolitics returns to the Middle East to deliver another tour de force. Drawing on 50 years of experience interviewing officials, intellectuals, historians, and fellow journalists and reading seemingly every history and scholarly work from Herodotus to Gibbon to Toynbee, Kaplan is convinced that "the big story in the Middle East today is not necessarily the failure of democracy--but the departure of empire." After the breakup of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, Britain and France had their moments, followed by the U.S and the Soviet Union. The 1991 Soviet collapse and disastrous U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan delivered the kiss of death, so "for the first time in modern history the region is in a post-imperial phase." Western scholars deplore empires, but nations with an ancient imperial tradition (Turkey, Iran, China) have no doubt that the world can benefit from their cultures. That humans yearn for democracy is a peculiarly Western fantasy. In reality, given a choice between dictatorship and disorder, a large percentage of the population, Americans included, prefers the former. In Turkey, Recep Erdoğan has been in office for two decades, evolving into another democratically elected autocrat. He has embraced Islamism, reversed national idol Kemal Ataturk's fierce secularization, and revived the expansiveness of the former Ottoman Empire, which Turks have always admired. Egypt is still recovering from the Arab Spring, during which the Muslim Brotherhood won a free election but could not establish order, so most Egyptians did not object when the nation's military returned to power. Kaplan points out that the U.S. regularly denounces lack of democracy throughout this region, from Libya to Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, and Iraq, apparently unaware that this would mean government by Islamists whose rule in Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan does not inspire confidence. American officials urge these nations to adopt progressive policies absent in the U.S. until recently. As always, the author offers much food for thought about a variety of geopolitical issues. Little encouraging news but brilliantly delivered. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Prolific foreign affairs expert Kaplan (The Good American, 2020) continues to emphasize the geopolitical significance of the "Greater Middle East," that broad, arid swath from Greece and Egypt through Mesopotamia and Afghanistan that connected the great empires of the past yet largely resisted their dominance. The future, argues Kaplan, will resemble the past. As the age of the Westphalian nation-state wanes, a likely eventuality, given current trends, older patterns of regional influence will reemerge. Resource-hungry world powers, specifically an ascendant Beijing and diminished but still dangerous Russia, will compete, or worse, collude, in a Eurasian heartland rich with resources and out of reach of the U.S. This echoes Kaplan's other works, especially The Return of Marco Polo's World (2018), in its pessimistic realpolitik and anxiety about Chinese ambitions. Geography is destiny, he asserts, and democracy, though beautiful, is a world-historical flash in the pan. But here Kaplan's perspective is leavened by firsthand experiences of such key historical moments as the Iran-Iraq war and the Soviet-Afghan conflagration, and by robust engagement with such earlier historians as Arnold Toynbee and Elie Kedourie.