WHAT THE WEST IS GETTING WRONG ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST

In the penultimate sentence of his book, Ömer Taşpinar writes, ‘My hope is that understanding the political, economic and social dimensions of problems, instead of their supposedly religious essence, will better equip us to counter gloomy predictions of civilisational clash with immutable ancient roots.’ That, in a nutshell, is his reason for writing the book, and the explanation for the title: What the West is Getting Wrong about the Middle East: Why Islam Is not the Problem.

As one might guess, though, it is not quite that simple. Taşpinar is “Professor of National Security Strategy at the National War College and Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution, both in Washington DC.” He comes across to me as someone who is keen to get the West off Islam’s back, but not quite so keen to see “Islamists” benefiting as a result. His writing therefore can be both intriguing and frustrating.