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Middle East Review of International Affairs
The Triumph of the "Old Middle East"
by Barry Rubin
*
Introduction
For many years, and especially in the 1990s, problems and rethinking in the Arab world built toward the possibility of a new era involving domestic reforms and international peace. Around the year 2000, however, this era came to an abrupt halt for multiple reasons. This article tries to understand long-term trends in the region. It is an extract from the author's The Tragedy of the Middle East, being published in August by Cambridge University Press.
It was the end of an era for a young century in which lasting peace, rising prosperity, and expanding democracy seemed inevitable. A return to the past of irrational conflict or the triumph of forces opposing progress seemed impossible. Yet in August 1914, these dreams were being shattered for Europe. British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey, looking out his window as twilight fell in London, said mournfully, "The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."
Full PDF Document, 8 pages, 56kB
Endnotes
Note *: Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center of the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His books include Revolution Until Victory? The Politics and History of the PLO and From Revolution to State-Building: The Transformation of Palestinian Politics, both published by Harvard University Press. He is author of The Tragedy of the Middle East (Cambridge University Press), Islamic Fundamentalists in Egyptian Politics (Second, revised edition, Palgrave) and, with co-author Judy Colp Rubin, of a forthcoming biography of Yasir Arafat (Palgrave). Back