Abstract
Due to its geopolitical, geo-economic and geostrategic significance, the Middle East is central to global politics. Consequently, the region receives significant attention from global powers and International Relations scholars. Talmiz Ahmad, a veteran Indian diplomat with immense experience in the region, discusses regional politics in his latest book West Asia at War and explains how the region has been an epicenter of global power politics for centuries. He contends that the region and its people have paid a heavy price for being the theater of the power struggle among global actors. Through historical analysis, Ahmad sheds light on various facets of regional politics, economy, society, culture and religions, and the military contestations among regional powers. The author’s experience as a diplomat and his continued scholarly engagement with regional issues have produced a unique non-Western perspective on the Middle East.
West Asia at War emphasizes the impact of the colonial and imperial powers on regional politics and culture and how it evoked the Arab intellectual response to preserve the local traditions, culture, and values. After World War II, Arab nationalism engulfed the Middle East, and Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser emerged as its icon. However, Ahmad underlines that the movement failed in its objective of creating a more united Arab front against the imperial powers due to the ideological battle that ensued between sawt-al-Arab (voice of the Arab) and sawt-al-Islam (voice of Islam).
Putting up a chronological account of important events, the book illustrates the impact of the Arab–Israel wars, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iranian Revolution (1979), the Iran–Iraq war (1980–1988) and the Gulf War (1990–1991), and their regional ramifications. As underlined in the book, the Iranian revolution challenged the leadership of Saudi Arabia in the Muslim world and its political influence in the Arab World. The Iran–Iraq war successfully contained the revolution from spreading beyond Iranian soil but weakened Iraq to the extent of disturbing the regional balance of power.
Ahmad notes that Islam has been constantly at the center of politics in the region. Regional countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey, used Islam to strengthen their position in the Muslim world. He states that the Palestine cause united the Arab World, but soon the unity collapsed due to competing interests and internal altercations. Reflecting on the lopsided economic growth in the region and the lack of political reforms, the author points out that massive oil revenues consolidated the monarchies and brought prosperity to the people but limited their political rights. On the other hand, Arab countries that lacked oil resources faced rampant corruption, nepotism, and crony capitalism causing pervasive poverty, inequality, and injustice that pushed many to terrorism and extremism.
The book outlines external players’ roles, particularly the military and political interventions over the century. Ahmad argues that during the Cold War, the US policies toward the Middle East were influenced by the “Israeli lobby” and the neoconservatives whose main objectives were to ensure constant energy supply to the United States and its transatlantic allies; Israel’s security and integrity; and the containment of Soviet Union. In the post-Cold War period, while the Soviet threat reduced and the United States gradually no longer remained dependent on Gulf oil, the question of Israeli security remained. Additionally, after the 9/11 attacks, the issue of international terrorism emerged as the top priority of the United States.
The book also digs into India’s relationship with the region since the 1950s, providing a summary of important events, policy decisions, post-Cold War shifts, and responses in the wake of the Arab uprisings. It puts a unique Indian viewpoint on the region, surveying the changing contours of the relationship between India and the region. Ahmad states that India collaborated with like-minded countries with common interests and actively maintained regional peace and stability. He also states the way Indian policy toward the region adjusted to the changing regional realities.
Given the complexity of the regional issues, the book provides an excellent analysis of the domestic politics in important countries, regional geopolitics, and their international manifestations. Three aspects—repression, resistance, and great power games—have been logically explained in great detail. The repression of ordinary people by colonial masters followed by authoritarian regimes and global powers, and the resistance by Arab intellectuals and power games by regional and international actors—according to the author—sums up the fate of the region. Moreover, while discussing the region’s history, geography, religion, and geopolitics, the book notes that these have been shaped by centuries of philosophical, spiritual, and temporal interactions among different communities who have inhabited the Middle East.
On the flip side, there is too much attention on Arab nationalism and Islamism, undoubtedly two very important trends in the Middle East, but in the process, many other features–the region’s sociocultural heterogeneity, its philosophical plurality and political complexities, and the richness of its religious, ideological, ethnic, and sectarian components—are somewhat overlooked. Other ethnic groups of the region, such as the Persians, Turks, Kurds, Berbers as well as the wide range of religious minorities living in the region, including scores of sects of Christians, Jews, Yazidis, Alevis, Baha’is and Druze, have also contributed to the region’s rich culture and heritage but hardly find any space in the book. The question of Jews, Israel, and aspirations for a Jewish homeland nearly gets lost in the discussion on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The plight of Kurds, the largest ethnic minority in the region, who are demographically divided into four regional countries—Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran—and who have been struggling for a state of their own is also ignored. Notably, the Kurds are the largest stateless ethnic group in the world. Putting a singular idea of Arabs and the Arabic language as resistance to foreign rule thus limits the scope of understanding the region to a narrow and exclusive narrative.
There are some other issues that the reader is left wanting more about, such as the discussion on energy. The book narrates the historical importance of oil and gas and their strategic significance in great detail but had it carried some discussion on its contemporary relevance and the ongoing transition in the field, it would have enhanced the value of the book for its audience. Perhaps, the length of the manuscript also prevented the author from venturing too much into how China has been engaging the region over the past decade or two. On India, while noting the significant turnaround in engagement under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there is somewhat overstatement of the Indian role. Indeed, the engagements have increased manifold, but India has never been inclined to be a regional security provider.
Despite some shortcomings, West Asia at War is a gripping work full of anecdotes and historical narratives. Moreover, it is an extraordinarily detailed work on important historical developments in the Middle East over the past century. Though the length might be deterrence for some, the language is lucid and informative. As a result, it can prove a good source of reference for students and practitioners with interest and some prior knowledge of the Middle East.