Politics in the Middle East

In the nineteenth century Middle Eastern leaders believed that they could surmount the challenge posed by the European G̀reat Powers' by borrowing European weapons and technology, along with military and administrative organization, and, later, by adopting representative forms of government. These strategies proved a disappointment. The aftermath has been the establishment of military regimes, and an ideological style of politics, whether the ideology is nationalism or fundamentalism. This book describes and discusses the apparent success of ideological politics, and analyses its character.