Gilbert Achcar is a Lebanese academic, writer, and socialist. He is a Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. His research interests cover the Near East and North Africa, the foreign policy of the United States, Globalisation, Islam, and Islamic fundamentalism. He is also a Fellow at the International Institute for Research and Education.
Not sure how exactly this book landed on my desk 鈥� ever since it takes about a month or so to order books I tend to forget how and why I ordered the book I receive in the first place 鈥� but this was a fairly disappointing read. Thankfully, Gilbert Achar鈥檚 鈥楳orbid Symptoms. Relapse in the Arab Spring鈥� (Stanford University Press, 2016) was quite short as it grew out of an initial idea to write a chapter to update the author鈥檚 earlier book 鈥楾he People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising鈥� (2013), focusing on the failed uprisings in Syria and Egypt. He also wrote 鈥楳arxism, Orientalism, Cosmopolitanism鈥� (2013) and contributes regularly to the Jacobin so I was expecting a fairly solid, radical and materialist analysis of the Arab Spring.
I guess this is where the problem lies, as much as there are 鈥榩rogressive neoliberals鈥� there are also 鈥榠mperialist anti-neoliberals鈥� whose critique of neoliberalism is essentially a social democratic critique which lacks a fundamental critique of capitalism and, as such, imperialism. So, in line with the usual regime change folks, the author scolds Obama for not providing the Syrian opposition with the quality weapons they would have needed to 鈥榖alance the power鈥� with the regime. He concludes that Obama bears key responsibility for the killing and disaster. Lol. Usually, this is the point where I put the book back in the shelf (or dust bin). I kind of fundamentally believe that the solution to instability in the middle east (or elsewhere) does not lie in arming an opposition with anti-aircraft weapons. This is kind of the bottom line of my philosophy of foreign policy and also the bottom line of a socialist outlook which the author refers to as, he uses quotation marks, 鈥渁nti-imperialist left鈥�. This anti-imperialist left, of course, tacitly supports US air strikes in support of Kobani but not Benghazi and, sure enough, has nothing to say about Russian or Iranian imperialist machinations. Ugh, ugh, heard it all.
I do agree with the author鈥檚 thesis on the 鈥榗lash of barbarism鈥� though (which he developed in his previous books) analyzing the 'fatal dialectic' with its origins and major impulse to be found in the huge qualitative escalation in US imperial violence in the middle east, represented by the US led onslaught on Iraq in 1991. And then, in the face of barbarism of US occupation, the 鈥檆ounter barbarism鈥� by Al Qaida after 2003 and ISIS after 2014 or so.
Achcar's book is an astute and nuanced examination of the counter-revolutionary aftermath following the Arab Spring (sometimes referred to as the Arab Winter), with a particular focus on the events that have occurred in Syria and Egypt. His analysis of motivations and the cascading effect of events--particularly within the countries he discusses--is in-depth and intensely rational, while he still makes his feelings surrounding the issues quite clear. In particular, Achcar's book illuminates how the patterns that first arose in Syria following the 2011 rebellions are reappearing in Egypt under the harsh rule of President al-Sisi, and while he does not explicitly delve into the connection, he tacitly draws the similarities between the two, hinting that Egypt could devolve into the same kind of devastation as Syria should events continue along their current trajectory. I did have some criticism that he can default to sweeping judgements when he addresses nation-wide constituencies (such as addressing the entirety of the United States anti-imperialist left) which comes off as reductionist, particularly in comparison to his extraordinarily in-depth analyses of micro-groups. But otherwise, this is a powerful, indicting, and thought-provoking analysis that any one interested in contemporary Middle Eastern politics should read.
This is an extremely disappointing and overall limited book. For an author who claims to be a "socialist writer" it baffles me how little socialist theory exists in the book. While the book was published in 2015, so information must be updated, the author falls into the trappings of American quasi-exceptionalism when discussing Syria and Egypt. Almost entirely belittling the direct role Western interference had on the fate of the Arab Spring and also somehow painting the US as simply "foolish" in their MidEast policies but lambasting Russia and Iran? Brother, critically critique them all! The chapter on Syria is honestly horrible, little nuance is given and somehow jumps to the conclusion that the US should've given al-Nusra anti-aircraft missiles! The Egypt chapter is a bit more tolerable but overall did not enjoy this book in the slightest.
Gut-wrenching but absolutely riveting account of the revolutionary upheavals in Syria and Egypt since 2012. Absolute must-read. Wish Achcar spent more time on the rest of the countries in the region, but even so, very good stuff.