Middle East Democratization, American Way: Stepping from the Difficult into the Hopeless

The review summarizes and comments on some of the most interesting theses from the book written by the German Orientalist and political writer Michael Lüders – ‘Who Sows the Wind: What Does the West Bring to the Orient’ [Wer den Wind sät: Was westliche Politik im Orient anrichtet. Von Michael Lüders, München: C. H. Beck, 2015. 175 S.]. As the very title of the book suggests, this pamphlet discusses the impact of the West and Western policies on the political, social and economic development of the Middle East which, according to the German author's pen, was quite negative if not even destructive. The book, though, as the review's author stresses, was a big success in Germany, with six-figure circulation of 16 printings. Michael Lüders presents in his book a series of revolutions and counterrevolutions, mutinies and coup d'états, which in his opinion resulted from the Western, first of all American, involvement. The list of these attempts to ‘improve’ the Oriental society and give the countries of this region a democratic perspective starts with the overturn of the Mossadegh government in Iran in 1953 and continues up to our days, to crises in Iraq, Syria, Libya, etc. The reviewer, not repudiating the author's anti-American stance, focuses on the role of the books of this sort in the mechanism of formation of public opinion in Germany and why they are popular in a rather wide audience. The reviewer also suggests a range of scientific and scholarly problems arising before the eyes of the thoughtful reader and explains, which research objectives could and which could not be achieved by reading this book.

About the author: Andrey Rumyantsev – Dr. jur. (Regensburg), Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the journal “Comparative constitutional review”, Moscow, Russia.

Citation: Rumyantsev A. Demokrtizatsiya Blizhnego I Srednego Vostoka po-amerikanski: Sdelat’ slozhoe nevozmozhnym. Retsenziya na knigu: Lüders M. Wer den Wind sät: Was westliche Politik im Orient anrichtet [Middle East Democratization, American Way: Stepping from the Difficult into the Hopeless. A review of ‘Who Sows the Wind: What Does the West Bring to the Orient’ by Michael Lüders]. Sravnitel’noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, 2016, vol. 25, no. 1, p. 151–156. (In Russian).

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