“The origin of the uprising is not mobilization—that comes rather late in the process. Rather, the origin of the uprising is a broken social contract,” write two self-described activists, a stateless Palestinian now based in Oslo and a British Libyan citizen, Iyad El-Baghdadi and Ahmed Gatnash, respectively. Their book “The Middle East Crisis Factory: Tyranny, Resilience, and Resistance” sets out to offer a critical account of the interplay between authoritarianism, foreign interventions, and violent terrorist movements across the Middle East since the Arab Spring.

The Mechanics of the “Crisis Factory”

The authors examine how these forces of oppression work in a vicious triangle, perpetuating and sustaining one another, all while keeping the society crushed and impoverished. They push back against the popular views that narrow down the instability in the region to a few single causes, dictatorship or Western intervention, and provide simple solutions such as elections or Western intervention again. For Baghdadi and Gatnash, neither foreign military intervention nor accommodation to authoritarian regimes offers a viable way forward, as it intensifies resentment, destabilizes, and suppresses legitimate grievances.

The Middle East Crisis Factory is structured into two sections: the opening segment delves into the historical factors that examine the region’s messed-up state as a result of decades of broken promises. The subsequent section, designated as the “horizon,” offers comprehensive solutions aimed at dealing with dictators and empowering the societies within the region.

The authors argue that since gaining independence from Europeans, Middle Eastern politics has revolved around dictators deriving their legitimacy by promising certain social contracts. Post-colonial Arab regimes used threats of Western dominance and romantic dreams of Arab nationalism........

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