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Turning Point The Arab World's Marginalization and International Security After 9/11
Dan Tschirgi
Book Code: C9956
ISBN: 0-275-99956-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-99956-8
248 pages, n/a
Praeger Security International General Interest-Cloth
Publication: 8/30/2007
List Price: $44.95 (UK Sterling Price: £25.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Also Available: Ebook
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects: Reviews:
  • It makes sense to understand the reasoning of those you oppose-even if doing so exposes you to truths about yourself that you do not want to see. Tschirgi rejects simplistic slogans-particularly the idea the Arab world is somehow exceptional, or that 9/11 is a product of an unreasoning hatred of American freedom-and offers a comparative analysis of the conditions underlying asymmetric conflict....The writing is a model of clarity, the arguments are well reasoned, and whatever one thinks of its conclusions, it is a book that deserves a wide audience. Recommended. All readership levels.
    —Choice     July 2008
  • Endorsement From Tareq Ismael,
    co-author, with Jacqueline Ismael,of The Iraqi Predicament: People in the Quagmire of Power Politics (2004):     Although 9/11 is widely recognized as a turning point in world history, the event has become shrouded in narratives of blame and contention. Professor Tschirgi's work restores the integrity of social scientific analysis by forsaking the intellectual blind spots that becloud rational discourse on the topic. Turning Point is a sophisticated work that will generate healthy debate about policy alternatives for other scholars to build on and policy makers to ponder. It is an important and welcome addition to the literature on 9/11.
  • Endorsement From Raymond William Baker,
    Carnegie Islam Scholar and Professor of International Politics, Trinity College:     You don't have to agree with all the policy recommendations--I don't--to recognize that Tschirgi has provided an original and insightful comparative analysis of the global challenge of asymmetric warfare we face in the wake of 9/11. This bold and uncompromising assessment provides new insights, such as the startling link between the war in Iraq and the problem of Palestinian refugees, as well as a compelling general case for the logic of U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. At a time when dabblers and dilettantes all too often dominate, how fortunate to have this thoughtful work from an established scholar with decades of experience in the complex world he analyzes.
  • Endorsement From Bennett Ramberg,
    Served as State Department policy analyst during the George H.W. Bush Administration:     Dan Tschirgi's Turning Point
     provides an important new intellectual tool to contextualize the implications of 9/11 and move beyond. Applying his novel Marginalized Violent Internal Conflict Theory to three cases--Mexico's Zapatista conflict, Egypt's struggle against the Gamaa al-Islamiyya and Nigeria's fight against the Ogoni People in the Niger Delta--Tschirgi uniquely elucidates the roots of today's Islamic insurgency against the West through the struggles other marginalized peoples have faced to preserve their own identities. The resulting insights inform an action plan that policy makers cannot ignore.
Description: The danger raised by the terrorist threat is real, existential, and vital to the United States. But the attacks on 9/11 have been broadly misunderstood. In assessing the meaning and significance of "the war on terror," Tschirgi raises many issues related to the Middle East and American policy toward that area. For example, he debunks the entire "exceptionalist" approach to the Arab world (the presumption that Arab societies fail to be fathomed by Western social science). While Tschirgi stresses the need for resolving the war on terrorism favorably, he also suggests two broad policy recommendations. First, he argues that while the United States should maintain its firm commitment to Israel's preservation as a Jewish state, it has no corresponding duty to support Israeli expansionism. U.S.-Israeli relations should proceed on this basis and should be informed by a greater American reliance on principles of international law. Second, Tschirgi concludes that an American withdrawal from Iraq must be effected as early as possible. Tschirgi's provocative thesis is that the attacks of 9/11 were not as unique an event as we commonly believe. Rather, they were understandable--though deplorable--human reactions to a combination of factors that fueled the Arab world's marginalization and led to a generalized feeling among the people of that region that the West (and particularly the United States) posed a mortal threat to their identity. Employing three case studies of marginalized violent conflict--Mexico's Zapatista conflict, Egypt's struggle against the Gama'a al-Islamiyya in Upper Egypt, and Nigeria's fight against the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta--Tschirgi demonstrates the dynamics through which "traditional" peoples have in modern times opted to wage hopeless struggle against objectively more powerful states. The parallels between the dynamics that informed each of these situations and those marking the international Muslim insurgency against the West are striking, as are the significant differences between the two phenomena. The parallels are found in the mechanics of marginalization and resistance. The differences lie, first, in the Muslim insurgency's identification of the West as a total enemy and the struggle with it as having a zero-sum nature and, second, in the modern terrorists' potential access to lethal means of mass destruction. Both the parallels and differences that mark the two phenomena help deepen a real understanding of the meaning of 9/11.
LC Card Number: 2007020590
LCC Class: JZ5595
Dewey Class: 355
PDF Catalogs:
PSI Public Library Spring 2008.pdf
Academic Library Fall 2008.pdf
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