LSE BOOKS A selection of recent books by LSE academics and alumni. For more information on books by LSE authors see lse.ac.uk. For books by alumni, and to let us know about books you have coming out, see the news section at Houghton Street Online.
LSE AUTHORS
FEATURED BOOK
China’s Political Economy in Modern Times
Debunking the myths Fawaz A Gerges Oxford University Press, 272pp, £15.99 h/b
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, pundits, politicians and the press alike recalled an idea that has become familiar over the last ten years: 9/11 forever changed the world we live in. What has repeatedly passed with less scrutiny than it warrants, however, is the fundamental question of why al-Qaeda still matters so much. To put it so bluntly might seem either naïve or an offence to the memories of the thousands who feel victims of the fruit of bin Laden’s creation. Yet it is precisely 9/11’s bloody legacy that renders this question essential. Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern politics and international relations at LSE, tells us with unrivalled insight how we reached this stage in his new book The Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda. Following on from his earlier work, including hundreds of interviews with current and former jihadists across the Middle East, Gerges aims to contextualise the nature of the threat. Intimately related with the attempt to draw a line between the perception of al-Qaeda’s threat and its real capabilities, another of the essential aims of the book is to debunk some of the myths about al-Qaeda that have taken hold of the American imagination. According to the author, without laying these myths to rest, there will be no closure to the US War on Terror, a war that has been too costly in blood
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and money, not to mention the twisting up to breaking point of the values of tolerance and democracy that America claims to live up to. Al-Qaeda is still dangerous. Yet, according to Gerges, the organisation and other local groups represent a security irritant, not a strategic threat to the West. The inability of US policymakers to acknowledge this fact has, in Gerges’s view, brought about, or at least precipitated, a power shift in the international system away from unipolarity to a multipolar system. Launched ten years ago, “The War on Terror” – as coined by its creators – has been boomeranging ever since.
This book examines changes in China’s institutions and their impact on the national economy as well as ordinary people’s daily material life from 1800 to 2000.
Derrida: a very short introduction Simon Glendinning Oxford University Press, 144pp £7.99 p/b The author explores both the difficulty and significance of the work of French philosopher Jacques Derrida. He presents Derrida’s challenging ideas as making a significant contribution to, and providing a powerful reading of, our philosophical heritage.
Osama bin Laden is gone, there is apparently no-one who can fill that void, the organisation enjoys no real support from the Muslim public, and its remaining members are essentially in hiding or on the run in Yemen and Pakistan. We are thus presented with a case that, more than al-Qaeda’s resilience, it is the blindness of those who are obsessed with it that keeps the organisation strategically relevant.
Allende’s Chile and the Inter-American Cold War Tanya Harmer UNC Press, 384pp £38.95 h/b Drawing on firsthand interviews and recently declassified documents, the author provides a comprehensive account of Cuban involvement in Latin America in the early 1970s, Chilean foreign relations during Allende’s presidency, Brazil’s support for counterrevolution in the Southern Cone, and the Nixon administration’s Latin American policies.
Engaging and convincing in its argument, The Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda leaves one wondering whether the idea of jihad against the “far enemy” will perish alongside al-Qaeda Central (if or when that happens), or if it can outlive bin Laden’s creation. Manuel Almeida, PhD candidate in the Department of International Relations at LSE.
The Cyprus Problem: what everyone needs to know James Ker-Lindsay Oxford University Press 144pp £45 h/b £10.99 p/b
© DREAMSTIME
The Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda
Kent Deng Routledge, 320pp £85 h/b
The author – recently appointed as expert adviser to the UN Secretary-General’s special adviser on Cyprus – covers all aspects of the Cyprus problem, placing it in historical context, addressing the situation as it now stands, and looking toward its possible resolution. Is partition really the best solution?