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As the violence of the Middle East has come to America, many Westerners are stunned and confounded by this new form of mayhem that appears to be a feature of Arab societies. This important book explains how Arabs are closed in a circle defined by tribal, religious, and cultural traditions. David Pryce-Jones examines the forces which “drive the Arabs in their dealings with each other and with the West.” In the postwar world, he argues, the Arabs reverted to age-old tribal and kinship structures, from which they have been unable to escape. In tribal society, loyalty is extended to close kin and other members of the tribe. The successful nation-state―the model that Westerners understand―generates broader loyalties, but the tribal world has no institutions that have evolved by common consent for the general good. Those who seek power achieve it by plotting secretly and ruthlessly eliminating their rivals. In the Arab world, violence is systemic. "This is a healthy corrective, a thought-provoking study. And Mr. Pryce-Jones has done his research, bringing a wealth of reading to his task; the book is extensively documented, with a good section of reference notes."―David K. Shipler, New York Times Book Review. "Acute insights into how the Middle East works, or fails to work. This is definitely a book to be read, if also one to be thought about carefully and rather critically."―David Morgan, Times Literary Supplement.
- Sales Rank: #583248 in eBooks
- Published on: 2009-02-16
- Released on: 2009-04-25
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Publishers Weekly
Following the end of colonial rule in the Middle East, the newly independent Arab nations did not become progressive and free: they are despotic; most persecute religious or ethnic minorities; all oppress women; none has participatory institutions. In a scathing and provocative critique, Pryce-Jones ( Paris in the Third Reich ; Cyril Connolly ) blames these dismal conditions on what he sees as a Muslim reversion to tribal and kinship structures as well as slavish obedience to complex codes of honor and shame that prevent concepts such as open debate, democracy and accountability from taking root. With Islamocentric shortsightedness, Arabs understood Nazism in terms of German revenge for humiliation suffered in World War I. Arab leaders admired both Hitler and Lenin as careerist conspirators who made good. Pryce-Jones sees the same tribal, king-of-the-hill mentality at work today in the Palestine Liberation Organization, a careerist group built around a few audacious personalities who arrogated the right to speak for a whole people.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Reporter Pryce-Jones examines shame-honor ranking as a motivational force in Muslim society vying with Western values, while at the same time tracing the negative impact of Europe on Muslim society. The book facilitates an understanding of the Middle East, and the author has provided copious source notes to support his statements. He cites the diversion of efforts from country and institutional goals to serve personal and tribal religious careerism, and concludes that Arabs don't fit into Western organizing principles. This is an ambitious book that ranges widely over recent Middle Eastern history, but its negativity inspires a sense of futility as to the future, and leaves one wondering whether the conclusions drawn are correct.
- Pat Wollter, Sonoma State Univ. Lib., Rohnert Park, Cal .
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
This is definitely a book to be read, if also one to be thought about carefully and rather critically. (David Morgan Times Literary Supplement)
Powerful . . . must be considered and appreciated even by those who think they disagree with it. (Amos Elon)
A brilliant book. (Hugh Nissenson)
A landmark for understanding the politics of the Middle East . . . as brilliant as it is depressing. (Daniel Pipes, director, Middle East Forum; author of Militant Islam Comes to America)
Refreshing . . . most stimulating . . . as with the best historical works, The Closed Circle is the outcome, and the resolution, of a puzzlement. (Elie Kedourie)
A brilliant insight into the way Arab societies work. A healthy corrective, a thought-provoking study. (David K. Shipler The New York Times)
Excellent. Having lived in Arabia for six years, I can say that this text superbly sets out the historical events that led us to the current situation today and explains many aspects of the culture that are misunderstood. (Daniel Kirk, Macon State College)
Most helpful customer reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
A profound analysis
By A curious reader
Pryce-Jones' book, reissued in 2002, is the best book I've read on the contemporary Middle East, and one of the best books I've ever read, period. (This includes great books by Fouad Ajami and Bernard Lewis.)
If supposedly informed people in the West understood Pryce-Jones' points about the Arab social order centered on clan, tribe, and religious sect and driven by honor and shame; the decline of Western models and influence; the absence of any recognizably political institutions (like "nations," "governments," and "laws") in the Western sense; and the classic pattern of armed careerist gangs divided along tribal and sectarian lines and locked in a perpetual cycle of challenge and power-seizure, they would not be surprised by much.
What happened on September 11, 2001, and what is happening now in Israel/Palestine and Iraq are just the latest examples, albeit with higher stakes. Suicide is a sign of the complete bankruptcy of a society. Self-pitying rage, arising from shame-honor, blocks reason. Mythologies of "imperialism" (more than 50 years after European withdrawal!) and "Zionist conspiracy" are clubs to beat dissidents and critics. The wealthy and powerful of the Arab world pour their resources, supported by oil revenue, into such delusions as these. The roots of Middle Eastern stagnation start here.
POSTSCRIPT: Did I write that 4 years ago? I'm still mad but now understand better. The crisis of the Arab world is only superficially a result of the mixing of politics and religion.
The deeper problem is the decline and collapse of the Muslim civilization once supported by the Ottoman Empire. As with so many vanished empires, the Ottoman collapse was precipitated by failed attempts at reform and disastrous entry into a modern war without preparation. The Ottoman disintegration left the Arabs to their dysfunctional habits of honor and shame, power-challenging, and endless tribal-sectarian warfare. The Arabs have not ruled themselves for over a millenium and show little talent for it today. Pryce-Jones sidesteps Islam so he can point to the true problem: the anti-civilization feuding culture the original Beduin brought with them from the desert as they conquered and converted the Middle East.
It is this culture that prevents the Arabs from forming modern societies based on broad social consent and that forces them to accept dictatorships as the only alternative. It makes modernization and democratization of the Middle East -- the formation of national units, national governments, and representative systems -- highly problematic. Islam theoretically trumps all these, but it is tribal communalism that nixes a state based on impersonal rule of law. See: Lebanon, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan -- and Turkey, once a model of modernization, now regressing in the opposite direction. To the extent that non-Arab countries like Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan are influenced by the same tribal values, they suffer from the same problem.
Is there a way out? No one knows.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
Circular Reasoning
By Labarum
Almost any discussion of the Arab world produces some question along the lines of "why do they....? The puzzlement resulting from the indecipherability of the Arab psyche in terms of Western standards elicits frustration and confusion both by us and by the Arabs as well. For just as we wonder about them, they certainly misread us as well. Nowhere was this more apparent than in our misadventures in Iraq where we just assumed they would, given the chance, opt for a tolerant Western democracy.
David Pryce-Jones gives a penetrating and quite depressing analysis of the Arab mind based on his years of interaction in their world. While not altogether a pretty picture, it nonetheless explains why we can never seem to make any headway in that part of the world. Just as interaction with nations such as China and Japan requires some understanding of their history and culture, so the same must apply to the Arab world.
The assumption has always been that because they might want the technology and wealth of the West, then they would understand that Western ideals were part of the package. In fact, that is not part of their plan at all. For their culture is not one that values individual effort but tribal loyalty.
This tribal mentality, one that has never changed a great deal from its Bedouin origins, plays out in Arab conduct in a number of ways. First, there is the fact that any criticism of the group, even well intended, is an insult to all its members. Thus the difference well understood in the West between criticizing certain elements of one's religion or government and criticizing the believers of the religion or the people in a state is not a part of their thinking. A criticism of Islam is always a personal attack upon Muslims and a criticism of, say, Jordan, is a personal attack upon all Jordanians.
A second factor is the whole idea of honor and shame. The life of any Arab is centered on the accumulation of honor and the avoidance of shame and the rules governing such exchanges that are understood from being raised in that culture are simply so alien to the West that two parties could never emerge from a negotiation between Western and Arab powers with the same understanding of what took place. It is the power of this idea, so foreign to the West, that will allows a father to kill his daughter or a mother to rejoice at the martyrdom of her son on the honor that it protects or adds. It also has dire implications for both any hopes of long-term peace in the Middle East.
The third factor is their power politics. Arab culture is centered on accumulating power (and its connection to honor) either on one's own or through becoming a key follower of one with power. The central factor in Arab politics is thus not individual expression but a system of warlords. The Western idea of virtue, where honesty in your dealings with others enhances the reputation of the individual, simply has no place in the Arab mind. It is the accumulation of raw power that brings one respect among his fellows.
But unlike some conceptions of honor in the Far East where honor requires you remain fast to your cause even to the end, the Arab idea is a more fluid one that merely wishes to be on the winning side. The interplay of warlord politics is a complex one with alliances broken when the effort stalls and your enemies and friends could change on the results of a single battle. The effort is always geared to having the most power at any one time. Thus American soldiers might be cheered into Iraq after a quick victory only to find few friends when the going gets tougher and then regain them when they get the upper hand. It is always a case of "what have you done lately?" in Arab power politics.
In this setting, the subjection of minority populations both ethnic and religious is a way of life. To turn Jews and Christians into second class citizens is not seen as infringing on some basic right but as accumulating power for the tribe of the Muslims. All others must be reminded constantly of their dishonor and lack of power lest they rise and challenge the superiority of the dominant tribe. Freedom of religion is merely the freedom to convert to Islam. A conversion in the other direction is an insult to Islam and all Muslims and must be punished.
With this background, we can easily see how naïve were the assumptions of neoconservative thinking concerning Middle East policy. Western democracy is the result of the accumulated heritage of Christendom. Ideas such as chivalry and man created in the image of God would give rise to general rules of conduct where honesty is considered praiseworthy and rights would be extended with time. One cannot expect it to take root without similar defining events in their own history.
Indeed the backwardness of Arab culture has long been a recognized problem. The loss of respect for the Islamic world, once the world's superpower, is seen as causing dishonor to many Arabs and the ability of the United States to come and go as it pleases in the Muslim world only adds to this perception. Yet, the fact that the West itself is in a state of cultural disintegration and self-loathing only accentuates negative impressions in Arab minds. Since the West seems culturally diseased, Arabic thought concludes the problem is in themselves and their infidelity to their roots that is the problem.
One point never fully addressed is how Islam plays in this equation. Of course, Islam is mentioned but always as a secondary force that reflects Arab values. However, this is a reflection of the very Western idea that culture shapes religion rather than is shaped by it. The fact is that Western culture was shaped by the hybrid of Jewish and Greco-Roman ideas that took place in Christianity, one wonders whether Islam itself is the medium by which Arab ideals are preserved and whether these ideals would exist without it.
This unexplored possibility aside, The Closed Circle is a monumental achievement that gives an insight to a normally inaccessible culture that plays such an important role in our politics. The book's chilling analysis has drastic implications for our policies towards this troubled region. It should be necessary reading for anyone concerned with how we answer the challenge of radical Islam.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful.
The Deepening Tragedy of the Arab World
By givbatam3
Although this book came out in 1989, events since then have, unfortunately, only confirmed what is written in it. The thesis of the author is that the Arab world has been unable to break the shackles of its ancient tribal-clan organization of society and build a new civil society found in other parts of the world, particularly in the democratic West. While it is true that in the distant past, all societies were more or less organized on these tribal and clan lines, the more advanced cultures moved onwards and developed societies in which interpersonal and later international relations were based not only on blood kinship but rather on a feeling of mutually-shared responsibility for the world outside their immediate surroundings. Tragically the Arab (and to a large extent, also the Islamic) world has not yet made this shift of mind, whereas others outside Europe and America such as East Asia have succeeded. The author shows that relationships between individual people and countries in the Arab world are made up mostly of suspicion and fear of those outside the "closed circle" of the clan (or country) and this prevents the development of the type of civil society necessary for the development of freedom, democracy and economic prosperity. As a result, all Arabs countries have autocratic or tyrranical regimes that repress their own populations, stifle economic development and are in constant conflict with their neighbors, both Arab and non-Arab.
In what the author calls the "careerist" mentality, he points out that the Arab leaders cynically exploit various Western and non-Western ideologies in order to advance their own personal ambitions, and then they jettison these ideologies once they have the power of the police state behind them which ensures the permanence of their rule. For example, both Syria and Egypt have governments which are called "revolutionary, socialist and progressive", but which, in reality simply confiscated the wealth of the old, pre-revolutionary elite and put it into the hands of a new elite indistinguishable from the old one in its rapaciousness and greed, not benefitting the average citizen in whose name the revolution was carried out. Syria by the beginning of the new century had reverted to being a hereditary monarchy and Egypt was also on the way to becoming one. The book also shows how Baathist ideologue Michel Aflaq first modelled his political ideas on Nazism and Fascism and then easily shifts towards Marxism. Arafat first espouses Marxism and allies himself the Soviet Union but, today, he is running a terrorist regime with a semi-Islamicist ideology under the sponsorship of the Europeans and to some extent the Americans.
The book shows how the corrupt autocrats in power shift the blame for the povery and underdevolpment of their countries from themselves onto fanciful "Zionist-Imperialist" conspiracies and "colonialist exploitation" without explaining how countries like Japan and Germany became prosperous despite having been under foreign military occupation much harsher than anything the Arabs had experienced.
Finally, the author shows great foresight in predicting that the terribly diseased regime and society in Saudi Arabia was not only oppressing its own citizens, but how it would become a threat to the whole world.
Although I would have preferred that the author go into more depth in some areas, especially the effects of 20th century urbanization on the clan identity of the Arabs (in other parts of the world, moving to the cities broke down existing links and sentiments of the people involved), this book is must reading for someone who wants to understand the turbulence of the Arab world.
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