The Rise of Islamic Capitalism: Why the New Muslim Middle Class Is the Key to Defeating Extremism (Council on Foreign Relations Books (Free Press)) Paperback – June 8, 2010

In his new book, Vali Nasr provides an overview of the broad, societal trends that have shaped the Middle East over the last century. Each chapter serves as an overview of the popular topics of the region including Iran, Dubai, Pakistan, Turkey, fundamentalism, and the popularity of state control over the economy though Kemalism. Anecdotes are used throughout the book with engaging writing to absorb the reader in his discussion of the historical trends in the region. Nasr also makes a point to address popular misconceptions of events in the Middle East, providing a clear and thoughtful overview of many heavily debated topics. Throughout this discussion, Nasr exemplifies the importance of the middle class in fostering democratic norms, reducing tensions, and developing an economically vibrant region. If the West hopes to achieve long term reform within the region, it must promote economic reforms that support the moderate Muslim middle class. Only then will secularism, human rights, and democracy begin to gain prominence.Response:Nasr's thesis of empowering the middle class of the Middle East to spur democratic reform throughout the region depends on a single assumption: the adoption of a neoliberal world view. Neoliberalism is a perspective within international relations that states economic interdependency and the adoption of democratic norms will reduce conflict throughout the globe. This is essentially Nasr's argument. As the middle class of the Middle East is allowed to progress economically, political reform will follow and tensions between the Middle East and the West will decline.There are numerous counters to this perspective. For example, Japan and the United States were highly integrated economically before World War II yet this did not prevent them from going to war. Realism, the other dominant world view in international relations, would assert that states are inherently self-interested since there is no global power that can monopolize force. Even though the middle class of the Middle East may spur economic development, these states will persistently pursue their self interest. Since the survival of any given country is never assured, national interests are built on a foundation of increasing one's relative power compared to other states.The answer is most likely somewhere between the two perspectives. Nasr's policy perspectives will most likely decrease conflict within and from the region. However, conflict should not be expected to be completely negated. There are no foundational "peace" theories within international relations, and for every model of peace, there is contrasting examples of that model leading to war. In short, Nasr's policy recommendations are likely to increase long-term development, consolidate democratic norms, and reduce tensions, but they cannot be expected to bring complete stability and peace to the region.Bottom Line:Vali Nasr presents an incredibly informative book. Forces of Fortune is, hands down, one of the best primers on the Middle East. While there are numerous topics not discussed like the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Nasr focuses on the underlying dilemmas within the region that underpin today's tensions. Anyone that has an interest in the Middle East must read this book. For those that have already studied the Middle East at depth and are familiar with the concepts of neoliberalism, this book won't provide much in the way of new insights however.For more reviews and an in-depth summary of Nasr's book, find us at Hand of Reason.

Vali Nasr attempts to prove his thesis, that commerce and modernity are the keys of development of the Muslim community, specifically in the Middle East. He argues if the west focuses on working with and integrating the Muslim middle class in the global economy, the threat of extremism will be diminished.Although he provides some examples to support his main contention (countries, movements) he fails to prove out his thesis.1. Modernity and Terrorism - Bin Laden, Omar Sheikh (the killer of Daniel Pearl), Dr. Zawahiri, the underwear bomber, the 911 hijackers, the Sayyid Qutb, etc all came from middle-class to wealthy families. They were exposed to and integrated in upper levels of society and had all the opportunities anyone could want.....yet all turned to terrorism. If modernity is the answer Mr. Nasr needs to address this point more directly.2. Weak Proof Points - Mr. Nasr points to Turkey, Dubai, and a civil movement in Pakistan (and others) all as proof points that the majority of the middle-east muslim community yearns for the stability that a prosperous middle class provides. But the book feels like it's trying to substitute the limited successes or examples of modernity as a wave that is sweeping across the muslim community.Dubai is barely a country and can hardly serve as a model for how a country should be governed due to its size. Other small countries like Bahrain or Qutar may take notice and glean some "key learnings", but the success of Dubai hardly applies to larger countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan etc.3. Data - there is very little in the way of data to support his thesis. On the ground, anecdotal evidence is always good, but supporting data is needed. Is the incredible amount of money flowing through the Middle East lifting a lot of people out of poverty, or just a select few (GDP per capita)?This book and a host of others have signaled that we are entering a new era, where the "rest rise up" and America's unipolar moment is on the decline. But to it's hard to discern if the rise in fortunes of Turkey (and to a lesser extent Dubai) are due to globalization and are exceptions to the Middle East....or of they are a proxy to a rise of a muslim middle class.If it is the latter, this book falls short in making that a convincing argument.

Very western point of view of an author of eastern origin. Informative for the western reader about what happened and is happening in the muslim world in terms of economics and local politics. Concentrated on Iran, Pakistan and Turkey triangle but did not discuss oil-rich Arabic countries.The book implicitly claims that there is only one alternative to "Islamic terrorism" which is the enrichment of the middle class in the muslim countries. The west should concentrate on this and try to help liberate the market and political environment of these countries. Shortly, the west should do its best to make those islamic countries as capitalist ones. One may easily doubt that this idea is supported by the muslim intellectualism who bases its political outlook onto Koranic principles and sees capitalism as non-islamic. There are ideas for bringing peace to the region and to the whole world without having to resort terrorism or capitalism.It needs a major update after the Arap Spring that took place in the last two years. There are some clues of the Arab Spring but I am not sure that events happened as predicted in the book.Surprised to see some factual errors. For Turkey example, name of the political party of Erbakan is not correct (i.e. Selamat for Saadet.) Welfare Party is wrongly introduced as the first step of National Outlook although it was the third. I hope this is limited to the Turkish case. Guess the whole book needs a careful revision.

本書の要点は、経済活動の活発化によってミドルクラスが成立・安定化すれば、イスラム世界においても民主主義や資本主義は適合的なシステムになるという主張にある。ただし、それは欧米の近代化論者が考えがちな宗教色を薄めたモデルではない。むしろ、資本主義の進展と共にイスラム圏の人びとは心の拠り所を伝統的価値に求めるようになるが、経済的に安定したミドルクラスは過激主義に走ることはないし、進歩的な思想も受け入れる。それは矛盾するどころか両立する点でイスラムにおける民主主義や資本主義にとって世俗主義は絶対の要件とは言えないと指摘、こうした観点からイスラム圏各国の情況が検討される。　反イスラム・西洋的近代化志向の世俗主義者は権威主義体制によるトップダウンの行き過ぎにより国内におけるミドルクラス形成に失敗、貧富の格差が拡大し、社会的不安定をもたらしてしまった。世俗主義者の失敗に対する不満の受け皿となったのがイスラム主義勢力である。社会的不公正や貧困が原因なのだから、良好な統治さえ実現できればこうしたイスラム主義も急進化することはない。この点でモデルとして注目されるのがトルコのAKP（公正発展党）政権である。AKPはイスラム政党に出自を持つが、経済政策をうまくハンドリングし、政治的多元化も推進していると指摘する。　現在進行形の一連の中東政変でも各国それぞれの社会的背景の相違によって進行状況も大きく異なっているようだ。指標の一つとしてミドルクラスの有無も考慮すべきであろうが、そのための見通しが本書では整理されており、興味深く読んだ。