The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations |  | Author: Lee Smith
Publisher: Doubleday
Category: Book
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Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 58872
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 1
ISBN: 0385516118
Dewey Decimal Number: 956.05
EAN: 9780385516112
ASIN: 0385516118
Publication Date: January 12, 2010
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Product Description
In a provocative, timely book, a noted journalist and expert on Arab-American affairs overturns long-held Western myths about the Arab world, and offers a doctrine to help the United States correct its assumptions concerning the region.
Wanting to know why September 11 happened, journalist Lee Smith moved to Cairo. There, he discovered that the standard explanation-a clash of East and West led to the attacks-was simply not the case. As Smith outlines in The Strong Horse, the problems of the Middle East have little to do with Israel, the United States, or the West in general. The strife exists within the Arab world itself.
Through clear-eyed analysis, Smith explodes the many myths permeating Americans' understanding of the Arab world: colonialism spurred the region's ongoing turmoil; Arab liberalism is waiting for U.S. intervention; technology and democracy can be transforming. In response to these untruths, Smith offers what he terms the “Strong Horse Doctrine”-that Arabs want to align themselves with strength, power, and violence. Given America's ongoing interest in the Middle East, Smith says America needs to be the strong horse in order to reclaim its role there, and only by understanding the nature of the region's ancient conflict can we succeed.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
 Excellent book July 4, 2010
David W. King (Marshall, TX)
This is a great book about the Middle East and the growth of the Islamist movement. It deals with the history of it and shows how 9/11 was not so much an aggression against America as it was one element in a battle going on the M.E. for many years over leadership in the area--who will be the strong horse!
The Strong Horse Principle and What It Entails June 21, 2010
George P. Wood (Springfield, MO)
"When people see a strong horse and a weak horse," Osama bin Laden once said, "by nature, they will like the strong horse." Bin Laden's statement provides the title, thesis, and motivation for the policy recommendations in Lee Smith's new book, which examines--in the words of the subtitle--"power, politics, and the clash of Arab civilizations." Smith is a Middle East correspondent for The Weekly Standard.
The thesis of The Strong Horse is that "violence is central to the politics, society, and culture of the Arabic-speaking Middle East"--a centrality that predates the rise of Islam, which has failed to attenuate it. Smith draws on the insights of Ibn Khaldun, the 14th-century Muslim historian, for articulation of what he calls "the strong horse principle," namely, that "history is a matter of one tribe, nation, or civilization dominating the others by force until it, too, is overthrown by force." Against those who argue that the Middle East is violent because of intermeddling by the Great Powers or because of the provocations of the Jewish state, Smith points to a long line of violent conflicts between Islamic traditions and between and among Arab nations that have no obvious connections to either the West or Israel.
The policy recommendation motivated by this thesis is that if America desires the democratization of the region, it must play the strong horse. "[T]he Americans, as long as they have the will to stay, should understand that he who punishes enemies and rewards friends, forbids evil and enjoins good, is entitled to rule, and no other. There is no alternative, not yet anyway, to the strong horse."
The Strong Horse makes its case, in parts, by means of travelogue, personal interview, historical narrative, religious commentary, and sociological observation. Smith is a journalist, and The Strong Horse is a masterpiece of reportage.
My guess, however, is that The Strong Horse will fail to satisfy a number of readers for a variety of reasons. For example, readers who are inclined to view the Middle Easterners as victims of Western colonialism will not be delighted to see the Arabs treated as moral agents whose actions are shaped by their own deepest convictions, rather than deformed by the predatory actions of the "Great Powers." Readers who hope for diplomatic solutions to problems in the Middle East will not be happy to see how important a strong American military presence is to the accomplishment of that objective. And pro-democracy readers will not appreciate Smith's statement that "while all men may be entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of justice, they do not all seek it, for some, as the resistance proudly proclaims, love death more than life." In other words, there's something for everyone to dislike in Smith's book.
Whether that dislike arises from certainty that Smith is wrong or the anxiety that he is right, only you the reader can decide.
Great on-the-scene detail. Even had a few good words for Bush! June 15, 2010
Joseph Somsel (Silicon Valley, California)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The book's greatest strength comes from the author befriending real Arabs in their homelands. They have something illuminating to say too.
Close behind is the author's explanation of a lot of the REAL politics behind the news headlines. Having paid a little more than typical attention to the Middle East over the last 40 years, I've often been puzzled by events reported in the news and even high quality magazines which never seemed to hang together as cogent explanations for events. This book goes a long way, for example, in putting the position of the House of Saud in perspective (rich bumpkins, like Jethro in the Beverly Hillbillies is the impression I got.) Syrian politics was especially enlightening - the despised Alawali ruling minority MUST engage in causing external troubles for others to ensure their own hold on power. This is the ONLY explanation of events in Lebanon I've ever read that have offered some logic and perspective.
One area that I thought could be developed but wasn't was in categorizing Arab political culture as "low trust." By comparison, The US and the UK have been high trust societies where we can reliably expect civil behavior from our fellow citizens. The Arab cultural and political span was achieved by military conquest and held together by frequent political violence from its start down to today. The follow-on empire under the Ottoman's used divide-and-conquer as their standard political management tool, along with sharp brutal reprisals against populations. Little wonder that fear and competition within a tribalist Arab society with many minorities has reduced their creative capacity.
The author didn't hold out much hope for our democratization plans in Iraq, putting him in the Rumsfeldian camp; he also didn't see nor mention any success path for that policy. I remain unconvinced that the establishment of a political umbrella that makes violence unacceptable to the American occupiers is unworkable. We Americans have developed a workable sense of compromise and power sharing over the years. If the Iraqis found that this system worked for them AND they had some time to practice a democratic system, then maybe, just maybe, a more stable and peaceful Middle East could develop. Of course, the Iranians and the other Arab dictators will try to stifle this trend.
Comparing this book to Bernard Lewis' books on similar subjects, this is much more in the current day although with a pertinent explanation of background. Lewis is much more scholarly and has less to say to policy makers. Smith digs much deeper into areas of current events and current Arab attitudes.
Ultimately, it is a sad book. Arab societies are predicted by Smith to continue their millennial-long slide into cultural suicide. American and Western policy must, as a minimum, protect the rest of the world from being drug down with them. Bush at least offered a way back from decline, at great expense to America. Smith expected that to be a too kind offer and one that will ultimately fail. Maybe or maybe not but Smith makes a good case, especially in light of the current administration's policies and behaviors.
The book we have needed since 9/ll/2001 May 29, 2010
John G. Maguire (Lowell MA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
At last a book that tells about Arab civilization from within the Arab point of view.
Great use of history, plus evocative and convincing interviews and vignettes from the writer's time in the Middle East.
I'm about 60 per cent of the way through it, and I finally feel I have an explanation of Arabia-Islam that makes coherent sense.
The message of the book is scary--but scary realistic.
This is the book that should be read and digested by anyone writing about the Middle East.
I teach composition at the college level, and I may use this book as reading next semester. I want everyone in the U.S. to understand what Lee Smith is saying here. This has the best explanation of why Arabs don't understand democracy I have ever seen. From the Arab point of view--derived from Arab history--democracy is non-sensical. It's crucial for us to understand this.
You must read this book. The cliche for how important this book is: "It's serious as cancer." It's life and death for us to understand this world.
Quite insightful May 22, 2010
Kirk H Sowell (Washington D.C.)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
"The Strong Horse" is one of the best works I've read on Arab politics in years, because it incorporates both historical perspective and the kind of feel for Arab politics you only get from following Arab affairs through the Arab media. I remember after going to study in Jordan years ago, after having completed my undergraduate education in Middle Eastern Studies, and thinking that all the courses I had taken hadn't taught me anything useful about Arab societies, because much of what is produced in academia is written by activist-minded academics who spend too much time talking to Middle Easterners who think the way they do, not the way most Middle Easterners think. The book is breezy and opinionated, not an authoritative treatise for sure, and I wouldn't expect anyone to agree what everything. But I think this is a very good presentation of what Arab politics and societies are really like.
The key challenge in understanding Arab politics, which Smith passes, is steering clear of the Scylla of liberal mirror-imaging (Arab problems arise from victimization by us, can be fixed by progressive reform) and the Charybdis of neoconservative mirror-imaging (Arab problems arise of victimization by their own, can be fixed by democracy) to realize the the region's problems are far more deeply rooted than could ever be caused or fixed by anything the West could ever do.
There are two central points. The first is the theory of the "Strong Horse" - more than anything, Arab politics is driven by the societies' need for the next Arab champion; first it was Nasser, later Hamas or Hizbullah, for some Osama bin Laden (the latter has lost his luster now, however.) This phenomenon arises from a combination of a deep historical memory of Arab and Islamic greatness combined with the last several generations of Arab societies being dominated by the need to react and reassert themselves in the face of a superior - at least in wealth and power - Western civilization. Yes, there are Arab liberals, "human rights" activists, etc., but they do not drive events.
The second is a corollary to the first: those who obtain and maintain power are usually the most efficiently ruthless. Circumstances differ; the monarchies of Jordan and Saudi Arabia can be less ruthless than Syria's ethno-sectarian fascist state because of the former's strong tribal base and the latter's wealth, but power is maintained by power. You can read the book for a more detailed description but the last paragraph of the book summarizes it well:
"The Americans tried a political solution, democracy, and that, along with 9/11, revealed the region's politics for what they truly are... Americans, as long as they have the will to stay, should understand that he who punishes enemies and rewards friends, forbids evil and enjoins good, is entitled to rule, and no other. There is no alternative, not yet anyway, to the strong horse."
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
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