Naseer Dashti’s “The Baloch and Balochistan: A Historical Account from the Beginning to the fall of the Baloch State” is an absolutely outstanding scholarly work not only on the Baloch people and Balochistan, but of the whole Middle East, South and Central Asia. In the first part of the book, Dashti, who holds a Ph.D.Continue reading “Review: “The Baloch and Balochistan: A Historical Account from the Beginning to the Fall of the Baloch State” – Naseer Dashti”
Tag Archives: Book Review
Review: “Ethnicity, Nationalism and Conflict in the South Caucasus: Nagorno-Karabakh and the Legacy of Soviet Nationalities Policy” – Ohannes Geukjian
Ohannes Geukjian’s “Ethnicity, Nationalism and Conflict in the South Caucasus: Nagorno-Karabakh and the Legacy of Soviet Nationalities Policy” offers a comprehensive and rather unique analysis of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Soviet nationalities policy in the South Caucasus. A professor at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, Geukjian’s analysis of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is unique inContinue reading “Review: “Ethnicity, Nationalism and Conflict in the South Caucasus: Nagorno-Karabakh and the Legacy of Soviet Nationalities Policy” – Ohannes Geukjian”
Review: “Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present” – Jonathan L. Lee
Jonathan L. Lee’s “Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present” is one of the best histories of Afghanistan I’ve ever read, and easily the most comprehensive. I think only Y. V. Gankovsky’s “A History of Afghanistan” (1982) is better, but that might be because Gankovsky was a Soviet scholar on Afghanistan ;). Lee isContinue reading “Review: “Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present” – Jonathan L. Lee”
Review: “Armenia’s Future Relations with Turkey and the Karabagh Conflict” – Levon Ter-Petrossian
This book is a collection of articles and speeches by Levon Ter-Petrossian, the first president of post-Soviet Armenia (1991-98). Ter-Petrossian is a anti-socialist, Western-style neoliberal, who was “close friends” with Russia’s Boris Yeltsin. But as much as I disagree – or more accurately vehemently oppose – his politics, in his analysis of Armenia’s relations withContinue reading “Review: “Armenia’s Future Relations with Turkey and the Karabagh Conflict” – Levon Ter-Petrossian”
Review: “Contested Territories and International Law: A Comparative Study of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and the Aland Islands Precedent” – Kamal Makili-Aliyev
When Kamal Makili-Aliyev’s “Contested Territories and International Law: A Comparative Study of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and the Aland Islands Precedent” arrived in the mail, I was really, really excited to read it. I thought – and still do think – that comparing the disputes between the Aland Islands and Nagorno-Karabakh was a brilliant and novelContinue reading “Review: “Contested Territories and International Law: A Comparative Study of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and the Aland Islands Precedent” – Kamal Makili-Aliyev”
Review: “The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: A Legal Analysis” – Heiko Kruger
Heiko Kruger’s “The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: A Legal Analysis” is the worst book on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that I have read, right next to Bahruz Balayev’s “The Right to Self-Determination in the South Caucasus”. Instead of being an objective legal analysis of Nagorno-Karabakh’s right to secession under international law, Kruger’s book is imperialist apologeticism and ArmenophobiaContinue reading “Review: “The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: A Legal Analysis” – Heiko Kruger”
Review: “Self-Determination of Peoples: A Legal Reappraisal” – Antonio Cassese
Antonio Cassese’s “Self-Determination of Peoples: A Legal Reappraisal” is an excellent legal analysis of the evolution and application of the right of peoples to self-determination in international law. The first chapter examines the origins of the right of peoples to self-determination in the American Declaration of Independence (1776) and especially in the French Revolution (1789).Continue reading “Review: “Self-Determination of Peoples: A Legal Reappraisal” – Antonio Cassese”
Review: “The Armenians” – John M. Douglas
John M. Douglas’s “The Armenians” is an outstanding history of the Armenian people, from the Armenian people’s ancient Thraco-Phrygian and Urartian origins in the 9th century BC, to the social, economic, and political struggles of the Republic of Armenia in the mid-1990s. What really surprised me reading this book was how involved Armenians have beenContinue reading “Review: “The Armenians” – John M. Douglas”
Review: “Greece, 1941-49: From Resistance to Civil War: The Strategy of the Greek Communist Party” – Haris Vlavianos
Haris Vlavianos’s “Greece, 1941-49: From Resistance to Civil War: The Strategy of the Greek Communist Party” offers what I think is probably the most comprehensive and least biased historical analysis of the KKE during the Nazi occupation of Greece and the Greek Civil War (1943-49). Did the KKE deliberately start the civil war to seizeContinue reading “Review: “Greece, 1941-49: From Resistance to Civil War: The Strategy of the Greek Communist Party” – Haris Vlavianos”
Review: “The Making of Informal States: Statebuilding in Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria” – Daria Isachenko
“The Making of Informal States: Statebuilding in Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria” by Daria Isachenko offers a very unique analysis of the conflict in Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria. Isachenko uses Norbert Elias’ theory of figurational sociology, a research tradition in which figurations of humans — evolving networks of interdependent humans — are the unit of investigation,Continue reading “Review: “The Making of Informal States: Statebuilding in Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria” – Daria Isachenko”
Review: “Discordant Neighbours: A Reassessment of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian Conflicts” – B. George Hewitt
George Hewitt’s “Discordant Neighbours: A Reassessment of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian Conflicts” is the most authoritative account of the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, especially since the ‘Five-Day War’ in August 2008. In this book Hewitt takes aim at many of the myths propagated by Georgia and its Western allies that Abkhazia andContinue reading “Review: “Discordant Neighbours: A Reassessment of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian Conflicts” – B. George Hewitt”
Review: “Understanding Ethnopolitical Conflict: Karabakh, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia Wars Reconsidered” – Emil Souleimanov
Emil Souleimanov’s “Understanding Ethnopolitical Conflict: Karabakh, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia Wars Reconsidered” offers an excellent theoretical and methodological analysis of the ethnic conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia. Souleimanov ‘tests’ the efficacy of the major on-set and in-process theories of the origins of ethnic conflicts and civil wars, including the role of elites, naturalContinue reading “Review: “Understanding Ethnopolitical Conflict: Karabakh, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia Wars Reconsidered” – Emil Souleimanov”
Review: “The Origins of Ethnic Conflict in Africa: Politics and Violence in Darfur, Oromia, and the Tana Delta” – Tsega Etefa
Tsega Etefa’s “The Origins of Ethnic Conflict in Africa” offers a comprehensive analysis of the root causes of ethnic conflict in Africa. In the three cases studies examined in the book — the Arab-non-Arab conflict in Darfur, the Oromo-Pokomo conflict in Kenya’s Tana Delta, and the Gumuz-Oromo conflict in Ethiopia’s Oromia state — Etefa convincinglyContinue reading “Review: “The Origins of Ethnic Conflict in Africa: Politics and Violence in Darfur, Oromia, and the Tana Delta” – Tsega Etefa”
Review: “The Politics of Ethnic Separatism in Russia and Georgia” – Julie A. George
Julie George’s “The Politics of Ethnic Separatism in Russia and Georgia” examines the factors that contributed to the decision of ethnic and regional leaders in both countries to pursue violent or non-violent strategies to achieve their political, economic, and personal goals. On the one hand, Georgie examines the factors that contributed to the strategies pursuedContinue reading “Review: “The Politics of Ethnic Separatism in Russia and Georgia” – Julie A. George”
Review: “Nkrumaism and African Nationalism: Ghana’s Pan-African Foreign Policy in the Age of Decolonization” – Matteo Grilli
In “Nkrumaism and African Nationalism: Ghana’s Pan-African Foreign Policy in the Age of Decolonization”, Matteo Grilli brilliantly re-examines the legacy and influence of Kwame Nkrumah in Africa. After Nkrumah was deposed in 1966 in a coup supported by the West, the military regime attempted to discredit Ghana’s foreign policy and Nkrumah’s Pan-African vision as aContinue reading “Review: “Nkrumaism and African Nationalism: Ghana’s Pan-African Foreign Policy in the Age of Decolonization” – Matteo Grilli”
Review of Three Books on the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
Books of 2019!
As of this writing, I have read 53 nonfiction books in 2019, although I am still working on finishing several others. However, since I don’t expect to be finishing any of the books I am reading right now in the next month, I thought now wouldn’t be a bad time to do a annual recapContinue reading “Books of 2019!”
The Permanent War Economy and De-industrialization
(Image: Detroit, Michigan, the former centre of America’s auto industry. Source) Politicians of all political stripes like to dress inflated military budgets, and the wicked arms deals that frequently accompany them, in terms of “job creation.” Former U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, arguing against any reduction in military funding, claimed that any decrease “would resultContinue reading “The Permanent War Economy and De-industrialization”
T. J. Petrowski 