Here’s some follow-up on Philip Carl Salzman’s extraordinary new book, Culture and Conflict in the Middle East. (My review of Salzman can be found here.) Today, in a fascinating piece, David Brooks draws on Salzman’s argument to sketch out an alternative vision of political progress in Iraq. Although he doesn’t use just these words, Brooks is suggesting that we just might get by with “Iraqracy” rather than democracy, with something closer to genuine democracy a possibility for the long-term. It’s a view I like.
Meanwhile, Philip Carl Salzman himself is now blogging at “Middle East Strategy At Harvard.” This blog, put together by Martin Kramer and Stephen Peter Rosen, has a list of contributors that can only be called awesome. Here’s Salzman’s bio, and here’s his latest post.