Cesta z chaosu Krize ve Středomoří a na Blízkém východě – Kepel Gilles (2022)

This Czech-language overview by Gilles Kepel, one of France’s most prominent and widely translated Arabists, offers an informed and detailed analysis of developments in the Middle East over the past half-century. The first part provides a historical synthesis of the four decades preceding the turbulent period known as the Arab Spring, placing the region in its international context from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iranian Revolution onward. It traces the rise of political Islam and the three phases of jihadism that gradually spread across the world. The second part evokes the enormous hope inspired by events in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, and Syria in 2010–2011, then follows developments through the declaration of the so-called Islamic State. The final part examines the chaotic period after the fall of the caliphate in autumn 2017, marked by the return of authoritarian regimes and Western disillusionment with events in Syria. Kepel presents the crises shaking the Middle East as a complex contest involving the constantly changing political, economic, and religious balance among numerous actors.