Jean-Pierre Filiu. 2015. From Deep State to Islamic State: The Arab Counter-revolution and its Jihadi Legacy
| Date | 01 August 2016 |
| Published date | 01 August 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2347797016645464 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Book Reviews 265
However, his argument is speculative. The extreme poverty is one of the major
factors of poor human rights in the North. However, top political executives and
the Korean People’s Army maintain their luxurious lifestyle and the rest of the
population is forced out to die of hunger. The nature of the Kim regime should be
the foremost factor of the current humanitarian situation in North Korea. In other
words, the poor human rights in North Korea are based on the nature of regime
itself more than the bad economic situation.
Second, Kaseda (Chapter 5) contends that expansion of engagement might
make North Korea more willing to refrain from making military provocations.
However, how much Pyongyang can actually guarantee returns of profits to
foreign investors in order to attract external investments is questionable as the
regime in Pyongyang is notorious for lacking transparency.
This said, these shortcomings do not weaken the importance of book’s overall
arguments and indeed such limitations provide for students of International
Relations potential future avenues of research. All in all The North Korea Crisis
and Regional Responses lucidly and helpfully outlines the various security issues
in the Northeast Asia relating to DPRK and identifies limitations of each approach
of dealing with North Korea.
Seohee Ashley Park
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan
E-mail: psbmaev@gmail.com
Jean-Pierre Filiu. 2015. From Deep State to Islamic State: The Arab
Counter-revolution and its Jihadi Legacy. London, UK: Hurst Publishers.
311 pp. ISBN: 9781849045469
DOI: 10.1177/2347797016645464
Dr Jean-Pierre Filiu, in this timely work From Deep State to Islamic State: The
Arab Counter-revolution and its Jihadi Legacy, contextualizes the chronology of
various incidents and developments that took place in West Asia that eventually
resulted in sculpting the character of the region to assume the form it possesses
today.
The title may lead the reader to think that the book is about the Islamic State
(IS), but the book is not about the IS per se. It is about the different factors, actors
and phenomena that intentionally and/or unintentionally came to be in West Asian
countries, and which played a key role in creating, nourishing and sustaining the
many Jihadist terrorist groups in the region, the most prominent and deadly one
being the Islamic State (IS) that was ‘officially launched’ in June 2014.
Dr Filiu rightly argues that the region’s many problems have several of their
roots in the region itself; and in the political temper of the regional leaderships,
those leaderships’ relationships with the respective Deep States, and the resultant
natures of administrations and governances in play.
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