Witness insight:
There is no single narrative that can encapsulate the complexity of the Middle East today. Nor is there some magic key which will unlock a comprehensive solution.In the aftermath of 9/11, policy-makers, on both sides of the Atlantic, have been far too ready to buy into the narrative of an overarching ideological struggle between Western values and Islamism, and between modernity and obscurantism, as if all the conflicts of the region can be reduced to a single dimension. Alternatively, or even in parallel, many have been to ready to pin all the blame for the region’s ills on a single ‘rogue state’, a role now being filled by Iran.Yet American and European policymakers will only make headway in recovering the ground they have lost in the region since 2001 if they are willing to recognise the fluid, indeed often counter-intuitive, nature of what constitutes friends and enemies in the wider Middle East.
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