Author Description

Dr. Roby Barrett's The Collapse of Iraq and Syria: The End of the Colonial Construct in the Greater Levant is a timely, scholarly work that helps explain the chaos in the news from the region. A day does not go by without Iraq and Syria as well as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) being in the news. Most of the news coverage deals with atrocities, factionalism, civil war, and cultural/ethnic strife. The value of Dr. Barrett's monograph is his thorough delve into history to help explain this complicated story. It is a story of creating states with artificial borders that have been ruled with iron fists to keep a lid on fractured societies. What we are witnessing and what Barrett explains is the dissolution of borders and the collapse of central governments in Iraq and Syria. In fact, the author contends that Iraq and Syria no longer exist as nation-states. Their ultimate fate is yet to be seen. Regardless, this monograph provides the reader with a historical review of the Greater Levant (Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon) that helps explain the reality on the ground today.