What do you think?
Rate this book
The Hidden Hand: Middle East Fears of Conspiracy
As the first full-length study of conspiracy theories in the Middle East, The Hidden Hand reveals how such theories play a powerful role in the political life of the region. Placing conspiracy theories in their historical context, Daniel Pipes shows how the idea of the conspiracy has come to suffuse life in the Middle East, from the most private family conversations to the highest and most public levels of politics. Pipes then looks at conspiracies and their strength as a partial explanation for much of the region's problems, including its record of political extremism, its culture of violence, and its lack of modernization. Concluding with speculations about the future of conspiracy theories, Pipes provides a key to understanding the often complicated political culture of the Middle East.
404 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
1 person is currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Pipes
39 books29 followersDaniel Pipes (born September 9, 1949) is an American historian, writer, and political commentator. He is the president of the Middle East Forum, and publisher of its Middle East Quarterly journal. His writing focuses on the American foreign policy and the Middle East. He is also an Expert at Wikistrat.
After graduating with a PhD from Harvard and studying abroad, Pipes taught at a number of universities. He then served as director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, before founding the Middle East Forum. His 2003 nomination by U.S. President George W. Bush to the board of directors of the U.S. Institute of Peace was protested by Islamists, Arab-American groups, and Democratic leaders, who cited his oft-stated belief that victory is the most effective way to terminate conflict. The Bush administration sidestepped the opposition with a recess appointment.
Pipes has written a dozen books, and served as an adviser to Rudolph Giuliani's 2008 presidential campaign. He was in 2008-11 the Taube Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
(Wikipedia)
After graduating with a PhD from Harvard and studying abroad, Pipes taught at a number of universities. He then served as director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, before founding the Middle East Forum. His 2003 nomination by U.S. President George W. Bush to the board of directors of the U.S. Institute of Peace was protested by Islamists, Arab-American groups, and Democratic leaders, who cited his oft-stated belief that victory is the most effective way to terminate conflict. The Bush administration sidestepped the opposition with a recess appointment.
Pipes has written a dozen books, and served as an adviser to Rudolph Giuliani's 2008 presidential campaign. He was in 2008-11 the Taube Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
(Wikipedia)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 23, 2009
During a recent hitchhiking journey through the Middle East, I was shocked by how often the locals claimed the West was wholly subservient by the Jews and out to get pious Muslims. When I told people I had come from Finland, a country very much on the periphery of religiously diverse Europe, the inevitable response was, "You know Finland is controlled by Israel, right?" I saw the Protocols of the Elders of Zion openly sold in street bookstalls. Wishing to understand this absurd kind of thinking, I picked up Daniel Pipes' THE HIDDEN HAND: MIDDLE EAST FEARS OF CONSPIRACY. Though published in 1998, before a great deal of major recent events, the book is still fairly timely in describing and explaining the troubling attitudes I encountered.
Pipes gives three case studies of conspiracism in the Middle East that were prevalent before the book's publication. The first is the idea that Israel wishes to establish a "Greater Israel" reaching from Egypt to the Euphrates. Pipes cites appearances of this libel in the popular press of the region and in the statements of various autocrats. The second case study is the Islamic Revolution of Iran. Here we see that conspiracism is by no means limited to fundamentalist Muslims, but even secular authorities like the Shah saw conspiracies lurking everything. The last case study is the conflict between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s, where even matters such as the Rushdie affair were ascribed to a conspiracy against Khomeini.
Pipes points out that conspiracism is a fairly recent phenomenon in the Middle East, and prior to the 19th century the peoples of the region were not so prone to seeking out shadowy motivations behind all bad things. He argues that the rise in conspiracism is multiford. One of its sources is the enormous progress made by the West in modern times, which shamed the increasingly poor and backwards Middle East. The other source of conspiracism may be imported Western attitudes. The blood libel against the Jews became popular in the Levant only after the French accused locals during the colonial period, while the ever-present fear of "imperialists" is the rhetoric of Soviet advisors over the Cold War. Yet another reason for conspiracism is that dictatorial regimes, the kind that predominate in the Middle East, tend to encourage such thinking as it can keep them in power.
While the book was informative in many respects, I was unhappy that Pipes focused almost wholly on the statements of rulers and government-controlled newspapers. He did not adequately report on the conspiracism prevalent among the masses, which in some cases comes from government control of media, but in other cases runs rampant even when leaders attempt to counter particular opinions. For that reason I award the book three stars.
Pipes gives three case studies of conspiracism in the Middle East that were prevalent before the book's publication. The first is the idea that Israel wishes to establish a "Greater Israel" reaching from Egypt to the Euphrates. Pipes cites appearances of this libel in the popular press of the region and in the statements of various autocrats. The second case study is the Islamic Revolution of Iran. Here we see that conspiracism is by no means limited to fundamentalist Muslims, but even secular authorities like the Shah saw conspiracies lurking everything. The last case study is the conflict between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s, where even matters such as the Rushdie affair were ascribed to a conspiracy against Khomeini.
Pipes points out that conspiracism is a fairly recent phenomenon in the Middle East, and prior to the 19th century the peoples of the region were not so prone to seeking out shadowy motivations behind all bad things. He argues that the rise in conspiracism is multiford. One of its sources is the enormous progress made by the West in modern times, which shamed the increasingly poor and backwards Middle East. The other source of conspiracism may be imported Western attitudes. The blood libel against the Jews became popular in the Levant only after the French accused locals during the colonial period, while the ever-present fear of "imperialists" is the rhetoric of Soviet advisors over the Cold War. Yet another reason for conspiracism is that dictatorial regimes, the kind that predominate in the Middle East, tend to encourage such thinking as it can keep them in power.
While the book was informative in many respects, I was unhappy that Pipes focused almost wholly on the statements of rulers and government-controlled newspapers. He did not adequately report on the conspiracism prevalent among the masses, which in some cases comes from government control of media, but in other cases runs rampant even when leaders attempt to counter particular opinions. For that reason I award the book three stars.
March 17, 2015
How Western European conspiracy theories have migrated and influenced Middle Eastern politics since around 1900. We love to make our own messes by bringing them with us.
February 18, 2016
If there were not so much conspiracy facts in the Middle East, there would not be so many conspiracy theories.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews