Quicksilver War

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 8 JAN 2018

Harris, professor of politics at the University of Otago, New Zealand, maps the rapidly shifting contours of the post Arab Spring Syria conflict, which has defied resolution largely because a "zoo of local regimes and sub-state actors" have all "exhibited autonomous tendencies." Harris rejects the notion that Syria's violence can be attributed to spillover from Iraq; rather, the power vacuum in Syria allowed a nucleus of Iraqi jihadists to reconstitute themselves as ISIS at a time when they were nearing irrelevance, and Turkey's reticence to control its border "integrated two scenes widely separated in time, space, and character." Peppered with personal observations, Harris's narrative relies heavily on reports in the Arabic media and think-tank analyses, occasionally becoming a thicket of acronyms and anodyne accounts of temporary alliances made and broken for obscure reasons. More detailed evaluations of the Kurdish response to the war and of Turkish policy ("entirely incoherent") go beyond what is easily available from other sources. All of the actors including Russia, the U.S., and a smattering of ersatz militias pursue complex and often self-contradictory priorities in a crucible of distrust and animosity. Harris sheds light on a very dark situation, but offers little hope for the future beyond "superficial restoration of the prewar status quo." Maps.