Argues that the consequences of the 'war on terror' have artificially conflated conflicts in the Middle East such that they appear to be the expression of 'Muslim anger' against the West. The author seeks to restore the individual logic and dynamics of each of these conflicts, the better to understand the political discontent that sustains them.

Olivier Roy is one of the most distinguished analysts of and commentators on political Islam in the Muslim Middle East and Central Asia. The author of several highly acclaimed books, two of which are published by Hurst (Globalised Islam and Islamist Networks), he is a researcher at CERI in Paris.