Liberal democracy has produced the most freedom and security for the most people of any form of government in human history. For a while, and especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union, we believed that this would be enough. Yet, today, we face an anti-liberal backlash--and we bear much of the responsibility. Western leaders learnt the wrong lesson from the Soviets' downfall, seeing it as an ideological victory and adopting a 'total liberalism' with the same rigidity that had just brought down communism. Now, the economic and foreign policy failures of neoliberalism have fatally undermined the public's faith in the associated political system, liberal democracy. Cue disaffected masses, opportunistic populists, canny Russian sabotage, and the Chinese model as a powerful alternative--where do we go from here? From Tsarist conspiracy theories and Italian corruption to revolution in America, France and China, this book shows the roots of our century's descent into crisis. Exposing the critical mistakes of contemporary liberals, Azeem Ibrahim urges a rethink to renew liberal democracy, domestically and internationally. His incisive narrative of the West's recent past is sober and sobering; his vision for the future hopeful yet urgent--for only a liberal order can save vulnerable lives and confront global emergencies.

In Radical Origins, Azeem Ibrahim provides an accessible primer on radicalism, an understanding of jihadist history, and a way forward, debunking misconceptions about Islam along the way. This remarkable work culminates in a powerful body of evidence about how to contain, reduce and stop the spread of radicalisation once and for all.

More than thirteen years ago after the "War on Terror" was declared, many in the West now feel less secure than ever before. Many security experts believe global Jihad is on the rise throughout the West, and yet these same experts do not know how to stop the rising tide. Military action abroad and police action at home have only attended to the symptoms of terrorism, not the cause. The root, according to Dr. Ibrahim, is actually the extreme ideology of Wahhabism-the puritanical, reactionary, isolationist, xenophobic, and bigoted sect of Sunni Islam that has been the ideological bedrock of the state of Saudi Arabia since its original rise in the 18th Century. Foreign policy, socio-economic factors, alienation, and identity are often invoked in explaining the rise in radicalization, and while they do have a role to play, these are secondary factors. The primary cause is ideology, and Dr. Ibrahim places the origins of this radical extremism in historic context in a cogent manner, while also articulating specific policy goals and social action points going forward. Much of it hinges on altering decades of geopolitics regarding Saudi Arabia. In his groundbreaking Radical Origins, Dr. Ibrahim will provide an accessible primer on radicalism, an understanding of jihadist history, and a way forward, debunking misconceptions about Islam and this jihadist offshoot along the way. This remarkable work culminates in a powerful body of evidence about how to contain, reduce, and stop the spread of radicalization once and for all.

According to the United Nations, Myanmar's Rohingyas are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Only now has the media turned its attention to their plight at the hands of a country led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Yet the signs of this genocide have been visible for years. For generations, this Muslim group has suffered routine discrimination, violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, extortion, and other abuses by the Buddhist majority. As horrifying massacres have unfolded in 2017, international human rights groups have accused the regime of complicity in an ethnic cleansing campaign against them. Authorities refuse to recognise the Rohingyas as one of Myanmar's 135 'national races', denying them citizenship rights in the country of their birth and severely restricting many aspects of ordinary life, from marriage to free movement. In this updated edition, Azeem Ibrahim chronicles the events leading up to the current, final cleansing of the Rohingya population, and issues a clarion call to protect a vulnerable, little known Muslim minority. He makes a powerful appeal to use the lessons of the twentieth century to stop this genocide in the twenty-first.

By 2010, it was possible to see al-Qaeda as an organization in decline. It had lost militarily in Iraq and seemed politically irrelevant to the popular revolts during the Arab Spring. However, the Syrian civil war has allowed it to rebuild and, in the form of the local Al Nusrah Front, use a revised political and military strategy. This important monograph considers if these apparent gains can be sustained or whether al-Qaeda's ideology will again alienate other salafist groups and the wider Sunni population. Dr. Azeem Ibrahim bases his report on available evidence, interviews, and visits to Syria. At the moment, the Assad government seems to be making some gains, and the rebel forces are split into three broad groups of the Free Syrian Army, the Islamic Front (backed by the Gulf States), and two al-Qaeda groups (Al Nusrah and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria [ISIS]). ISIS has alienated all the other factions and is likely to retreat to Iraq, but the Al Nusrah Front...