The Age of Counter-Revolution

Jamie Allinson is Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Edinburgh, specialising in the politics of the Middle East. A founding editor of the quarterly magazine Salvage, he is the author of The Struggle for the State in Jordan: The Social Origins of Alliances in the Middle East (2015), which was co-winner of the Jadaliyya Political Economy Book Prize in 2016.

• 1. Introduction: Another world was possible?; 2. What is counter-revolution?; 3. The revolutionary situations; 4. Political revolutions and counter-revolutions: Tunisia and Egypt; 5. Militarising counter-revolution: Syria and Bahrain; 6. From revolution to state collapse: Libya and Yemen; 7. Revolutionary states? Isis and Rojava; 8. Conclusion: Where is counter-revolution going?

'The Age of Counter-Revolution provides the most perceptive insights into counter-revolution since the work of Arno Mayer some 50 years ago. It combines a richness of detail alongside a striking command of theoretical debates. The book contains a simple, powerful message: for revolutions to fail, counter-revolutions must succeed. In this way, counter-revolutionary projects, founded on logics of preservation and defence, are just as powerful as revolutions. The book is the hallmark of a skilful, creative operator within the history-theory loop. It is essential reading.' George Lawson, Australian National University