Great developments by nature are not linear. Things just don't always continue as they have been. That's why this idea that the Arab Spring came, it went, it happened, it didn't work, therefore the Middle East will always remain an autocracy - that's linear thinking. Great events are great precisely because they're not linear.

Robert Kaplan

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A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.

Robert reported on foreign policy for The Atlantic for three decades and is currently the Robert Strausz-Hupé Chair in Geopolitics at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. His most recent book is The Loom of Time: Between Empire and Anarchy, from the Mediterranean to China.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:43
• What is the Greater Middle East? - 3:13
• Developing Political Institutions - 14:55
• Turkey and Iran - 26:40
• Iraq - 38:15

Key Links

The Loom of Time: Between Empire and Anarchy, from the Mediterranean to China by Robert Kaplan

Foreign Policy Research Institute

The Writings of Robert Kaplan at The Atlantic

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Berk Esen and Sebnem Gumuscu on the Disappointing Elections in Turkey… or How Democratic (or Autocratic) is Turkey Really?

Steven Simon on American Foreign Policy in the Middle East including Iran and the Wars in Iraq

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