The Controversy of Zion: Jewish Nationalism, the Jewish State, and the Unresolved JewishDilemma by Geoffrey WheatcroftReview by: William B. QuandtForeign Affairs, Vol. 76, No. 2 (Mar. - Apr., 1997), p. 193Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20048003 .

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Recent Books

masses of the Third World would rise up and use the state to produce

an egalitarian

political order more compassionate than

capitalism and less oppressive than com

munism. This belief in "Third Worldism" was given its fullest expression in coun

tries like Algeria, which, after winning its

independence in a bloody war, formed a

vaguely socialist government and led the

campaign for a more equitable division of

the world's wealth. Today cynicism and

indifference have replaced much ofthat

optimism, and in Algeria the moralistic,

populist agenda has been co-opted by rad

ical Islamists. Malley s remarkable book

looks carefully at the construction of this

system of beliefs to see how it evolved and

was adopted in diverse settings, such as

among Algerian and French intellectuals.

The author is exceptionally well read, cre

ative in seeing connections and influences, and gifted with a graceful, if world-weary,

writing style. However, as many questions are raised as resolved: Were the writers of

Third Worldist tracts really all true be lievers? Does ideology really play such a

big part in political life, or is it often a

fa?ade for position and power? And is radical Islam so well placed to inherit

the mantle of Third Worldism, or are

ordinary people learning to distrust reli

gious and secular Utopians?

The Controversy of Zion: Jewish Nationalism, the Jewish State, and the

Unresolved Jewish Dilemma, by

Geoffrey WHEATCROFT. Reading:

Addison-Wesley, 1996,396 pp. $25.00. There is no shortage of books on Zion

ism, yet this one is different. First of all, the author is neither a Zionist nor an

anti-Zionist. Rather, he is a historian who

asks how Zionism, a movement founded

just 100 years ago, has contributed to its

original goal of creating a normal life for

Jews. His survey takes him on a journey

through history and ideas, concluding with the travails of the successful, but not

always happy, modern state of Israel. The

author, however, has a tendency to judge Zionism by its initial purpose, paying too little attention, perhaps, to the inevitable

hardening of ideology and organization that occurred as Zionists confronted the

British and Arabs in Palestine, Hitler's at

tempt at extermination, the early wars of

the fledgling state, and the challenges of

peace. Still, his observations are filled with

insight, his stance is dispassionate, and his

conclusions are thought-provoking.

Why Syria Goes to War: Thirty Years of Confrontation,

fred h. lawson.

Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996, 222 pp. $29.95.

A refreshing attempt to explain Syria's

foreign policy that does not dwell on Baathist ideology, the mind of Hafiz al

Asad, or the sectarianism of the regime.

Instead, the author concentrates on

conflicts within the regime. So far, so

good. Certainly Syria's role in the crisis

leading to the 1967 war and its interven

tion in Jordan in 1970 must be under

stood largely in those terms. The discus

sion of how Syrian regimes have used

foreign crises to win support is valid, and Lawson even suggests an

interesting

exception to the "democratic peace"

model?multiparty Syria at war with dem

ocratic Israel in 1948. Consistent with his

broad approach, Lawson sees Syria's

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FOREIGN AFFAIRS March/April i997 [^93]

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