The FPA’s Must Reads (July 24-31)

How to Think About Islamic State
By Pankaj Mishra
Guardian

Is the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), now known as the so-called Islamic State, a medieval or modern phenomenon? In this essay, Mishra looks at the alienation bred by some forms of modernization and Westernization has played in drawing more and more fighters to ISIS.

The Mystery of ISIS
By Anonymous
The New York Review of Books

ISIS’s rise — and indeed, its success — has been shrouded in mystery. Riddled with contradictory explanations for anything from its military success in Iraq to how it draws foreign fighters en masse, many of the accounts that attempt to explain the group’s success in detail are lacking in some way. Whatever the “real” secret is to ISIS’s success, it will do little to quell the fear its rise instills within us.

Against All Odds
By T.A. Frank
National Journal

With such a crowded Republican field, one of the main questions that’s come up this primary season is:  Why even bother running for president when you know you’re not going to win the nomination? In this article, Frank looks at the logic behind George Pataki’s campaign, which has, to the say the least, been received without much fanfare.

Cattle-Camp Politics
By Jérôme Tubiana
Foreign Affairs

Underneath the power struggle among the “big men” of South Sudan (i.e., military leaders), there’s another far more longstanding conflict: that which has been created by inter-tribal tensions. These conflicts have played out over control of land and cattle and represent a far deeper conflict within the country — one that has left Tubiana wondering, “Is no one innocent in South Sudan?”

Underworld
By Montel Reel
New Yorker

The infrastructure supporting the U.S.-Mexican drug trade is vast. Indeed, within the past century, officials have come across over 181 illicit passages between the U.S.-Mexican border. Some are small, offering barely enough space for a single person to travel through; others are far more complex, fitted with electric lights, elevators and ventilator shafts. Reel delves into some of the recent investigations that have shed light on how these so-called supertunnels came to pass and how they have impacted the international drug trade.

Blogs:

How Beijing’s Foreign Policy Can Backfire on its Tourists by Gary Sands
Burundi’s Electoral Quagmire by Eliza Keller
GailForce: Aspen Security Forum Part I by Gail Harris
Syrian Conflict Drags On by Scott Bleiweis