Eugene Rogan Attributes Middle East Instability to Ottoman Legacy and Foreign Intervention

Historian Eugene Rogan, author of The Arabs: A History and The Fall of the Ottomans, explains that the Middle East’s chronic conflict is rooted in a pattern stretching back over a century. He says the region suffers from unresolved disputes over borders, identity, statehood and political legitimacy, compounded by repeated foreign interventions.

Rogan argues that the lack of an institutional consensus—unlike the constitutional evolution seen in Western democracies—has prevented Arab societies from shaping their own political futures. From Ottoman rule through European colonialism, military dictatorships, the Cold War and the 2011 uprisings, each era imposed repressive structures that blocked public debate and fostered enduring instability.