Book review: State and tribes in Syria: informal alliances and conflict patterns by Haian Dukhan

As the war grinds on, delving into this intricately researched account of how the Syrian state and its alliances with tribes have played out and been played upon adds depth to what has often become superficial, tired commentary on a country few can still report from. Haian Dukhan, a Syrian-British academic, posits in this work that there has been a resurgence in tribalism in recent times. This revival, he notes, has received scant attention compared with the issues of rising religious extremism and demands for greater civil society engagement in the Arab world.