Books Previews: International Politics at the Festival

Feature by Iman Qureshi | 15 Jul 2010

Richard McGregor

Richard McGregor states that a major theme of his latest book is “secrecy”. Having spent two decades reporting in Asia, the Financial Times’ China bureau chief has teased out the mysterious workings of the Chinese Communist Party.

The Party documents the workings of the Chinese government and “how deeply its tentacles extend into all manners of institutions”. McGregor shows how, despite being seen as formidably authoritarian and viewed with suspicion all over the world, the Chinese system can be both rigid and flexible, restrictive and liberal, laissez faire and—should anyone cross the “red line into organised politics"—a very brutal beast indeed.

Tariq Ramadan

Described variously as a fascist, an anti-Semite and a defender of the most brutal tenets of Shariah law, Tariq Ramadan is here, presenting his book What I Believe, to defend himself against these allegations.

For others, however, Ramadan is a reconciler and a progressive, seeking ways to balance faith and enagagement in modern, secular democracy. The Swiss academic is Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University.

A controversial figure, Ramadan inevitably hits upon the most sensitive nerves of our post-9/11 world.

After the Wars

In a debate chaired by Allan Little, special correspondent for the BBC, two of the biggest names in international journalism will discuss the future of the ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Foreign correspondent James Fergusson is the author of A Million Bullets: The Real Story of the British Army in Afghanistan, and Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid’s latest book is entitled Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. The pair are among those few most likely to foresee any possible means to recovery and lasting peace in the troubled regions.

Richard McGregor
Scottish Power Studio Theatre
16 Aug, 2:00pm, £10

Tariq Ramadan
RBS Main Theatre
28 Aug, 3:00pm, £10

After the Wars
Highland Park Spiegeltent
17 Aug, 7:00pm, £10