Welcome to the TPMCafe Book Club! This is where we regularly invite authors to come and discuss their most recent works with readers and invited commentators. Past Book Club authors include Thomas Frank, Anthony Shadid, Larry Diamond, George Packer, Ivo Daalder/James Lindsay, Robert Dreyfuss, Chris Mooney, Gene Sperling, Gershom Gorenberg, Peter Beinart, Kevin Phillips, Sidney Blumenthal, Reed Hundt, Anne-Marie Slaughter/John Ikenberry, Jonathan Cohn, and Daniel Gross.

This week we'll be discussing Steven Cook's Ruling But Not Governing: The Military and Political Development in Egypt, Algeria, and Turkey.

While talk of "democratization" and "instability" remains the centerpiece of our discussions of the Middle East, Cook's book is a reminder that authoritarian regimes in the region have developed complex ways of holding on to power through both the institutions and traditions of military control.

Debating and discussing Cook's thesis will be Jason Brownlee, Yasemin Congar, Michele Dunne, Mona Yacoubian and Jon Alterman.

-ahg