This article by Louise Fawcett (2017) evaluates recent events against evolving patterns and conceptions of statehood and sovereignty over time. It argues that understanding the contemporary region requires stepping back from the present and taking a long view of the evolution of states and sovereignty in the modern Middle East. It rejects the use of popular myths and stereotypes about artificial or failed states or imminent system implosion, and calls for a stocktaking of the condition of the Middle Eastern state. In doing so it also considers the Middle Eastern experience comparatively, looking at parallel state trajectories elsewhere.