Part II, Chapters 14-16 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 14 is called "The Mamluks Save Islam." The Mamluks were the non-Islamic military slaves brought into service by the Arabic Ayyubid sultan and used to enforce rule for some 300 years. Fukuyama argues that without the service of the Mamluks, the religion of Islam might have been obliterated by outside conquerors. Over the course of the 300 years between 1250 and 1517, the Mamluks increased their power in the larger Islamic empire, eventually taking power for themselves. This disturbed the nature of their relation to the state, Fukuyama argues. Where before they had considerable influence over state matters, they were not themselves eligible to formally rule or to pass their status or property on to their children. This changed when they took power, but without any superior power to check their ambition they fell to infighting and lost effectiveness...