Creative Radicalism in the Middle East

Creative Radicalism in the Middle East PDF Author: Caroline Rooney
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1838601198
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Addressing the question of how neoliberal ideology has served to conflate the radical left with extremism, this book examines how the Arab left has asserted itself in the context of authoritarianism and Islamic extremism during and after the Arab uprisings. It examines how the Arab cultural left has offered a critique of the signifying practices of political hegemonies in the region and argues that though creative expression as constituted in the very language of the Arab uprisings, it has put forward its own alternatives Using a wide array of texts and sources, both Arab and non-Arab, the opening chapters of the book identify how ethical and radical values pertaining to sociality are co-opted by political leaders in the Middle East and turned into jargon. Later chapters outline resistance to this co-option through a poetics of inter-subjectivity that takes structures of feeling into account, ranging from disappointment, despair and distrust, to dignity, solidarity and reconfigured senses of the sacred. In showing how psychological and affective states relate to signifying practices, the book offers an original conceptual framework for differentiating 'radicalization' from the creative radicalism of the Arab avant-garde.

Religious Radicalism and Politics in the Middle East

Religious Radicalism and Politics in the Middle East PDF Author: Emmanuel Sivan
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438420226
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
This book explores in a comparative perspective two fundamentalist waves that have rolled over the Middle East during the last two decades. Jewish and Muslim extremism have had a profound impact on the culture and politics of this important region. One thinks immediately of the Guh Emunism settlements on the West Bank, the Iranian revolution, and the assassination of President Sadat. The authors highlight various facets of the phenomena, such as Haradi Jewish ultra-orthodoxy, the transformation of secular Israeli nationalism by the Gush, Iranian attempts to spread the revolutionary gospel to the Sunni world, and fundamentalism as the spearhead of the national uprising in the Gaza. The introduction outlines what the extremist movements in both religions have in common, where they diverge, and how they are shaping the future of the Middle East.

Religious Radicalism in the Greater Middle East

Religious Radicalism in the Greater Middle East PDF Author: Efraim Inbar
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136312072
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
This collection offers a political analysis of religious radicalism in the Greater Middle East - comprising the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. The contributors present various conceptual perspectives including international relations, Middle East studies and political sociology.

Religious Radicalism After the Arab Uprisings

Religious Radicalism After the Arab Uprisings PDF Author: Jon B. Alterman
Publisher: CSIS Reports
ISBN: 9781442240681
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Arab uprisings of 2011 created unexpected opportunities for religious radicals. Although many inside and outside the region initially saw the uprisings as liberal triumphs, illiberal forces have benefitted disproportionately. In Tunisia, formally marginalized jihadi-salafi groups appealed for mainstream support, and in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood triumphed in elections. Even in Saudi Arabia, not known for either lively politics or for political entrepreneurship, a surprising array of forces praised the rise of 'Islamic democracy' under a Muslim Brotherhood banner. Yet, at the same time, the Arab Spring reinforced regional governments' advantages. The chaos engulfing parts of the region has convinced some citizens that they were better off with the governments they had, and many governments successfully employed old and new tools of repression to reinforce the status quo. In the Middle East, conflicts that many thought were coming to an end will continue, as will the dynamism and innovation that have emerged among radical and opposition groups. To face the current threats, governments will need to use many of their existing tools skillfully, but they will also need to judge what tools will no longer work, and what new tools they have at their disposal. The stakes could not be higher.

Cosmopolitan Radicalism

Cosmopolitan Radicalism PDF Author: Zeina Maasri
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108487718
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Exploring visual culture, design and politics in 1960s Beirut, this compelling interdisciplinary study examines a critical period in Lebanon's history.

The Eastern Mediterranean and the Making of Global Radicalism, 1860-1914

The Eastern Mediterranean and the Making of Global Radicalism, 1860-1914 PDF Author: Ilham Khuri-Makdisi
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520945468
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
In this groundbreaking book, Ilham Khuri-Makdisi establishes the existence of a special radical trajectory spanning four continents and linking Beirut, Cairo, and Alexandria between 1860 and 1914. She shows that socialist and anarchist ideas were regularly discussed, disseminated, and reworked among intellectuals, workers, dramatists, Egyptians, Ottoman Syrians, ethnic Italians, Greeks, and many others in these cities. In situating the Middle East within the context of world history, Khuri-Makdisi challenges nationalist and elite narratives of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern history as well as Eurocentric ideas about global radical movements. The book demonstrates that these radical trajectories played a fundamental role in shaping societies throughout the world and offers a powerful rethinking of Ottoman intellectual and social history.

Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival

Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival PDF Author: Thomas Molnar
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135153131X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Over the past decade, the political ground beneath the Middle East has shifted. Arab nationalism the political orthodoxy for most of this century has lost its grip on the imagination and allegiance of a new generation. At the same time, Islam as an ideology has spread across the region, and "Islamists" bid to capture the center of politics. Most Western scholars and experts once hailed the redemptive power of Arabism. Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival is a critical assessment of the contradictions of Arab nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism, and the misrepresentation of both in the West.The first part of the book argues that Arab nationalism--the so-called Arab awakening--bore within it the seeds of its own failure. Arabism as an idea drew upon foreign sources and resources. Even as it claimed to liberate the Arabs from imperialism it deepened intellectual dependence upon the West's own romanticism and radicalism. Ultimately, Arab nationalism became a force of oppression rather than liberation, and a mirror image of the imperialism it defied. Kramer's essays together form the only chronological telling and the at fully documented postmortem of Arabism. The second part of the book examines the similar failings of Islamism, whose ideas are Islamic reworkings of Western ideological radicalism. Its effect has been to give new life to old rationales for oppression, authoritarianism, and sectarian division.Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival provides an alternative view of a century of Middle Eastern history. As the region moves fitfully past ideology, Kramer's perspective is more compelling than at any time in the past-in Western academe no less than among many in the Middle. This book will be of interest to sociologists, political scientists, economists, and Middle East specialists.

Making the Arab World

Making the Arab World PDF Author: Fawaz A. Gerges
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069119646X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
Based on a decade of research, including in-depth interviews with many leading figures in the story, this edition is essential for anyone who wants to understand the roots of the turmoil engulfing the Middle East, from civil wars to the rise of Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Violent Radical Movements in the Arab World

Violent Radical Movements in the Arab World PDF Author: Peter Sluglett
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1786726300
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Violent non-state actors have become almost endemic to political movements in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa. This book examines why they play such a key role and the different ways in which they have developed. Placing them in the context of the region, separate chapters cover the organizations that are currently active, including: The Muslim Brotherhood, The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, Hamas, Hizbullah, the PKK, al-Shabab and the Huthis. The book shows that while these groups are a new phenomenon, they also relate to other key factors including the 'unfinished business' of the colonial and postcolonial eras and tacit encouragement of the Wahhabi/Salafi/jihadi da'wa by some regional powers. Their diversity means violent non-state actors elude simple classification, ranging from 'national' and 'transnational' to religious and political movements. However, by examining their origins, their supporters and their motivations, this book helps explain their ubiquity in the region.

Revolutionaries and Reformers

Revolutionaries and Reformers PDF Author: Barry Rubin
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791487393
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
Islamist movements seeking power today are faced with difficult choices regarding strategy, ranging from armed struggle to electoral efforts. An emerging alternative consists of a rethinking of Islamist politics, where the goal of a "totally Islamic" polity would be abandoned in favor of some form of Islamic-oriented society. In this reformulation, Islamist politics would function as a pressure group to make society more Islamic, reinforcing the walls of semi-separate internal communities and reinterpreting Islam in more liberal ways. The September 11, 2001 terror attack on the United States, however, demonstrates that the radical approach remains attractive to many Islamists. Addressing these issues, the contributors look at the countries where Islamist movements have been most important. Case studies of revolutionary and reformist groups are followed by chapters discussing future alternatives for Islamist politics, presenting arguments both advocating and critical of a potential liberal, reformist, interest-group Islamism.