Political Ideology in the Arab World
Accommodation and Transformation

Discusses some of the most significant ideological debates that have animated the Arab world over the last two decades.

Michaelle L. Browers (Author)

9780521749343, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 14 May 2009

210 pages
22.8 x 15.1 x 1.2 cm, 0.35 kg

'Brower's study deserves praise for its engagement with religious and political thought discourses in both English and the original Arabic. The sheer number of Arabic language works consulted is impressive and lends added authenticity to the work.' Political Studies Review

Arab nationalism and Islamism have been the two most potent ideological forces in the Arab region across the twentieth century. Over the last two decades, however, an accommodation of sorts has been developing between liberals, socialists and Islamists, to protest unpopular foreign and domestic policies, such as those aimed at cooperation with Israel or the war in Iraq. By examining the writings of Arab nationalist, socialist and Islamist intellectuals, and through numerous interviews with political participants from different persuasions, Michaelle Browers traces these developments from the 'Arab age of ideology', as it has been called, through an 'age of ideological transformation', demonstrating clearly how the recent flow of ideas from one group to another have their roots in the past. Political Ideology in the Arab World assesses the impact of ideological changes on Egypt's Kifaya! [Enough!] movement and Yemen's joint meeting parties.

Introduction. Ideological thought and practice in the Arab region
1. Retreat from secularism in Arab nationalist and socialist thought
2. A more inclusive Islamism? The Wasatiyya trend
3. Framing a cross-ideological alliance
4. The Egyptian movement for change: intellectual antecedents and generational conflicts
5. Yemen's joint meeting parties: origins and architects
Conclusion. Ideological rapprochement, accommodation, transformation - and their limits.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Sociology [JHB], History of ideas [JFCX], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]