Qatar is a country that has the largest per capita income in the world. A few decades ago, the now oil and gas rich country could not survive the years of hunger that led to more than 10% of population migrating to neighboring countries. This transition and modernization has been analyzed in the introduction of the book “Qatar: A Modern History” by Allen J. Fromherz. This reaction paper is intended to study his analysis which talks mainly about the absence of the sense of postmodernism in the Qatari citizens.
According to Allen Fromherz, in spite of the rapid modernization in Qatar, the conflict between modernity and traditionalism that modernity is meant to create, is absent in the nation. Fromherz argues that the western assumption about modernity leading to loss in historical and traditional values is not applicable to Qatar. The smooth way in which the nation changed from a place of poverty to a nation having one of the most successful economy in the world is astonishing. The traditional and tribal affiliations that should have been eradicated by the modernization were instead more strengthened by the economy brought by the oil industry. However modern the country may look to an outsider, the tribal and traditional values are not lost in the mindsets of at least the older generation of Qatari citizens. Fromherz suggests that Islamic modernism somehow shielded Qatar from the ill – effects of postmodernism.
One of the problems discussed in Fromherz’s analysis of Qatar’s modernity is the expatriate influx. The booming economic sectors in Qatar invited a huge number of expatriates which began to necessitate the integration of the various cultures. The introduction of these cultures came as a direct consequence of rapid modernizati...
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...his shows that modernity has affected the nation with controversies as in any other nation.
Though it is true that the national day of independence was selected to be Jassim Al – Thani’s birthday, this does not go on to show that ‘Al – Thani is the nation and the nation is Al – Thani’ as Fromherz puts it. What Fromherz fails to realize is that Jassim was ‘The Founder’ of the nation and that the celebration of the national day on the day of his birth is merely a way of maintaining the knowledge of Qatar’s heritage and is meant to instill a sense of pride among Qataris. Though it is true that you could find members of the Al – Thani family almost everywhere in the governmental post, it should also be noticed that the family has given a lot to the country’s development and has succeeded in creating a culture and heritage that future citizens of Qatar can be proud of.
...a became more powerful after embracing new technology as they made better weapons as compared to earlier years. Evidently, over the years there has been a change of attitude towards technology, political views, religious views and cultural practices (Huey). There has been tension over the years, but the ‘new America’ brings much nostalgia from the ‘old America’.
Jeremi Suri ’s perspective of how American Democracy has changed today, based on his book Power and Protest: Global revolution and the Rise of Détente, is centered on the world discontent of the younger generation. He talks about how they were not satisfied with their governments. They held higher expectations and protested for things such as civil rights, equality, and the Free University. Protests such as these changed American Politics today.
... countries leads him to also be passionate about his own country. His travels, due to those passions and his job, are what allowed him to see the world and the state it is in. He sees the current trend that the world is heading towards and realizes that a revolution needs to happen. He also sees it as a way for the United States to benefit and grow. At the end of his book, he says "We need to redefine green and rediscover America and in so doing rediscover ourselves and what it means to be Americans … if we rise to the challenge [of a revolution] , and truly become the Re-generation- redefining green and rediscovering, reviving, and regenerating America- we, and the world, will not only survive but thrive in an age that is hot, flat, and crowded"(412). He believes that there is just enough time, if we start now, to save the world from the path it is heading towards.
“One Arab nation from Gulf to the Ocean,” gives meaning to the term “Pan-Arabism” in the Middle East. A notion where Arab nations transcend their state boundaries to form political mergers with other states and achieve an ‘Arab unity.’ The existence of Arab states had been tumultuous throughout the decline of the Muslim order, the end of the Ottoman Empire, the Palestinian defeat, Six Day War and Arab-Israeli war in 1973. This essay will critically examine Foud Ajami’s case for a raison d’état in the Middle East and his claim that there were six broad trends leading to the alteration of the balance of power away from Pan-Arabism and towards the state. It will be argued that Pan-Arabism was a romantic ideology that Arab states found convenient to support, all in advancement of their nationalistic state agendas. It was never a realistic endeavor that was physically undertaken by the Arab states and was thus never alive in a tangible sense. However, Pan-Arabism as an ideology had a place in the Middle East and was thus alive in an ideological sense.
The omnipresence of the American and European culture in the countries of the Middle East is a universally recognized phenomenon. The culture, thoughts and status quo of the people have been and continually are being changed and challenged due the mass spread of American goods and ideas. The American national culture largely revolves around the wants, needs and goals of the individual. As the one of the greatest superpowers of the time, its influence on the global community towards the focus on the individual is nothing short of inevitable. The movies, clothing and new age mentality of America are sending all people regardless of age, upbringing and locale, into a grand scale social transition. The Arabs and Muslims beliefs, traditions and entire state of being are no longer as they were 20 or 30 years ago. The women of the novels, Nadia, Fatima, Umm Saad, Maha, Asya, and Su’ad, each living in various Arab countries with unique situations of their own, all are united on the common ground of American introduced idea and concepts of individualism through such venues as feminism, capitalism, sexism and consumerism which adversely affect their society.
The next theory is the modernization theory, which is the basis for the rest of the essay. The modernization theory is that since the West led the push to modernization, many components of Western culture are embedded in modern society. “As the first civilization to modernize, the West is the first to have fully acquired the culture of modernity.” This theory also heavily relies on the idea that in order to modernize, the country must Westernize and lose its traditional culture. It is then proposed that although in present day many societies are modern, it does not mean they are all the same.
The Arab world consists of twenty-two countries encompassing all of North Africa and much of the Middle East. The Arab people number over 360 million and while they share a common language, there is a surprising degree of diversity among them, whether in terms of nationality, culture, religion, economics, or politics. (McCaffrey, 3) Most inhabitants of the Ar...
Crimes punishable by the death sentence in Saudi Arabia include murder, serious attacks on the Islam religion, adultery, dress codes, and since 1987, drug smuggling. Under Saudi Arabian law, serious crimes merit serious consequences. Repeated theft is punishable by amputation of the right hand, administered under anesthetic. Because most meals in Saudi Arabia are eaten by hand from a communal bowl and only the right hand may touch the food, this punishment effectively bans the convicted thief from society. The severity of this punishment has led to a slight softening of the law in recent years; now if the thief repents and makes restitution before the case is brought before a judge, the punishment can be reduced... furthermore, the victim of the crime may demand payment rather than amputation of the thief’s right hand, and in some cases the victim is even permitted to parden the criminal. In a typical year at least ten hands amputations are carried out for repeated thievery in Saudi Arabia. (Goodwin, 1943) Today in the United States, crimes such as theft are punishable by jail sentence if they have more than one thievery act.
Political uprisings in the Middle East, especially in Muslim nation states have placed Arabian politics back on the focus point of international politics. Political events in certain Arab countries had an excessive impact on the political development of other neighboring states. Resistances and anxieties within different Arab countries triggered unpredictable actions, sometimes sorely to observe and believe. The authoritarian governments of Arabian countries led from various dictators have created a precarious situation for their people, especially in providing national security and maintaining peace in the region. Jack Goldstone argues that the degree of a sultan’s weakness has been often only visible in retrospect; due in part to the nature of the military-security complex common across Middle East states (Goldstone 1). In addition, the existence of various statesmen with political affiliation is concerned in faithfulness of its armed forces. Usually, the armed national forces of several states, mainly those in Arab countries are loyal and closely affiliated to their leaders, which have a major role in state regimes. Arab uprisings in their early spreading appeared legally responsible and with concrete demands from representatives’ peoples, calling for a more open democratic system and reasonable governance. Even though, the system in which popular frustration with government imposes alters considerably from one state to another. These public revolts against different authoritative governments didn’t halt just in Arab states, but they sustained also in the Far East and in the Eastern Europe. Can we say that the popular uprisings in Arab countries could be attributed to the term of globalization? In fact, globalization is a multi...
...ve to get history started once again". This comment suggest that the current idea, liberalism, may just be a phase in Human ideology that happened to spread worldwide. Though he made a compelling argument and posed thought provoking questions that supported his argument, the flaws in his argument, after stringent analysis, contradict his main points.
All throughout history, we see this dichotomy between tradition and modernity. On one hand, we have tradition, the force living perpetually in the past and refusing to change. On the other hand, modernity leaves tradition behind in favor of progress. These two concepts, much like oil and water, dare to divide but coexist as a debatable founding solution. Not only are the themes Western ideas, but they have been present and are found in literature all around the world, from China to Africa.
Both countries have nearly identical scores in the dimension of masculinity. This exhibits the driving cultural forces of competition and achievement, with success held in high regard over other values. With Uncertainty Avoidance, the country is once again polarized. With the USA's relatively low score, the culture exhibits acceptance for new ideas with an emphasis on innovation and toleration. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Saudi Arabia maintains rigidity in belief systems and acceptable behaviors and ideas, valuing security over uncertainty.
This report draws from many publications written over the last twenty years exposing the unique situation in Saudi Arabia, while also utilizing recent headl...
The tension between the West and Islam has become a hot topic lately but the conflict between the two has always been there, and is illustrate through the works of Al-Farabi, Nilufar Gole, and Sayyid Qutb. Each author has a different perspective on modernization and the west. The significance of these three authors, whose works span over a period of 1,000 years, is that their work reveals the enduringly complex relationship that Islam and the West have had.
...Arabia is a petrostate. Oil dominates the national economy, international exports, and the nation’s politics. It has greatly shaped what the kingdom is today. Having started out as somewhat of a tourist economy, the kingdom has become a world, monetary power. From their massive amounts of oil and extremely cheap production, the country has been able to gain large amounts of affluence and political power. With its large abundance of oil, the country has been able to profit immensely on sales and spur diplomatic outcomes to their benefit due to the great need of the resource. Without the discovery oil, Saudi Arabia would be of little importance in the modern world, having the Grand Mosque be the extent of its importance. But because of its discovery of oil, Saudi Arabia became of international importance, coming to be one of the greatest assets to world superpowers.