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Role of nationalism in forming the modern middle east
Role of nationalism in forming the modern middle east
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‘‘Utterances can be found, satisfying these conditions, yet such that, they do not ‘describe’ or ‘report’ or constate anything at all, are not ‘true or false’; and the uttering of a sentence is, or is part of the doing of an action, which again would not normally be described as sayingsomething.’’
The performative aspect of language conceptualised by Austin half a century ago, enables a more nuanced approach to the statement ‘The Middle East is an Invention’ than a simple examination whether it is true or false. It implies the necessity of an examination that takes into consideration its possible meanings and their historical origins. Moreover, such an action has its political implications. These can become visible if such an argument is considered in contrast to its historical counterpart that presupposes that the term ‘Middle East’ contains an essence of some sort and as such it can be definitely analysed to its components. Comprehended in that manner, the claim that the Middle East is a fictitious artefact is first and foremost a critique.
Arguably, Benedict Anderson’s analysis of the imaginary origins of the nation adheres to the same suggestion mentioned above. In disagreement with Gellner’s approach to nationalism, Anderson conflates the meaning of ‘invention’ with ‘imagination’, but does not question the existence of the nation as such . On the contrary he promotes a comprehensive approach to the concept of the nation, by stressing the need to unravel its composition . From another perspective, cultural tradition is invented and claims continuity within history through repetition . The historical origins of the critique of the attempt to naturalize the geographical designation, that the Middle East formed an important ...
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... Islamic World . Arguably, it does not seem to recognize that the concept of an Islamic World originated from Orientalists .
Works Cited
Anderson Benedict, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London: Verso3, 2003
Anderson Betty, ‘The duality of National Identity in the Middle East: A Critical Review’, Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 11, No.2 (Fall 2002)
Bilgin Pinar,‘‘Whose ‘Middle East’? Geopolitical inventions and Practices of security”, International Relations, Vol.18, No.1 (2004)
Chakrabarty Dipesh, Provincializing Europe, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 2008
Gause, Fred., H., ‘Systemic Approaches to Middle East International Relations’, International Studies Review, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1999)
Eric Hobsbawm, Terence Ranger (eds.), The Invention of Tradition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000
"The Nationalism Project: Ernest Renan Defining the Nation." The Nationalism Project. http://www.nationalismproject.org/what/renan.htm (accessed April 4, 2014).
The Middle East has historically rebuked Western influence during their process of establishing independence. When Britain and France left the Middle East after World War II, the region saw an unprecedented opportunity to establish independent and self-sufficient states free from the Western influence they had felt for hundreds of years. In an attempt to promote nationalistic independence, the states of the region immediately formed the League of Arab States in 1945. The League recognized and promoted the autonomy of its members and collaborated in regional opposition against the West until 1948 when Israel declared independence. Israel represented then and now an intrusive Western presence in the Arab world. The ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict typifies this cultural antagonism. The Cold War refocused attention to the Middle East as a site of economic and strategic importance for both sides, yet the two hegemons of the Cold War now needed to recognize the sovereignty of the Middle Eastern states. With their statehood and power cemented, the Middle Easte...
In his current job, Friedman writes a 740-word column twice a week. It appears in many of the world’s newspapers and on the Web. This latest book, Longitudes and Attitudes, is a compendium of his more recent columns and a diary of supporting incidents. The text relates to the theme that has consumed him in his career: the failure of the Arab nation to develop, democratize, and compete properly with the West. This theme is given point by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the attack of 9/11.
War and Peace in the Middle East by Avi Shlaim. In the novel War and Peace In the Middle East, author Avi Shlaim argues that Arab nations have been unable to escape the post-Ottoman syndrome. In particular, he describes how the various powers inside and outside the region have failed to produce peace. While some of Shlaim's arguments hinder the message, I agree with his overall thesis that the Middle East problems were caused and prolonged by the failure of both powers and superpowers to take into account the regional interests of the local states.
Throughout the years, humans have constructed many unique civilizations; all which follow a distinct social, economic, and political structure. Even so, there is one characteristic that prevails among these societies, the concept of nationalism. In short, nationalism refers to the feelings people have when identifying with their nation. This simple notion possesses the ability to divide or unite collective groups, and has played an important role in many historical events.
Yapp, Malcolm. The Near East since the First World War: A History to 1995. London: Longman, 1996. Print.
Nationalism has a long history although most scholarly research on Nationalism only began in the mid-twentieth century. Some scholars point to the French Revolution of 1789 as the birth of Nationalism. The French Revolution is seen...
Maynes, Charles. "The Middle East in the Twenty-First Century." Middle East Journal 52.1 (1998): 9-16. JSTOR. Web. 6 June 2011.
Orientalism as termed by Edward Said is meant to create awareness of a constellation of assumptions that are flawed and underlying Western attitudes towards the Muslim societies. Evidence from his 1978 book “Orientalism”, states that the culture has been of influence and marred with controversy in post colonial studies and other fields of study. Moreover, the scholarship is surrounded by somehow persistent and otherwise subtle prejudice of Eurocentric nature, which is against Islam religion and culture (Windschuttle, 1999). In his book, Said illustrates through arguments, that the long tradition in existence containing romanticized images of Islamic stronghold regions i.e. Middle East, and the Western culture have for a long time served as implicit justifications for the European and American Imperial ambitions. In light of this, Said denounced the practice of influential Arabs who contributed to the internalization of Arabic culture ideas by US and British orientalists. Thus, his hypothesis that Western scholarship on Muslim was historically flawed and essentially continues to misrepresent the reality of Muslim people. In lieu to this, Said quotes that, “So far as the United States seems to be concerned, it is only a slight overstatement to say that Muslims and Arabs are essentially seen as either oil suppliers or potential terrorists. Therefore, very few details such as human density, the passion of Arab-Muslim life has entered the awareness of even the people whose profession revolve around reporting of the Arab world. Due to this, we have instead a series of crude, essentialized caricatures of the Islamic world presented in such a way as to make that world vulnerable to military aggression” (Said, 1980).
Gerner, Deborah J., and Philip A. Schrodt. "Middle Eastern Politics." Understanding the contemporary Middle East. 3rd ed. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2008. 85 -136. Print.
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...
Nations and nationalism are an immense force in shaping the world as we know it. However, people have there seem to be conflicting ideologies among people regarding the origins of a nation. The first approach defined as ‘Modernism’ is the belief that nations are a product of highly cultivated, literate, structured and scientifically advanced societies from the modern world. Secondly, there is another approach called ‘Ethno-Symbolism’ which I believe to be truer to a more true to the causes of origins of a nation because it encompasses the belief that a unique culture, shared history and memories as well as bonds of ethnicities and kinship are the factors which unite people from a certain territory into forming a distinct identity in form of a nation. Therefore, I disagree with the statement, “Nations are primarily products of the modern world.”
...nd Politics." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Ed. Philip Mattar. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 890-895. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 24 Jan. 2012.
The nature and meaning of the term ‘nationalism’ has many different facets and dimensions. At times, deconstructing the different theoretical literature can become confusing and complicated process. These ambiguities arise from the different meanings scholars attribute to the term, while also the nature and meaning of nationalism is constantly being contested. To Primordialists, the *path to nationalism
Nationalism is the idea that a people who have much in common, such as language, culture and geographic proximity ought to organize in such a way that it creates a stable and enduring state. Nationalism is tied to patriotism, and it is the driving force behind the identity of a culture. Nationalism had many effects in Europe from 1815, The Congress of Vienna and beyond. In the following essay I will describe many of the consequences of nationalism on European identity, as well as some of the conflicts that it created.