Download or read book Egypt Islam and Democracy written by Saad Eddin Ibrahim and published by American University in Cairo Press. This book was released on 2002-03-01 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These essays by one of Egypt's most influential intellectuals provide a fascinating perspective on the political, religious, economic, and social issues of contemporary Egypt. Written over a period of fifteen years, the essays cover a range of topics including civil society and the prospects for democratization in Egypt and the region, the urban sociology of Cairo, the development of Egypt's landed bourgeoisie, structural adjustment and the processes of economic liberalization, and the complexities of ethnic conflicts and minorities in the Arab world. A number of essays address different aspects of Islamic activism in Egypt: the formation, membership, and activities of activist groups and their philosophies, political and social roles, and ideological relations with the West. Written at various points in the modern history of Islamic activism, democratic reform, and economic and social liberalization, these essays reflect the processes of change and continuity in the sociopolitical development of present-day Egypt, while a new postscript written by the author in 2001 brings the story into perspective at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Download or read book Egypt Islam And Democracy Critical Essays written by Saad Eddin Ibrahim and published by American Univ in Cairo Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating perspective on the political, religious, economic, and social issues of contemporary Egypt
Download or read book Islam and Democracy in the Middle East written by Larry Diamond and published by . This book was released on 2003-08-07 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive assessment of the origins and staying power of Middle East autocracies, as well as a sober account of the struggles of state reformers and opposition forces to promote civil liberties, competitive elections and a pluralistic vision of Islam. Drawing on the insights of some 25 leading Western and Middle Eastern scholars, the book highlights the dualistic and often contradictory nature of political liberalization. Yemen suggest, political liberalization - as managed by the state - not only opens new spaces for debate and criticism, but is also used as a deliberate tactic to avoid genuine democratization. In several chapters on Iran, the authors analyze the benefits and costs of limited reform. There, the electoral successes of President Mohammad Khatami and his reformist allies inspired a new generation but have not as yet undermined the clerical establishment's power. By contrast, in Turkey a party with Islamist roots is moving a discredited system beyond decades of conflict and paralysis, following a stunning election victory in 2002. force for change. While acknowledging the enduring attraction of radical Islam throughout the Arab world, the concluding chapters carefully assess the recent efforts of Muslim civil society activists and intellectuals to promote a liberal Islamic alternative. Their struggles to affirm the compatibility of Islam and pluralistic democracy face daunting challenges, not least of which is the persistent efforts of many Arab rulers to limit the influence of all advocates of democracy, secular or religious.
Download or read book More Freedom Less Terror written by Dalia Dassa Kaye and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2008-09-24 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A key tenet of U.S. foreign policy has been that promoting democracy reduces terrorism; however, scant empirical evidence links democracy to terrorism, positively or negatively. This study explores the relationship between the two by examining the effects of liberalization processes on political violence in six Arab cases.
Download or read book Egypt s Identities in Conflict written by Girgis Naiem and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2018-02-12 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Egypt's lack of a common national identity is the basis for much of its internal conflict--Coptic Christians have been particularly affected. Once major contributors to Christian civilization, their influence ended with the fifth century Council of Chalcedon and they endured persecution. With the seventh century Arabization of Egypt, Copts were given dhimma or "protected persons" status. The 1919 Revolution granted them greater political participation, but the 1952 Revolution ended liberal democracy and established a military regime that championed Arab identity. Secular Egyptians rebelled against the Mubarak regime in 2011, yet his successor was the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first Islamist president. In yet another revolution over national identity, secular factions ousted Morsi in 2013 while in the chaos that followed, the Copts suffered the brunt of violence.
Download or read book Recovering Women s Voices written by Reham ElMorally and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2024-09-09 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reham ElMorally draws upon Sylvia Walby’s Six Structures of Patriarchy, tailored for the Egyptian context, to dissect how this patriarchal construct has historically suppressed and exploited women.
Download or read book Islam Secularism and Liberal Democracy written by Nader Hashemi and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-04-08 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Islam's relationship to liberal-democratic politics has emerged as one of the most pressing and contentious issues in international affairs. In Islam, Secularism, and Liberal Democracy, Nader Hashemi challenges the widely held belief among social scientists that religious politics and liberal-democratic development are structurally incompatible. This book argues for a rethinking of democratic theory so that it incorporates the variable of religion in the development of liberal democracy. In the process, it proves that an indigenous theory of Muslim secularism is not only possible, but is a necessary requirement for the advancement of liberal democracy in Muslim societies.
Download or read book From Independence to Revolution written by Gillian Kennedy and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "From Independence to Revolution tells the story of the complicated relationship between the Egyptian population and the nation's most prominent political opposition--the Islamist movement. Most commentators focus on the Muslim Brotherhood and radical jihadists constantly vying for power under successive authoritarian rulers, from Gamal Abdul Nasser to General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Yet the relationship between the Islamists and Egyptian society has not remained fixed. Instead, groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, radical jihadists and progressive Islamists like Tayyar al Masri have varied in their responses to Egypt's socio-political transformation over the last sixty years, thereby attracting different sections of the Egyptian electorate at different times. From bread riots in the 1970s to the 2011 Tahrir Square uprising and the subsequent election of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi in 2012, Egypt's Islamists have been countering authoritarian elites since colonial independence. This book is based on the author's fieldwork interviews in Egypt and builds on comparative political approaches to the topic. It offers an account of Egypt's contesting actors, demonstrating how a consistently fragmented Islamist movement and an authoritarian state have cemented political instability and economic decline as a persistent trend."--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book Civil Democratic Islam written by Cheryl Benard and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2004-03-25 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the face of Islam's own internal struggles, it is not easy to see who we should support and how. This report provides detailed descriptions of subgroups, their stands on various issues, and what those stands may mean for the West. Since the outcomes can matter greatly to international community, that community might wish to influence them by providing support to appropriate actors. The author recommends a mixed approach of providing specific types of support to those who can influence the outcomes in desirable ways.
Download or read book Imagining the Perfect Society in Muslim Brotherhood Journals written by Kiki M. Santing and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2020-08-24 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The investigation of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood during the presidencies of Anwar Sadat and the early years of Hosni Mubarak is based on the movement’s main journals, al-Da‘wa and Liwā’ al-’Islām, presenting its history during two relevant periods: 1976-1981, 1987-1988. These journals show that, contrary to the focus in modern research (e.a. sharia laws, gender relations, or ideas of democracy), the Brotherhood is a much more broadly oriented, social-political opposition movement, taking Islam as its guideline. The movement’s own versatile discourse discusses all aspects of daily and spiritual life. An important adage of the Brotherhood is Islam as a niẓām kāmil wa-shāmil, ‘a perfect and all-encompassing system’. Faith should play a role in every aspect of daily life, from cooking dinner and housekeeping to education, holidays, enemy images, legislation, and watching television. Islam is everything, and everything is Islam. In its journals the Brotherhood provided its unique reflection of the spirit of the age. The movement presented itself as a highly reactive group that responded to current events and positioned itself as a moral, religious and political opposition to the Egyptian regime.
Download or read book A History of Social Justice and Political Power in the Middle East written by Linda T. Darling and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-02 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From ancient Mesopotamia into the 20th century, "the Circle of Justice" as a concept has pervaded Middle Eastern political thought and underpinned the exercise of power in the Middle East. The Circle of Justice depicts graphically how a government’s justice toward the population generates political power, military strength, prosperity, and good administration. This book traces this set of relationships from its earliest appearance in the political writings of the Sumerians through four millennia of Middle Eastern culture. It explores how people conceptualized and acted upon this powerful insight, how they portrayed it in symbol, painting, and story, and how they transmitted it from one regime to the next. Moving towards the modern day, the author shows how, although the Circle of Justice was largely dropped from political discourse, it did not disappear from people’s political culture and expectations of government. The book demonstrates the Circle’s relevance to the Iranian Revolution and the rise of Islamist movements all over the Middle East, and suggests how the concept remains relevant in an age of capitalism. A "must read" for students, policymakers, and ordinary citizens, this book will be an important contribution to the areas of political history, political theory, Middle East studies and Orientalism.
Download or read book The Violence Pendulum written by Ioana Emy Matesan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-08-18 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Would the Islamic State ever renounce violence? In the current political climate, the question seems preposterous. Yet, at the height of a terrorist campaign against tourists in Egypt during the 1990s, nobody expected that the group behind the attacks would issue and adhere to a nonviolence initiative. What drives groups to shift between nonviolence and violence? When do opposition groups move away from armed action, and why do some organizations renounce violence permanently, whereas others refrain temporarily? In The Violence Pendulum, Ioana Emy Matesan offers a theory of tactical change that explains both escalation and de-escalation in order to answer these questions. Matesan's analysis traces the historical evolution of four Islamist groups: the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya in Egypt, and Darul Islam and Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia. Drawing from archival materials, interviews, and reports, she focuses on turning points in each organization. Ultimately, she finds that Islamist groups alter their tactics in response to the perceived need for activism, shifts in the cost of violent versus nonviolent resistance, and internal or external pressures on the organization. Groups turn to violence when grievances escalate, violent resistance is feasible and publicly tolerated, and there are internal or external pressures to act. In turn, groups renounce armed action when violence costs them too much, disillusionment eclipses the perceived need for continued activism, and leaders are willing to rethink the tactics and strategies of the group. By uncovering the reasons for escalation and de-escalation across a range of political environments, The Violence Pendulum reshapes our understanding of how decisions are made--and how nonviolence can be achieved--in armed groups.
Download or read book An Introduction to the Modern Middle East written by David S. Sorenson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-05-04 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining elements of comparative politics with a country-by-country analysis, author David S. Sorenson provides a complete and accessible introduction to the modern Middle East. With an emphasis on the politics of the region, the text also dedicates chapters specifically to the history, religions, and economies of countries in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf, the Eastern Mediterranean, and North Africa. In each country chapter, a brief political history is followed by discussions of democratization, religious politics, women's issues, civil society, economic development, privatization, and foreign relations. In this updated and revised second edition, An Introduction to the Modern Middle East includes new material on the Arab Spring, the changes in Turkish politics, the Iranian nuclear issues, and the latest efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dilemma. Introductory chapters provide an important thematic overview for each of the book's individual country chapters and short vignettes throughout the book offer readers a chance for personal reflection.
Download or read book Muslim Rebels written by Jeffrey T. Kenney and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2006-10-12 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Kharijites were the first sectarian movement in Islamic history, a rebellious splinter group that separated itself from mainstream Muslim society and set about creating, through violence, an ideal community of the saved. Their influence in the political and theological life of the nascent faith has ensured their place in both critical and religious accounts of early Islamic history. Based on the image of sect fostered by the Islamic tradition, the name Kharijite defines a Muslim as an overly-pious zealot whose ideas and actions lie beyond the pale of normative Islam. After a brief look at Kharijite origins and the traditional image of these early rebels, this book focuses on references to the Kharijites in Egypt from the 1950s to the 1990s. Jeffrey T. Kenney shows how the traditional image of the Kharijites was reawakened to address the problem of radical Islamist opposition movements. The Kharijites came to play a central role in the rhetoric of both religious authorities, whose official role it is to interpret Islam for the masses, and the secular state, which cynically turns to Islamic ideas and symbols to defend its legitimacy. Even those Islamists who defend militant tactics, and who are themselves tainted by the Kharijite label, become participants in the discourse surrounding Kharijism. Although all Egyptians agree that modern Kharijites represent a dangerous threat to society, serious debates have arisen about the underlying social, political and economic problems that lead Muslims down this destructive path. Kenney examines these debates and what they reveal about Egyptian attitudes toward Islamist violence and its impact on their nation. Long before 9/11, Egyptians have been dealing with the problem of Islamist violence, frequently evoking the Kharijites. This book represents an important contribution to Islamic studies and Middle East studies, adding to our understanding of how the Islamic past shapes the present discourse surrounding Islamist violence in one Muslim society.
Download or read book Political Parties and Democracy written by Kay Lawson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-07-20 with total page 1537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Native scholars explore the relationship between political parties and democracy in regions around the world. The development of political parties over the past century is the story of three stages in the pursuit of power: liberation, democratization, and de-democratization. Political Parties and Democracy is comprised of five, stand-alone volumes that probe the realities of political parties at all three stages. In each volume, contributors explore the relationship between political parties and democracy (or democratization) in their nations, providing necessary historical, socioeconomic, and institutional context, as well as the details of contemporary political tensions. Contributors are distinguished indigenous scholars who have lived the truths they tell and are, thus, able to write with unique breadth, depth, and scope. They show the parties of their respective nations as they have developed through history and changing institutional structures, and they explain the balance of power among them—and between them and competing agencies of power—today.
Download or read book Iran and the West written by Andrew Thomas and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-04-02 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores non-Western approaches to foreign policy in the context of Iran in order to encourage wider consideration of non-Western scholarship in international relations. Throughout its existence IR has drawn primarily on Western thought and experience, leaving other perspectives on the periphery of discourse. As the field becomes more about contexts beyond the West, this has become a challenge for creating a truly ‘global’ field of study. Concepts like ‘national interest,’ ‘rationality’ and ‘pragmatism’ are often applied to Iran without considering what these concepts mean in the context of Iranian political identity. The aim of this book is to highlight the contemporary relevance of native Iranian and non-Western perspectives to IR analysis, returning complexity and critique to Iranian studies. To do this, the author examines four of Iran’s political encounters with the West, including its resistance to sanctions policy and negotiations surrounding its nuclear program. Ultimately, the book argues that ignoring Iranian motivations of identity has routinely resulted in missed opportunities, growing tensions and failed coercive policy. The book will prove valuable reading for students and researchers interested in international relations theory, Iranian history and Middle East studies.
Download or read book The Muslim Brotherhood the Salafist Call and the Orientation Towards State and Society in Egypt written by Hasan Obaid and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2023-11-01 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book considers the time span between 1981 and 2013, which is shaped by the rule of Hosni Mubarak until the ousting of the Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July 2013. Although the two movements are Egyptian movements, their ideologies reach far beyond Egyptian borders. This book will enrich one’s understanding of the difference between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist Call and the ideological transformations of each of them by focusing on the impact of the Egyptian regime’s power network (ideological, economic, military, and political) on these transformations, and studying the ideological attitudes of both movements to many issues such as political participation, democracy, women’s issues, minorities, freedoms, and systems of governance. This first requires an exploration of the regime’s power networks and the relationship between these sources of power, which are both featured in this book.
