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The Politics of Identity in Middle East
International Relations
The Challenge of Nation-building-1
- Nation-building complicated by incongruence
between the state and sub- (i.e.cities, tribe, religious
sects) and supra-state identities (i.e. Arab , Islamic
umma).
- An exceptionally diverse etno-linguistic and secterian
mosaics : not only was Islam divided between Sunni
and Shia, but the latter also produced several
branches: the Druze, Ismailis, Alawis, Zayids ; a
multitude Christian minorities.
- Even the most successful and durable Middle East
empire, the Ottoman, was the opposite of nationstate.
The Challenge of Nation-building-2
- Imposition of Western state system created
weak, competing, artificial state units.
- ‘Nation-state’ problematic term for Arab
states: one nation-one state vs one nationmany states.
- Arabism based on history and language
competes with rival identities.
Arab Nationalism
- Pan-Arab identity (qaumi) and state centric (watani) nationalism.
- Construction of Arab nationalism as secular in multi-religious states,
stronger Islamic content in religiously homogenous states.
- Arab nationalism and Islamism: Rivals with shared causes and
overlap.
- Pan-Arab nationalism hegemonic ideology from 1950s to 70s, and
persistence of the “imagined community”.
- Identification with the state and Islam exceeding Arab identity.
Irredentism and Inter-State Conflict
- Externally imposed boundaries built
irredentism into regional state system.
- Nations without states, e.g. the Kurds,
Palestinians.
- Contested borders have dragged states into
conflict with each other. Example: Iraq’s wars.
Identity and Foreign Policy
- Identity both shapes perceptions of interest in FP making and is an
instrument in their pursuit.
- Supra-state imagined community makes inter-Arab politics
distinctive: competition among states for Pan-Arab leadership.
- Identity can also constrain states: material vs identity interests.
- Unionist projects such as United Arab Republic.
- Variations in state identity and foreign policy variations partly
explained by varying social compositions:
- satisfied identity
- Non-satisfied identity
status quo
revisionism.
Identity and the Arab Uprising
- Events of 2011 manifest conflict between rival
coexisting identities: “Arab Spring” indication of
shared Arab public space.
- Yet demands are state-centric.
- Arabism suffers from association with repressive
regimes, such as Syria.
- Islamacizing states related to Pan-Islamic identity.
Islam and International Relations: History and Key
Concepts
- Quran and Sunna refer to concepts such as nations, power, political
authority, and treaty-making.
- Does Islam make distinction between religion and politics? Evidence
of differentiation between religious authority and political power.
- Jihad: a martial or spiritual concept?
- The Community of Believers (umma): general sense of belonging to
a geographically broad and culturally diverse faith tradition, not
incompatible with other memberships and associations
Pan-Islam, Colonialism, and the Modern State
- Islam emerged as focal point of anti-colonial agitation by the late
19th century. However, nationalism proved to be a more effective
discourse.
- In popular discourse, (principally Muslim Brotherhood) led political
mobilization of umma serves symbolic function towards unity
among Muslims.
- “Petro-Islam”: Saudi propagation of Wahhabism.
- Iran only Islamic state where religious scholars/clerics (assembly
of experts) in along with supreme leader and Guardian Council
controls government al functions.
“Petro-Islam”: Saudi propagation of Wahhabism/Salafism.
Iran:Who holds Power?
Ayatollah Khamenei became Supreme Leader in
1989
The
Political
Economy
of
Islamic
Revival
-“Islamic Revival” often dated to post-Six Day War (1967), but cultural
resonance
and
language
of
religion
always
present.
- Islamist social/political movements not the only actors: States intervene in
religious
field
and
deploy
religious
institutions
for
own
goals.
- Muslim Brotherhood primarily middle-class phenomenon, but cannot be
reduced
to
class
interests
of
a
particular
actor.
- The Egyptian example: liberalization created political environment
conducive to growth of Islamism – into the vacuum of state retreat.
Muslim Brotherhood (Ihvan) : founded in Egypt in 1928, prototype for
many modern Islamist movements  Islam pervades all aspects of life.
Islam and Geopolitics
- Cold War geopolitics gave more prominent role to Islam.
- Example: Saudi religious outreach welcomed by US as check against
Communism.
- Iran’s Islamic Revolution (1979):
- Domestically implemented direct clerical rule.
- Internationally, symbolised removal of a secular regime by
Islamic forces, “Third Worldist”
appeal.
- Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: financial and military support for
Mujahidin from the West and Middle Eastern states  evidence that
superpower can be subdued under banner of Islam.
“The US supported an Islamic opposition to the Soviet invasion out of
doctrinal principles long held sacred. Throughout the CW, conventional
wisdom in the West saw Islam as an antidote to Communism and thus
as a strategic asset to be cultivated…The problem was that many
Muslims did not see socialism and Islam to be so starkly opposed.
Indeed, throughout the 20thcent., a substantial current of opinion in
Muslim societies held that Islam’s message was one of social justice and
that socialism was inherent in Islam. Therefore, only the more extremist
and
inflexible
versions
of
Communism.”(Khalid,p.17-18).
Islam
could
effectively
counter
Thinking about Islam and Foreign Policy
- Between explaining all Muslim behaviour in relation to Islam and
viewing Islam as a rhetorical instrument.
- Religion and IR theory: Realist and Constructivist approaches.
- Need to understand how languages, symbols, and values associated
with Islam are linked to representation and deliberation of political
issues.
Islam, Globalization and the Middle East
- Increase in extent and range of Muslim transnationalism.
- Example: “Muslim Public Sphere” through
information and communications technology
- Islamist groups use globalization to expand international
political influence.
- However, Islamist not uniformly adopting normative agenda of
neo-liberal globalization.
-
Arab uprisings undermine jihadist claim that political change can
only result from combination of Islam and violence ?
ISIL portrayed its offensive as a
corrective measure to two traumatic
events that resulted from the Great
War. When its forces took control
over the Syrian-Iraqi border post on
the way to Mosul last year, it crafted
a well-publicised spectacle erasing
what it deemed as the "Sykes-Picot"
border. Second, in 1924, Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk, as the post-WWI
leader of a secular Republic of
Turkey that emerged from the
remaining territory of the defeated
Ottomans, dissolved the caliphate, a
centuries-old institution of the
empire. ISIL's declaration of a new
caliphate represented the first
attempt
to
resuscitate
this
institution within the borders of a
new state.
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