Challenges to the cohesion of the Arab state / edited by Asher Susser ; [translated by Avi Aronsky].

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Susser, Asher.

Merkaz Dayan le-ḥeḳer ha-Mizraḥ ha-Tikhon ṿe-Afriḳah (Universiṭat Tel-Aviv)

Standardized Title:

Lekhidut ha-medinah ha-ʻArvit be-mivḥan. English.

Language:

English

Hebrew

Subjects (All):

Nationalism--Arab countries.

Nationalism.

Political socialization.

Arab countries.

Political socialization--Arab countries.

National characteristics, Arab.

Arab countries--Politics and government.

Politics and government.

Genre:

Conference papers and proceedings.

Physical Description:

264 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Tel Aviv : Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University, [2008]

Summary:

The system by which the Middle East is divided into separate states is not self-evident. It is largely an artifical, colonial construct that emulates the European state order, whereby territories with defined borders, contain predominately homogeneous peoples, comprised of inhabitants sharing a common language, such as the French in France, or the Germans in Germany. In practice, none of the states in the Arab Middle East fits this bill. In recent years, especially after the US invasion of Iraq, a pervasive sense of uncertainty has gripped the capitals of the Middle East in regard to the continued stability of the region's state order. The crushing of Iraq has sent shockwaves throughout the Arab East. The relative weakness of the Arab state system, the spread of radical Islam, and the reassertion of primordial sub-state identities threaten to undermine the cohesion of some key Arab states. How are they coping with these challenges? To what extent are their efforts succeeding? These are the crucial questions that this compendium seeks to examine.

Contents:

Part 1 The Arab State: an Overview

Solidarity in the Arab State - an Historical Perspective / Joseph Kostiner 21

"Anarchical Order" in the Arab World / Matti Steinberg 41

Part 2 The Arab East: the Mashriq

Iraq - From Failed Nation-State to Binational State? / Ofra Bengio 59

The Struggle for Syria - Ethno-religious Communities, Regime, and State / Eyal Zisser 85

Jordan - in the Maze of Tribalism, Jordanianism, Palestinianism, and Islam / Asher Susser 103

The Palestinians - Competing Group Identities in the Absence of a State / Ephraim Lavie 121

Hamas: Palestinian Identity, Islam, and National Sovereignty / Meir Litvak 153

Understanding National Cohesion in Saudi Arabia / Joshua Teitelbaum 177

Part 3 The Nile Valley and the Maghrib

National Identity in Post-Revolutionary Egypt / Yoram Meital 199

Sudan on the Slippery Slope of Violence: A State's Struggle for Identity / Yehudit Ronen 223

Collective Identity in Morocco, in the light of Political Islam and Globalization / Bruce Maddy-Weitzman 235

Algeria - from the Brink of Collapse to Reconstruction / Gideon Gera 253.

Notes:

Papers presented at a conference held at the Moshe Dayan Center in March 2006.

Translation of: Lekhidut ha-medinah ha-ʻArvit be-mivḥan.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9789652240798

9652240796

OCLC:

227321085