Middle Eastern Societies In The 20th Century

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the last 100 years in the Middle East from the perspective of social history. It is apt to date the beginning of the modern Middle East to the industrialization era, while it extends its reach into the present. Taking its lead from modernization theory, this book illustrates past expectations of the present and helps to understand everyday occurrences rather than sensational events. It adopts a multi-disciplinary perspective and concentrates on the relationship between history and social theory. From a historical perspective, the categories of social anthropology and social theory are referred to as social mobility, urbanization, migration, cultural change, gender identities and the young generation. The book addresses the primary issues of importance for the region, namely: natural and human resources; demography and its dynamics; family life; patriarchy and the emancipation of women; class structure and social mobility; ethnic and religious minorities; migration and its impact on culture and politics; refugees’ problems in historical and contemporary contexts; urbanization in the Middle Eastern context; the challenges of development; and, finally, the social and political consequences of the Arab Spring.

This text offers an examination of the economic history of the principal Arab countries, Turkey and Israel since 1918. Using the state as its major economic analysis, it charts the growth of national income and issues of welfare and distribution over two periods, 1918-1945 and 1945-1990. Important trends are explored, including the patterns of colonial economic management, import substitution, the impact of the 1970s oil boom, and the current process of liberalization and structural adjustment

This book argues that the Arab Spring brought to the forefront numerous societal, political, and historical problems in the Middle East that scholars and practitioners throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century have continually glossed over or reduced in their analysis and analytical frameworks when studying the Middle East. These include the prevalent and persistent impact of Islam on political life, an impact of transnational and subnational identities, including sect, tribe, and regional identity, as well as the overuse of the state as the fundamental unit of analysis when studying the region. As a result, this book asserts that primordial identities including religion, sect, and tribe have, and will continue to have, a significant impact on the conduct of politics in the Middle East.

This volume consists of 13 papers on Middle Eastern history and politics from the late 19th to the 20th century.

The great cities of the Middle East and North Africa have long attracted the attention and interest of historians. With the discovery and wider use over the last few decades of Islamic court records and Ottoman administrative documents, our knowledge of Middle Eastern cities between the seventeenth and early twentieth centuries has vastly expanded. Drawing upon a treasure trove of documents and using a variety of methodologies, the contributors succeed in providing a significant overview of the ways in which Middle Eastern cities can be studied, as well as an excellent introduction to current literature in the field.

Introduction - Albert Hourani. Part 1: Reforming elites and changing relations with Europe 1789-1918; Introduction , the Ottoman Umela and Westernisation in the time of Selim III and Mahmud II , Turkish Attitudes concerning Christian-Muslim equality in the 19th century, Ottoman reform and the politics of Notables, Egypt and Europe - from French expedition to British occupation, war and society under the young Turks, social change in Persia in the 19th century. Part 2: Transformations in society and the economy; introduction, Middle East economic development 1815-1914 - the general and the specific, the origins of private ownership of land in Egypt - a reapraisal, decline of the family economy in mid 19th century Egypt, Ottoman women, households and textile manufacturing 1800-1914, Said Bey - the everyday life of an Istanbul townsman at the beginning of th 20th century, the crowd in the Persian Revolution, Cairo. Part 3: The construction of Nationalist ideologies and politics to the 1950s; introduction, religion and secularism in Turkey, from Ottomanism to Arabism - the origin of an ideology, 1919 labour upsurge and national revolution, Syrian urban politics in transition - the quarters of Damascus during the French mandate, the role of the Palestinian peasantry in the Great Revolt, of the diversity of Iraquis and their society. Part 4: The Middle East since the Second World War; introduction, consequences of the Suez Crisis in the Arab world, Arab military in politics - from the revolutionary plot to authoritarian state, political power and the Saudi state, Iranian revolutions in comparative perspective, the religious right, dilemas of the Jewish state, hazards of modernity and morality - women state and ideology in contemporary Iran.