The Contemporary Study Of The Arab World

The contributors discuss issues central to the debate about the "proper" study of Arabs and Islam, methodological perspectives on the study of the Arab World, urban studies, women's studies, economics and economic policy, foreign policy and strategic studies.

Compares the crucial role of Arab armies in state building, a decade after the 2011 Arab Uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria.

This volume -- an indispensable contribution to an understanding of contemporary Arab history -- comprises twenty-seven important studies by the eminent Lebanese historian Marwan R Buheiry, who died in London in 1986. In the course of his distinguished career at the American University of Beirut, he published many studies on the political, economic, social, and intellectual history of the modern Arab world, in particular of Lebanon and the Arab East in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The studies published in this volume revolve around four main themes: European Perceptions of the Orient; The Superpowers and the Arab World; The Economic History of the Middle East; Middle Eastern Intellectual and Artistic History. Many of these studies were first published in French or Arabic translation, this volume publishes the original English text and includes much previously unpublished material. The final chapter includes a selection of 49 photographs from Buheiry's photograph collection.

Foreword Acknowledgments 1 The Context: Modern Arab Intellectual History, Themes, and Questions 2 Turath Resurgent? Arab Islamism and the Problematic of Tradition 3 Hasan al-Banna and the foundation fo the Ikhwan: Intellectual Underpinnings 4 Sayyid Qutb: The Pre-Ikhwan Phase 5 Sayyid Qutb’s Thought between 1952 and 1962: A Prelude to His Qur’anic Exegesis 6 Qur’anic Contents of Sayyid Qutb’s Thought 7 Toward an Islamic Liberation Theology: Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah and the Principles of Shi’i Resurgence 8 Islamic Revivalism: The Contemporary Debate Notes Bibliography Index

Based on a decade of research, including in-depth interviews with many leading figures in the story, this edition is essential for anyone who wants to understand the roots of the turmoil engulfing the Middle East, from civil wars to the rise of Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Two Gulf wars and the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict have highlighted the salience of military factors in the Middle East. This book argues, however, that many of the most serious 'security' challenges to Arab states and societies are rooted not in external military threats but in the imperatives of socio-economic development. Contributors examine the regional security environment; the social and political impact of regional militarization; and underdevelopment as a source of regional insecurity.

Over recent decades we have witnessed the globalization of research. However, this has yet to translate into a worldwide scientific network, across which competencies and resources can flow freely. Arab countries have strived to join this globalized world and become a ‘knowledge economy,’ yet little time has been invested in the region’s fragmented scientific institutions; institutions that should provide opportunities for individuals to step out on the global stage. Knowledge Production in the Arab World investigates research practices in the Arab world, using multiple case studies from the region with particular focus on Lebanon and Jordan. It depicts the Janus-like face of Arab research, poised between the negative and the positive and faced with two potentially opposing strands; local relevance alongside its internationalization. The book critically assesses the role and dynamics of research and poses questions that are crucial to further our understanding of the very particular case of knowledge production in the Arab region. The book explores research’s relevance and whom it serves, as well as the methodological flaws behind academic rankings and the meaning and application of key concepts such as knowledge society/economy. Providing a detailed and comprehensive examination of knowledge production in the Arab world, this book is of interest to students, scholars and policy makers working on the issues of research practices and status of science in contemporary developing countries.

"This book will become a classic."—Barbara Aswad, President, Middle Eastern Studies Association