The Creation Of A Middle Eastern Identity

Amongst the turbid and dysfunction that is the Middle East lies the nation of Egypt. Egypt, a major country of the Middle East, is habitually considered stereotypical of Middle Eastern civilization, but further research guides one to the conclusion that Egypt is far from a generic Middle Eastern country. Egypt has a strong tradition of nationalism that has been formed during its history, giving it a national unity that is often non-existent in other Middle Eastern nations (1). This, as well as other advantages that Egypt has gained during its past, has allowed it to rise above the problems plaguing the rest of the Middle East and to form basically its

In the Middle East, each country has it’s own form of government. These forms of governments have been consistently changing throughout time. Throughout all the revolutions and overthrows, the national identity of the Middle East has slowly changed, some parts more than others. Over many years, overthrows in countries such as Egypt and Libya have led to a more democratic government. However, many other countries such as Iran and Iraq have remained more oppressive. The Middle East is still changing to this day. For example, Egypt recently overthrew their president Hosni Mubarak. There are also many protests currently going on in Libya.

It is noted that every Middle Eastern Country are publicly fascinated of the Dabke dance. Each of the Middle Eastern nation claims they are the best at dancing Dabke. They also claim to have to have invented the dance (Hussein, 2016). However, there is the truth and reality behind the dance. Dabke is also referred to as Dabka or even Dabkeh. It is those names that the Middle Eastern people refer to the actual dance that is normally used by different dialect. The dance is universal irrespective of someone’s roots and cultural background. Whether one comes from Iraq, Lebanon, or even Palestine, the dance is still the same. The term Dabka basically means the act of stomping (Haugbolle, 2010). The dance found its inception back in the early 1990s before the segmentation of the Middle East took place. The Middle East was segmented through the colonization process. The colonies were either the French or the British. The Middle East was a single peaceful land that had a common Dabke art. The Dabke art was widely used in celebrations, joyful events, at the weddings, at the graduation, and also in birthdays. Therefore, Dabke was well known to be a tradition that was shared. Meaning the tradition was not owned by anybody and it originated in the Middle East intended for everyone to celebrate.

In the post -World War II era, the competition of global supremacy between the superpowers of the time, United States and the Soviet Union resulted in the Cold War. Many countries in the world were pulled into this rivalry including many of the states of the Middle East. Allies against the Soviet Union received substantial quantities of United States aid and were encouraged to purchase weapons of Western means. Those who were in opposition to the United States’ power received economic and military assistance from the Soviet Union. The United States were inclined to view the rivalry between them and the Soviet Union as a vie for global supremacy. The challenge of attaining democracy in the Middle East has been insufficient leadership specifically in those who shared a common border and were in proximity to the Soviet Union. The United States, in their determination to impede the threat of expansion of the borders of the Soviet Union as well as contain the spread of communion, provided economic and military assistance to keep Iran, Iraq and Turkey politically stable. Although this was the goal of the United States, they actually impeded the democracy and political stability of these countries through its persistent influence in government affairs, determining its future’s livelihood.

The countries present their ideologies to the outside world as holy nations. Recently there has been significant evidence on major shifts with increasing polarization and creation of new alliances. These strategic actions produce both risks and opportunities; however, in the Middle East, there has been growing sectarianism in the conflicts (El Fadl, 2005). The sectarianism plays a great role in the political conflicts within Saudi Arabia and Iran. While both Saudi Arabia and Iran claim to have theocracy model states based on Islam, Saudi Arabia is considered a Theo-monarchy with strong relations to Wahhabism, a branch of Sunni Islam, while Iran’s political system has democratic components and is based on Shiism (Al-Rasheed, 1996). The differences in religious practices and ethnicity between the two nations have contributed to the dilemma of instability in the Middle

Over the course of the last century, the Islamic Republic of Iran (formerly known as Persia) has seen colonialism, the end of a dynasty, the installation of a government by a foreign power, and just over three decades ago, the popular uprising and a cleric-led revolution. These events preceded what could be considered the world’s first Islamic state, as politics and fundamentalist religion are inextricably linked in contemporary Iran. Looking at Iran from the mid 1940’s until the present day, one can trace the path that led to the rise of fundamental Islam in Iran in three distinct periods. The first is that which began with the rise of secular nationalism and the decline of Islam. In

Throughout history the Middle East has been home to some of the most powerful and influential empires in the world. As with all great empires they did not arise without difficulty. Though the Middle East has had periods of great prosperity, it has also had periods of poverty and stagnation. Within the last one hundred years the Middle East has seen many changes relating to borders, religions, and international politics. Much of the changes that have happened originated from diverse ways of thinking especially when it comes to religion and culture. Conflicts that occur in the Middle East such as Israel, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan have monumental effects on the global economy predominately due to the massive oil industry in the region and competition between outside nations trying to expand influence.

Further, Atatürk worked much harder than the Shahs to create a democratic government, even though he still maintained dictatorial powers. Atatürk’s democratic government showed a positive side of Western, secular style government, and it made the Turkish people more favorable to the West than Persians. Throughout Turkey’s early history, Atatürk was always the president, and nothing more; Turkey had democratic elections through Atatürk’s rule, and Atatürk was simply so popular that he continued to win them over and over until his death. Contrarily, Reza Shah and his son, Mohammad Reza Shah, were both Shahs, meaning kings, and there was very little democracy in their governmental system. Although their parliamentary bodies were elected by the people, both Shahs greatly ignored them, and Mohammad Reza Shah even exiled Mohammad Mossadeq, a leading member of their parliamentary body. Further, Turkey’s Western-style concept of populism and democracy never made it as far East as Iran, and Persians did not have a say in their government. This lack of representation angered Persians, and they considered the Shahs (especially Mohammad Reza Shah) puppets of the West, so by extension they were angry with the West. It is probable that Persians would have liked Western-style government more, had the Shahs created a truly Western government, with democracy and representation. However, because their governments were so autocratic and dynastic, their people were never privy to true Western-style government, and therefore only saw the bad side of the West. Furthermore, the Shahs also created a very confusing identity for their country, as their policies contradicted each other. Reza Shah attempted to create a secular government, but he still wanted Shi’a Islam to be a major part of people’s lives: he neither

Some examples of prominent ex-Nazi members who escaped to the middle east are as follows. Franz Rademacher was a Nazi aide under Secretary of state Luther. Rademacher fled to Spain and then Damascus, Syria where he worked in foreign trade. Walter Rauff was responsible for the development of mobile gas vans. Fled to Damascus in 1947, and worked over 47 ex-Nazis to reorganize Syrian intelligence. A third example is Alois Brunner. Brunner was Eichmann’s right hand man and was responsible for the deportation and death of 100,000 European Jew’s. After being sentenced to death by a French tribunal, Brunner escaped to Egypt, and then on the advice of Al-Husaini went to Syria, where he worked for Syrian intelligence. Brunner lives to this day in Syria, under the protection of around the clock Syrian body guards.

The Middle East is far from monumental and homogenous. Its differences have been a source of both strength and inspiration. The most visible, most pervasive, and the least recognized aspects of

My essay test on the middle east: Jews have a Torah which in my perspective looks like a scroll, but in their opinion and the way they look at it is and own meaning it is call the”First 5 Books of the bible, They have a prophet that they believe in is moses and they have believed that is the greatest prophet they know. When they wanna go and do their religious practices/worship they will go to the synagogue and their is a person that they see as the creator of Judaism and goes by the name of “Abraham”. The Jewish people i think had it hard life back then they were treated poorly and had limited rights at one point they were slaves and worked non-stop and would work for whoever got the right to have them and how many of them and they think that abraham had set them free and they had roamed in open areas where there

The beginning of Western influence in the Middle East traces back to Egypt in the 1950's (Zakaria 2). Gammal Abdel Nasser was the prototypical new Western leader in the Middle East. He led Egypt from 1956 until he suffered a sudden heart attack in 1970. He had led a coupe in 1954, envisioning Egypt as a new modern state, and had almost without bloodshed taken control of the country (Zakaria 2). In 1956, he pronounced Egypt a socialist state with Islam as the official religion. Nasser, armed with ideas of self determination, socialism and Arab unity became the savior of the Middle East.

How was world history depicted in the past? Was it depicted the same way as it is now? Hitherto, people believe world history is the history of the entire globe, including every country. However, the perceptions and definitions of world history have changed over time. In the past, world history meant Western history and Islam was not included. History was biased and still continues to be due to various factors as Bentley discusses. Understanding the meaning of orientalism and its true definition assists one to understand how imperative world history is to the study of the “Global Middle East.” In addition, the “Global Middle East” is a more efficient and accurate name than the socially constructed reference name, the “Middle East” because Islam exists globally, not only in the Middle East. The aforementioned point also proves the significance of the author’s view and perspective on history; it determines how readers will depict the event or era. Understanding a few Islamic historical events will clarify why world history is important and why the Global Middle East is being studied. The three events/eras that will be discussed are: the Roman Empire and its effect on the Global Middle East (306-337 CE), Ottoman religious propaganda in the 1530s, and the French invading Egypt in 1798. (class discussion 9/29)

Middle East considers one of the most studied areas in the world due to its rich history of politics, social, economic, and its culture and civilization. Its borders are still arguable geographically, generally in the west it starts from morocco until Iran in the east, however, many scholars don’t agree on including Turkey either as a Middle Eastern or as a European country (Milton-Edwards, 2006. P: 4). The origin of the name was invented by the colonies as a necessity to describe the place geographically, which was the era of bringing “Middle East” the language of academic writings and political scientists. Changes, innovations, and new ideologies create gaps between the transformations of any perspectives to a different

Author: Asef Bayat Book: Making Islam Democratic: Social Movements and the Post-Islamist Turn. Publisher: Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007. Hardcover: 320 pages ISBN-10: 0804755949 ISBN-13: 978-0804755948 Key-words: democracy, Egypt, Iran, Islam, Middle East, political history, political theology. Reviewed by: Jacob Greenberg hile other disciplines in the social sciences and humanities have made use of comparative methodologies, History has been slow to join the trend. Most historical analyses investigate a single locale, individual, or neighborhood in order to offer conjectures about larger contexts. This allows the researcher to become well versed