History of the Modern Middle East Research Papers (original) (raw)

- by renato pasta
- •
- Modern History, History of the Modern Middle East, Historical Studies
- by Baki Tezcan
- •
- Ottoman History, Middle East Studies, Middle East & North Africa, Middle East History

The story of Francis William Rickett is riddled with contradictions. Bluff and resourceful, notorious for his exploits in the world of oil in the 1930s, he remains an enigma today. Speculator and businessman he was, but he also had deeper links with oil companies and foreign governments than appeared in the press reports of the time. Above all, he lived in interesting times, and through his exploits we have a tantalizing glimpse into behind-the-scenes struggles for the control of oil.

- by Michael Quentin Morton
- •
- History, Diplomatic History, Middle East History, Iraqi History

The Islamic Dawa Party was the first modern Islamist group to be formed in Iraq. It went through a long struggle with the Iraqi government that resulted in its banning by the Baathists, open warfare with Saddam Hussein’s regime, which forced it to go underground, and led many of its members to go into exile. Below is an interview with Dr. Rodger Shanahan, a former officer in the Australian army and senior adviser in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs. He is currently a non-resident fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy who specializes in the Middle East. Dr. Shanahan goes through the history of the Dawa Party, and how that has shaped the worldview of Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

- by Joel Wing
- •
- Middle East Studies, Middle East & North Africa, Middle East History, Iraqi History

Is the idea of the "Middle East" simply a geopolitical construct conceived by the West to serve particular strategic and economic interests―or can we identify geographical, historical, cultural, and political patterns to indicate some sort of internal coherence to this label? While the term has achieved common usage, no one studying the region has yet addressed whether this conceptualization has real meaning―and then articulated what and where the Middle East is, or is not. This volume fills the void, offering a diverse set of voices―from political and cultural historians, to social scientists, geographers, and political economists―to debate the possible manifestations and meanings of the Middle East. At a time when geopolitical forces, social currents, and environmental concerns have brought attention to the region, this volume examines the very definition and geographic and cultural boundaries of the Middle East in an unprecedented way. Edited by late Michael E. Bonine, Abbas Amanat and Michael E. Gasper

- by Abbas Amanat
- •
- Geography, Middle East Studies, History of the Modern Middle East, Boundaries

Book Review: J. Hodge, S. Cowdell, C. Fleming, C. Osborn (eds), Does Religion cause Violence? Multidisciplinary perspectives on Violence and Religion in the Modern World, London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017, on Ethical Perspectives, 26/2... more

- by Demichelis Marco
- •
- Religion, Violence, History of Religion, Middle Eastern History

Fall 2020 - Remote teaching syllabus

Diyala can be said to be a microcosm of Iraq. It is the home to all three major ethnosectarian groups in the country. It has lush farmlands and mountain ranges. It also remains a battlefield between the security forces, militias and the insurgency today. In 2005 Richard Buchanan worked there as a defense contractor interrogating prisoners where he saw first hand the early stages of the civil war. Here is an interview with Buchanan about how the Iraqi insurgency was organized, what the militias did in response, and how the Americans were caught in the middle.

- by Joel Wing
- •
- Middle East Studies, Middle East & North Africa, Middle East History, Iraqi History
- by James M. Dorsey
- •
- Gulf Studies, Global Governance, Governance, Diplomacy

the intellectuals whom Brown follows developed a distinctive aesthetics, a form of "French literary fascism." 4 The relationship of intellectuals to antisemitism, fascism, and Nazism is a discussion that still rages on today, as seen in the recent publication of the German philosopher Martin Heidegger's Black Notebooks and the debates over the French literary critic Maurice Blanchot's writings in far-right publications in the 1930s. 5 Unfortunately, Brown relies in The Embrace of Unreason on long-standing clichés regarding the genesis of far-right and fascist politics. To think of the interwar years as shaped by unreason ultimately does little to help readers understand the appeal of far-right and fascist politics to writers and intellectuals.

In early-eighteenth-century Britain, nothing but stretches of dirt track ran between most towns. Rain-soaked ruts and eroding banks rendered them impassible much of the year. By 1848 Britain's primitive roads were transformed into a network of forty-foot-wide highways connecting every village and island in the nation-and also dividing them in unforeseen ways. In Roads to Power, Jo Guldi refutes the traditional tale of how better roads made better neighbors and how the transport revolution unified the English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish into a common and commercial people. In fact, few issues divided Britain as much as transport and trade.

- by Jo Guldi
- •
- Victorian Studies, Social History, History of the Modern Middle East, Historical Studies

This is the long-awaited third volume in Jonathan Israel's history of the Enlightenment. It thus follows on from Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity [Oxford, 2001] and Enlightenment Contested: Philosophy, Modernity and the Emancipation of Man 1670-1752 [Oxford, 2006. Together these volumes constitute by any standard an epic achievement. In his previous works Israel contended that there were two distinct strands to the Enlightenment. One was a liberal Enlightenment, moderate, reformist, elitist. Its leading figures included François-Marie-Arouet de Voltaire, the baron de Montesquieu and "most -but by no means all -British participants in the Enlightenment" (17). The other was the Radical Enlightenment, egalitarian, freethinking, revolutionary. It began with the pioneering work of Benedict de Spinoza. Its banner was then taken up by Denis Diderot, Claude-Adrien Hélvetius, and the baron d'Holbach. Israel continues with that distinction is the current volume and this time a principal aim is to deal with the perennial question -what was the relationship between the Enlightenment and the French Revolution? Over many hundred pages he builds up to his answer. The weight of evidence that he has brought together is simply extraordinary.

- by Marisa Linton
- •
- History of the Modern Middle East, Historical Studies
- by Omer Bartov
- •
- History of the Modern Middle East, Historical Studies

Mark Kukis worked as a journalist for Time magazine in Iraq from 2006-2009. That covered the peak of the civil war. During those years it was hard to get around the country, and even harder to talk to any Iraqis out of fear that they might be killed for being seen with an America. In January 2009, when the sectarian conflict had faded, Kukis got the idea to put together an oral history of Iraq, inspired by The Good War by Studs Terkel. Unlike the vast majority of books on the subject, this would not be a story told by the Americans, but rather one by the Iraqis themselves, something that has largely been missing from most of the reporting on the country. Using the Iraqi staff at Time, he was able to interview dozens and dozens of Iraqis from all parts of Iraq except for Kurdistan, because it largely escaped the civil war. These were put together in his 2011 book Voices From Iraq, A People’s History,2003-2009. Below is an interview with Kukis about his motivation, and some of the amazing stories he heard. This adds an important chapter to the Iraq War, because it includes the Iraqi perspective of the struggles that they went through during the U.S. invasion, the insurgency, and the subsequent civil conflict.

- by Joel Wing
- •
- Middle East Studies, Middle East & North Africa, Middle East History, Iraqi History

Page 1. Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. WINDOW ON THE EAST National and Imperial Identities in Late Tsarist Russia ROBERT P. GERACI Ivobert P. Geraci presents an exceptionally original account of| both the politics and the lived experi-| ence of... more

- by roxanne Mykitiuk
- •
- Law, German History, History of the Modern Middle East, Feminist
- by Brigitte Studer
- •
- Modern History, Soviet History, Subjectivities, History of the Modern Middle East
- by Deirdre Barrett
- •
- Military History, Political Sociology, Social Movements, Psychology
- by Roman Seidel
- •
- Philosophy, Comparative Philosophy, Middle East Studies, Iranian Studies

Strong interest in the history of "ordinary people" and the increasing influence of feminist perspectives on current scholarship have come together to make women's history, medieval and modem, a particularly lively and important research... more

- by Gerald L Soliday
- •
- History of the Modern Middle East, Historical Studies

In certain accounts of the early history of oil on the Trucial Coast, there are intriguing references to the visit of a mysterious Englishman to Sharjah in October 1936. His arrival set alarm bells ringing in the office of the Political Resident in Bushire and beyond, and triggered speculation among oil company representatives about the true purpose of his journey. This apparently random visitor was in fact a seasoned oil promoter and concession hunter, Francis William Rickett, who had already brushed with the authorities elsewhere. At a time when the British were sensitive about American activities in the region, the appearance of a man with extensive oil connections in Great Britain and the United States might not have been as innocuous as he claimed. This article describes Rickett's career in the oil business, examines his visit to the sheikhdom and the response to it, and considers the reasons for British concerns about his presence there.

- by Michael Quentin Morton
- •
- History, Petroleum, The Persian Gulf, Arabian Gulf

A history of the role of women in education in Islam. From early Islamic scholars, to the debate about women's access in the colonial and modern era, this essay provides the complicated history of the intersection of gender, Islam, and... more

- by Ali Olomi
- •
- Religion, History, Gender Studies, Women's History
- by Philip Gavitt
- •
- History of the Modern Middle East, Historical Studies

"German emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, indulged in traveling. One of the most-traveled monarchs of the turn of the century, he rode automobiles, trains, yachts and ships, crisscrossing Germany, Europe, and even the Near and Middle East,... more

- by Marco Althaus
- •
- Tourism Studies, Rhetoric, Ottoman History, Middle East Studies

Museum, nevertheless proved cheerful and energetic as they lugged endless piles of musty documents from sometimes crumbling, unlighted, or flooded holding facilities. I am especially grateful to Andrei Nikolaevich Mel'nik, deputy director of the Riazan' oblast' archive, for his assistance and cooperation and for generously sharing his knowledge of this province's history. Many friends and colleagues have provided equally crucial assistance and support during the years of research and writing. In addition to directing the dissertation from which this study began and patiently encouraging its lengthy transformation, Abbott Gleason has remained an unflagging friend and supporter as well as a meticulous reader of its many drafts. At various times throughout its preparation,

- by SLS PHANIBABU
- •
- Sociology, Anthropology, Social Anthropology, History of the Modern Middle East

Sam Wyer is an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War specializing in Iraq. In December 2012, he authored a paper on Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, the League of the Righteous. It provided one of the most detailed breakdowns of the history and organization of the League, and how it has tried to change itself from an Iranian-supported Special Group militia to a social and political party. Below is an interview with Wyer about Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq.

- by Joel Wing
- •
- Middle East Studies, Middle East & North Africa, Middle Eastern Politics, Iraq

Article in "Enterprise and Society" 9 (December 2008): 670-723.

This article deals with the material aspects of the late Ottoman home in Beirut, focusing on the notion of taste (dhawq) and its role in constructing class boundaries. It looks at how intellectuals used taste to articulate a prescriptive middle-class domesticity revolving around the woman as manager of the house and privileging moderation and authenticity in consumption habits. Rather than take such tastes as representative of actual consumption habits of an emerging middle class, and arguing for an approach that goes beyond taste as a construct, the article investigates the potentiality of new objects for subverting the existing social order. Based on a marital-conflict case brought to the Hanafi court, the article explores how one such object, a phonograph, opened interpretive possibilities in the gendered rigidity of court procedures.

- by toufoul abou-hodeib
- •
- Cultural History, Ottoman History, Middle East Studies, Middle East History

The recent government crackdown upon demonstrators in the town of Hawija, and the ensuing violence has highlighted Iraq’s protest movement. People began taking to the streets in Anbar province after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government issued an arrest warrant for former Finance Minister Rafi Issawi’s bodyguards for terrorism. Activism quickly spread to northern Iraq. Rather than being a monolithic group with a central leadership however, these protests have involved a variety of tribes, political parties, and insurgent groups across many different cities and towns. They have also been explicitly Sunni and sectarian compared to previous demonstrations in Iraq from 2011 and 2012, which were national in character. To breakdown these various movements and their agendas is Kirk H. Sowell, a Washington DC-based political risk analyst who is the editor of the biweekly newsletter, Inside Iraqi Politics.

- by Joel Wing
- •
- Middle East Studies, Middle East & North Africa, Iraqi History, Middle Eastern Politics
- by Mia Fuller
- •
- Modern History, History of the Modern Middle East, Historical Studies

An edited book exploring the interrelations between new public spaces and the public sphere in the period.
This is the introduction

- by Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen and +1
- •
- Arabic Literature, Colonialism, Modern Middle East History, History of the Modern Middle East

The crisis in the Gulf that pits Qatar against a UAE-Saudi-led alliance is Qatar’s least problem when it comes to the 2022 World Cup.

The Nahda (“awakening”) designates the project of Arab cultural and political modernity from the early nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Arab models of nationalism and secularism, as well as Islamic revival, spring from Nahda thought and its attendant developments, such as linguistic reform; translation; the emergence of new literary genres, such as the novel; the creation of periodicals, journalism, and a new publishing industry; professional associations and salons; a new education system; and an overall Enlightenment ideal of knowledge. The Nahda ushered in innovative modes of reading and writing along with new social practices of knowledge transmission, transnational connections, and new political ideas. Collected in this anthology are texts by intellectuals, writers, members of the clergy, and political figures. The authors discuss authority, social norms, conventions and practices both secular and religious, gender roles, class, travel, and technology. Presented in the original Arabic and in English translation, the texts will be of interest to students of the Arabic language and culture, history, cultural studies, gender studies, and other disciplines.

The former nationalists of the Istiqlal Party as well as the royal family continue to suppress any discussion of Morocco's post-independence era, when both sides used any means necessary to take over national politics. The outcome of this decade-long struggle, an authoritarian monarchy dominating an array of weak and fragmented political parties, was not only the result of the clash between Morocco's two dominant institutions during the years of state formation, but was also shaped by early Cold War international politics. The Istiqlalis had commenced a global campaign to influence the nascent 'world opinion' to support their cause many years prior to independence in 1956. In order to influence the political discourse from the pages of the American media to the corridors of Capitol Hill and the UN building, the nationalists created a network of supporters that enabled them to spread their message to the United States and later on inspired the Algerian Front de Libération Nationale. This project argues that the very structure of the nationalists' non-hierarchical and flexible propaganda network and their activities abroad helped them prevail in their struggle against the French, but also enabled the Sultan to co-opt it after independence and turn the Istiqlal into an opposition party. Its informal nature, the lack of a clearly defined membership and loyalty, and the absence of a coherent ideology constituted an advantage at first, but eventually turned into a serious liability. Furthermore, the skills, resources, and personal connections, which the nationalists had acquired during their campaign abroad, fell into the hands of the Sultan and strengthened his position once he had co-opted many of the network's participants. It is by looking at the intersections of the formal and the informal, the foreign and the domestic, the individual and the structural that we can begin to understand the complicated dynamics that underlay this crucial period of Moroccan history.

This chapter focuses on the Iraqi Kurdish response to the rapid and devastating advance of ISIS. Of course, the Iraqi Kurdish response to the ISIS advance has been a multifaceted, complex, and evolving one that includes military strategy, pragmatic politics, and aspirations of independence. Leaving aside the fact that the ISIS advance has granted the Iraqi Kurds unprecedented access to Iraq’s rich oil reserves and the fact that the initial Kurdish reaction was to ramp up their rhetoric toward complete secession from Iraq, this chapter focuses on two further dimensions of the Iraqi Kurdish response. Firstly, it documents the Iraqi Kurdish seizure of the so-called “disputed territories,” especially
Kirkuk, and their stated intent to hold a referendum on the future of these
regions (effectively to force a resolution to Article 140 of the constitution). Secondly, the chapter documents the Iraqi Kurdish use of the ISIS advance as leverage to enhance Kurdish relations dramatically with the US and Europe via direct military support (including airstrikes and weapons supply) and to become the key launchpad
in the fight against ISIS planned for 2015. The chapter concludes by briefly assessing the efficacy and wisdom of the Kurdish strategy of leveraging the ISIS onslaught to advance their own interests.

- by Benjamin Isakhan
- •
- Ethnohistory, Political Sociology, Comparative Politics, Political Economy

David Palkki is the deputy director of the Conflict Records Research Center (CCRC) at the National Defense University in Washington D.C. He was the co-editor, along with Kevin Woods and Mark Stout of the recently released The Saddam Tapes. The book was based upon hundreds of captured tapes of Saddam and his inner circle discussing foreign and domestic issues from the 1970s to the 2000s. The second half delves into how Saddam treated Shiites and Kurds, Islamism, weapons of mass destruction, the United Nations inspections, and the defection of his son-in-law Hussein Kamal in 1998. Overall, what The Saddam Tapes revealed was a dictator who spoke his mind both privately and publicly. Rather than a mad man, Saddam held wide-ranging discussions with his top advisors. The problem was he often miscalculated foreign affairs, but was much better at controlling his own people within Iraq.

- by Joel Wing
- •
- Middle East Studies, Middle East & North Africa, Middle East History, Iraqi History
- by Guy Lazure
- •
- History of the Modern Middle East
- by Ömer Faruk Zengin
- •
- History, Middle East Studies, History of the Modern Middle East

"In Communism as Cultural Imperialism Avner Ben-Zaken examines, through a cross-cultural prism, the circulation of the communist Ideology and movement in the Middle-East, exposing the cultural nerves which offset the interactions between European Jewish communists on the one hand, and local communists, Jews and Arabs, on the other hand. He shows that local activists perceived Marxist discourse as a nuanced European imperialism, as a cultural imperialism, particularly for its universal pretention and claims for “scientific” and “objective” social science. In this sense, the “objective-scientific truth” of Marxism fueled the self-conviction of European-Jewish Marxists that it is possible to bridge the cultural gaps, to spread Marxism, and to transform local cultures. Such self-conviction generated a somewhat paradoxical development, in which European Jewish Marxists established the Middle Eastern Communist Parties, and for some decades regulated their public discourse and political strategies.
Local communist culture, however, was not harmonious at all. In deconstructing the mechanisms of circulation of Marxist ideology and movement, Ben-Zaken shows that cross-cultural encounters stimulate “sensations of estrangement”, pushing and pulling the various actors to opposing directions. “International” political ideologies, Ben-Zaken argues, are not necessarily perceived as scientific and as culturally neutral. He, thus, call to re-write the history of Marxism in the Middle East as the history of the various attempts to culturally adjust universal values to local practices."

- by Avner Ben-Zaken
- •
- History, Intellectual History, Jewish Studies, Marxism
- by Ozan Ozavci
- •
- European History, Armenian Studies, Middle East Studies, Middle East History