Transcript Background: Middle East • Geographic position at the junction – Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Background: Middle East
• Geographic position at the junction
– Africa, Asia, and Europe
Background: Middle East
• Origin of the 3 monotheistic religions
– Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
• largest reserves of petroleum in the world
– Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries
• non-Arab nations
– Turkey, Israel, and Iran
Background: Islam
• 2nd largest religion in the world
– some 1 billion adherents
– from West Africa to Indonesia
– most Muslims are outside of the Middle East
– most Muslims are not Arabs
Islam and Muslim
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Islam literally means “submission” to God
Muslim literally means “one who submits”
recognize that there is only one God (Allah)
reject other gods or “associates” of God
His appointed messengers
– Jesus and the Old Testament prophet
– 7th century Arab prophet Muhammad
Central tenet of Islam
• Muslim declaration of faith
– “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is
His prophet”
– e.g.: Saudi flag
Muslim Declaration of Faith
• Flag of Iran
• Flag of Iraq
• “God is great”
The 5 pillars of Islam
• The Muslim declaration of faith
• plus 4 ritual obligations that faithful
Muslims perform to the best of their ability
The 5 pillars of Islam
• plus 4 ritual obligations that faithful
Muslims perform to the best of their ability
– prayer 5 times a day, facing the holy shrine of
Kaaba in Mecca
– give alms to charity
– fast in daylight hours in the month of
Ramadan
– make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in
life
The Koran (Qur’an)
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written record of Muhammad’s revelations
said to be the exact word of God
a source of authority for religious truth
provide detailed rules by which the
righteous can guide their daily lives with
little dependence on the old sources of
authority such as tribe and lineage
Sunnis and Shi’is
• 2 major branches of Islam
– differ mostly over who should have succeeded
the Prophet Muhammad in 632
• Sunnis
– literally mean “followers of tradition”
• Shi’is
– literally mean “partisans” of Ali
– less than 10% of Muslims worldwide
Sunnis and Shi’is
Spread of Islam: 1500
Ottoman Empire
British & French rule: 1800s
• Geopolitical rivalries instead of economic
prizes
British & French mandates
Independence
• By 1950 most countries in Middle East had
achieved independence
– Syria and Lebanon gained independence
from French rule during World War II
– Iraq and Transjordan gained nominal
independence from Britain’s indirect rule
– British protectorate in Egypt ended
– continued Western economic and strategic
interests in the region
Drive for self-determination
• Direct European political control declined
– Britain installed kings in Jordan and Iraq
• economic dependence & independence
– e.g. Iran’s attempt to nationalize British-owned
petroleum company failed in 1951
– e.g. O.P.E.C. quadrupled oil prices in 1973
Cold War
• Superpower, regional, and internal
struggles
– influence of U.S. and Soviet Union
Overthrow the monarchy
• Kings perceived to be pro-Western,
corrupt, and ineffective were overthrown
by nationalist revolutions
• 1952 revolt of the Free Officers in Egypt
• 1958 revolution in Iraq killed King & P.M.
• 1979 revolution in Iran led by Khomeini
• exceptions: Jordan and Saudi Arabia
Arab nationalism
• Physical, ethnic, religious, and cultural
bridges across the national boundaries
that were arbitrarily drawn by Europeans
• pan-Arab movement
– launched by Nasser of Egypt in 1958
– proposed unification with Syria, Iraq, Yemen,
Libya, and the Sudan at one time or another
– governments suspected Nasser’s motives
Egypt under Nasser (1954-1970)
• Arab nationalism & Arab socialism
• Nasser’s particular vision of Arab socialism
– socialism of secular Islam, not Marxist
– nationalization of basic industries
– elimination of foreign ownership
– hospitals, mosques, and schools in villages
– mass public participation in politics
Egypt after Nasser (1970-)
• Nasser’s successors
– Sadat (-1981)
– Mubarak
3 leadership styles
• traditional leadership
– legitimacy from historical forces and
traditional practices
– no substitute for effective policy
– can not protect ineffective ruler forever
• charismatic leadership
– unique personal characters in a crisis
• bureaucratic leadership
Baath Party
• Arab Socialist Resurrection Party
• Baath: to recover past Arab greatness
• at once a political party, political
philosophy, and political movement
• ultimate goal of Arab unity through
nationalism, socialism, and pan-Arabism
• supporters among intellectuals and military
of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq
Baathism in Syria and Iraq
• Since 1963 Baath Party has successfully
maintained itself in power in Syria
– and until recently in Iraq
• in Syria Baathist support came largely
from the civilian sector
• in Iraq Baathist power mainly in the
military
Baathism in Syria and Iraq
• both Syria and Iraq
were in the forefront of
supporting Palestinian
organizations
• In the 1967 ArabIsraeli War, Syria lost
the Golan Heights to
Israel
Baathism in Syria and Iraq
• Baathist regimes in Syria and Iraq
– were often at head-on disputes
– despite ostensible commitment to Arab unity
– relatively long and potent nationalist feeling
• Iraq and Syria split forcefully
– during the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988
– during the Gulf War of 1991
Islam and politics
• Pan-Arabism, Baathism, and traditional
systems all stressed the importance of
Islam
• common source of tradition and identity
• Islam conceived of in politically secular
terms
Islam and politics
• existence of Muslim society as desirable
reality
• reject the idea of an Islamic state based
on the Koran and Islamic tradition
• there are exceptions to the professed
secularism