Ideological & Political Trends after WWI

Today

•Brief look at Islamism picking up from Thursday

•Mandate control over many of the newly-formed countries (Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Iraq if we have time)

Last time:

• Conflicting promises and messy diplomacy• Indirect rule through mandates• Political vacuum in many Middle Eastern states as Ottomans could not assert control and European powers became targets of indigenous liberation movements

TODAY: • The first decades of the 20th century saw the emergence of numerous social and political movements, well before the war and Ottoman dissolution. Political expression and activity increased heavily.

- Committee of Union and Progress

- Young Turk Revolt and Era (1908-1918)

- Triple Entente and Ottoman Response

- Ottoman Arabs

Leading up to WWI

World War I

-Reforms of Young Turks

-Military Defeats

-Identity Issues (2 axes)- Trajectory of Ottoman State- Arab political identities

-Husayn-McMahon Correspondence-Sykes-Picot Agreement

-Arab Revolt (Sharif Husayn ibn Ali, Amir Feisal

The MENA region

Various trends… but first, some key distinctions.

Islam vs. Islamism – Islam is a religion. Islamism is an ideology defining economic & legal systems based on Islam

Muslim vs. Islamist – Muslims follows Muslim religion, but is not necessarily an Islamist. Islamist has ideologies following Islamism

Arab vs. Arab nationalist – Arab is an ethnicity. Arab nationalist wants a unified political system and state for all Arabs

Judaism vs. Zionism – Judaism is a religion. Zionism is a nationalist effort to define political and legal systems based on Judaism advocating a Jewish state

Some trends:

Islamism:

Is the belief that Islam provides comprehensive bases and sufficient guidance for political, economic and legal behavior, as well as other aspects of life like social norms.

•How progressive and how traditional

•Degree of cultural difference

•Gender issues

•What economy systems should look like

•Interpretation and Enforcement of Shari’a

Differences of Islamist thinking – Differ on:

Al Banna & Qutb

Why are individuals more favorably inclined to adopt one ideology rather than another?

Identity, inclusion versus exclusion.

Betting on a change in global or regional balance of power (communism, pro-West Sadat)

Desire to forge a domestic coalition

Ideological influence/ transnationalism (expatriates in Gulf)

Outside funding

Desire to ride a popular wave

Sincere beliefs

Case Study: Iraqi Political Development

- Late Ottoman Period (1870-1914)

- Efforts to Create Iraqi State (1914-1921)

- Struggle Over the State (1921-1945)