Annotated bibliography of the modern history of Arab Middle East

1. Abd-Allah, Umar. 1983. The Islamic Struggle in Syria. Berkeley: Mizan Press.

The Muslim Brotherhood revolted against the regime of Hafiz-al-Asad and formed the Islamic

Front of Syria in 1980. This armed opposition was brutally crushed by the regime. This book

provides information on the Islamic Front, its leadership, its ideology, and program, and its place

in Middle Eastern affairs. It is also provides a good background to Syrian history and an account of

Hafiz al-Asad’s rise to power and policies of his regime. In particular it examines Asad’s policies

towards Israel and the hegemonic designs of the superpowers. It also gives a good historical

background of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood since its inception in 1940s. The main argument of

the book is that the Syrian regime is a sectarian dictatorship and that its claims of nationalism,

socialism and confrontation with Israel serve its purpose of clinging to power. The author of the

book is very sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood and writes from the opposition’s perspective

that is less familiar and different from the official historical narratives of Syria.

2. Abu Jaber, Kemal. 1966. The Arab Ba’ath Socialist Party. Syracuse: Syracuse University

Press.

Professor Abu Jabir took an interest in research on the first “ideological” party to take power in the

Arab world in Syria and Iraq in 1960s. Paradoxically, this party emphasizes the rootedness of its

doctrine in Arabism and Islamism, though having little rapport with the Islamic and Arab

nationalist parties. This book outlines the genesis, development, and character of the Ba’ath party

with particular emphasis on Syria. It explores the ideas of the early Arab socialists and outlines the

history of the Ba’ath party’s activities, ideology, and organization. The major argument is that the

Ba’ath party’s claimed ideology, political behavior and policies are incongruous and ambivalent.

It is a useful work for understanding this puzzling party that clung to power for more than three

decades in Syria in defiance of the emerging democratic movements in other Arab countries.

3. Aflaq, Michel. 1975. Fi Sabil al-Ba’th. Beirut: Dar al-Tali’ah.

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Michel Aflaq (1910-1989) is the founder of the Ba’ath movement in 1940 which took on

politically Syria (1963) and Iraq (1969). He has been theorizing for the party and has written about

its ideology, organizations and its relations with other socio-political forces. The first volume was

published in 1959 and a further 4 volumes were published later. The work addresses many issues

like Arab unity, Arab socialism and heritage. It also provides guidelines on how the party should

strive for freedom and the role of the masses, the required radical change and revolution and

problems of the Arab struggle. Moreover, the work offers ideological underpinnings of how to deal

with Imperialism and Zionism, the two external enemies of the Ba’ath mission. Furthermore, the

work deals with the internal organizational issues, such as revolutionary conduct, the role of

students and youth and the humanitarian role of the Arab revolution. The work is the classic

reference for the ideology of the Ba’ath party and constitutes a collection of articles written at

different times and addressing a variety of topics. Its major argument is that the only way for

Arabs to develop and prosper is through Arab unity, in line with the Ba’ath party’s ideology.

4. Al-Ali, Nadje. 2000. Secularism, Gender, and the State in the Middle East: The Egyptian Women's Movement. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

This book provides a detailed ethnographic account of the heterogeneous secular Egyptian

women’s movement. The author achieves this aim through critical analysis of modernity in

Egypt and interviews with members of women’s groups and individual activists, done by

contextualizing women’s activism in the wider political culture, and thus exploring the Egyptian

state, Islamist constituencies and the political left, as well as international organizations and

agendas which have an impact upon the discourses of women’s activism. This author argues that

the new challenges emanate from the Islamist discourses in addressing issues – known to be in

the domain of the political left – conservative modernists and secularists. However, the Islamists’

articulation of social justice, democracy and women’s rights may create a new opportunity for

women’s empowerment. Using a postcolonial perspective, the book is important for women’s

study in the Muslim countries, though intended to be used as a resource by the secular Egyptian

women activists.

5. Al-Jabiri, Mohammad. 2001. Al-Aql al-siyasi al-Arabi: mahdudatuhu wa tajiliyatuhu.

Beirut.

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Mohammad al-Jabiri, a Professor of Philosophy and Arabic Islamic thought in Morocco, has

produced a series of critical works on Arab Islamic thought, sponsored by the Center of Arab

Unity Studies in Beirut. The first two works critically examine Arabic thought, while this book

explores the political dimensions of the Arab intellect. By means of in-depth studies of the early

historical development of Islamic thought, the author produces a tripartite frame, within which

politics is conducted in the Arab mind. The components are Islamic faith (al-‘Aqidah), clan

identity (al-Qabilah) and booty (al-Ganimah). The author also explores the political system

produced by the Arab mind, which reverted to monarchy after 30 years of the four caliphate rulers

and the mythology of the imamates in the mindset of the Arabs. The author proposes to transform

clan-based society into civil society organizations, the booty system into a system of economics

based on taxation, and dogmatic into rational faith. The major argument of the author is that any

reform in the Arab world essentially depends on changing the Arab intellect, political thought and

culture. This book is an excellent work that is indispensable for critical research into Arab political

culture.

6. Ayyad, Abdulaziz Ahmad. 1987. The Politics of Reformist Islam: Muhammed Abdu and Hasan al-Banna. PhD Dissertation, Georgetown University.

This dissertation is a study of the reform programs of the Egyptian Islamic scholar Muhammed

Abduh (1849-1905) and the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood society Hasan al-Banna (1906-

1949). It examines the divergent positions of these two Muslim reformers on socio-economic and

political matters in modern Egypt. Moreover, it investigates the objective and subjective

conditions of their social background, the intellectual and political activities that have shaped

their outlook. This study helps in comprehending the background of the modern Islamic

movements and their political ideology and articulation which they have drawn from the modern

interpretation of the Islamic doctrines. Its major argument is that different conditions create

different understanding and approaches for Islamic activism, and that modern Islamic

movements should be understood in that context.

7. Badran, Margot. 1995. Feminists, Islam and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

This is a book about Egyptian women and the feminism they have created since the 19 th century

within a rethought Islam and a reconstructed nation. It is the story of women’s agency and their

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insistence on empowerment of themselves, their families, and their nation. Moreover, it is a story

constructed out of their own narratives and records, aiming to convey the process and vision of

their feminism. Furthermore, it is a story of struggles and triumphs over the dominance of

patriarchy and colonial containment. Feminist women legitimized their own discourse of

revitalization and empowerment within the discourses of Islamic modernism and secular

nationalism. Egyptian women’s struggles have influenced women in the Arab countries who are

following the same route to liberation. The major argument is that gradual socio-political reform

and women’s continuous struggle in Arab world had already achieved a wider space for women.

This work is a very good historical narrative and could be used as a case study of how Arab

Muslim women have struggled to break the cultural barriers imposed by traditionalists and by

colonialism.

8. Batatu, Hanna. 1999. Syria’s peasantry, the descendants of its lesser rural notables, and their politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

This book is a product of research conducted in the years 1980, 1985, 1990, and 1992. It examines

Syria’s peasantry, its differentiation, evolution of its mode of life, economic circumstances, and

forms of consciousness and behaviour. It also contributes much to the understanding of Ba’athism

and those who held power in Syria since 1963. These holders of power had their roots in rural

society and were shaped by its historical experiences. The last part of the book focuses on the

leadership of Asad, his regime and the main lines of his conduct. This book does not promote any

particular thesis and does not produce any general theory from the accumulated evidence, but

simply interprets the relevant data on Syria in the country’s own historical and contemporary

context.

9. Bill, James & Springborg, Robert. 1994. Politics in the Middle East. New York: Harper

Collins College Publishers.

This classic textbook consists of nine chapters that cover diverse themes in Middle East politics

and draws upon a wide range of historical, ideological, social, institutional, and economic

determinants. These themes range from challenges of modernization and political development to

states, beliefs and ideologies, and the genes of politics, such as groups, classes and families.

Moreover, it also examines leaderships, institutions of governments such as militaries,

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bureaucracies, and legislators. Furthermore, it traces the Arab-Israeli connection, the politics of

war and Revolutions in the Persian Gulf, and oil factor in the politics and development. The

authors argue that fundamental unresolved questions of identity, authenticity and legitimacy

continue to plague the region, and that governments resist transformation of their political system.

With the powerful force of resurgent Islam that challenges the current status quo, the western

interest is at stake. To quote from this work, in the Middle East, “there is sure to be more conflict

before cooperation, more war before peace” and all these directly affect the survival and wellbeing

of the West. The co-authors are Professors of Middle East Politics and Government with extensive

experience in US universities and Australia.

10. Botman, Selma. 1991. Egypt from Independence to Revolution, 1919–1952. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.

This work departs from more traditional studies on Egypt, since it includes accounts of the less

traditional explorations of Egyptian historical development. In doing so, it aims to convey the

diversity of political experience and to highlight the important economic and intellectual trends

that together characterize Egypt during its so-called liberal era. It assesses political activity at both

the élite and non-élite levels. It argues that significant political evolution occurred in Egypt, not

only through legislative initiative and parliamentary debate, but also as a result of the entrance of

the more humble social classes into the political arena through membership of such groups as

Young Egypt, The Muslim Brotherhood, and the Communist movement. The purpose of the book

is to expose readers to general themes and events in modern Egypt, such as the role of nationalism,

the impact of war, the birth of new social groups, and the influence of culture in a largely illiterate

society. Botman, a professor of political science at the College of the Holy Cross, provides her

readers with good background information essential for understanding contemporary Egyptian

society.

11. Choueiri, Youssef. 2001. Arab Nationalism: A History. New York: Blackwell.

Youssef Choureiri, of the institute of Arab and Islamic studies at Exeter University in the UK, has

written a concise and excellent work on Arab nationalism as a historical movement and as a

doctrine. He looks at the topic from diverse scholarly perspectives and views about the origins of

Arab nationalism, its nature and its intellectual significance. The book identifies the characteristics

of Arab nationalism in recent years, setting them in the context of political, economic, religious

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and cultural change in the Middle East. It identifies and examines its three phases: the cultural, the

political and the social. He also elucidates the current trend of neo-Arabism that focuses on

democratic transformation through civil society institutions. It argues and demonstrates that the

quest for Arab nationalism took different routes in different periods and places and, being

dynamic, it continues to evolve in a new form, as neo-Arabism. It is an excellent book for the

student of the Middle East and provides a list of dynastic chronologies, biographies and a guide to

further reading.

12. Cleveland, William. 2000. A History of the Modern Middle East. Denver: Westview Press.

This is a text book giving a general introduction to Middle Eastern history since the emergence of

Islam in Arabia. It emphasises the transformations that have occurred in the Middle East from the

late eighteenth to the late twentieth centuries and the historical patterns of the past quarter century

and includes developments up to early 1999. The focus of this book is primarily political, but also

includes narrative discussions of major social, economic, and ideological currents. Being sensitive

to terms used in the Western literature, such as modernization and westernization, the author uses

neutral value-free terms, like transformation, and also portrays Islam in its own terms. The general

theme that runs through the book is the devastating legacy spawned by the dismemberment of the

Ottoman Empire, subsequent colonialism and the creation of the State of Israel. This devastation is

maintained through the desires of Europe and America to maintain their supply of oil – a formula

for disorder and confusion. Certainly, this book succeeds in making modern Middle Eastern

history more comprehensible and better balanced, without reducing complexities to simplicities; its

author, a professor of history, has indeed produced a general history that is indispensable for

students of the Middle East.

13. Fleischmann, Ellen. 2003. The nation and its “New” women: The Palestinian Women’s Movement, 1920-1948. Berkeley, London: University of California Press.

As a Professor of History at the University of Dayton, a pre-eminent Catholic university in Ohio,

Fleischmann has authored a comprehensive historical study of the emergence and development of

the Palestinian Women’s movement during the British mandate period. Her lived experience in

Palestine since 1986 and the field research she has conducted has produced an original piece of

scholarship that adopts an explicitly feminist stance. It examines and relates how Palestinian

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women challenged British colonialism and Jewish settlements by organizing conferences, meeting

with government officials, smuggling arms, demonstrating, and participating in regional and

international conferences. Its main argument is that women have actively participated in the

Palestinian struggle in many ways. The book draws from lived oral history, newspapers, memoirs

and government documents, and explores the social, cultural and economic context within which

these women operated. It is an outstanding contribution to the women’s study of the Middle East

from an indigenous feminist perspective.

14. Hitti, Philip. 1957. History of Syria: including Lebanon and Palestine. London:

Macmillan.

This is the most popular general history of greater Syria that includes Syria, Lebanon and

Palestine, the cradle of civilization. It is presented as a balanced comprehensive narrative from

the earliest times to the present, in two volumes. It is considered by Amazon to be “a brilliant

history of the land into which more historical and cultural events were crowded than perhaps into

any area of equal size. For Syria has either invented or transmitted to mankind such benefits as

monotheistic religion, philosophy, law, trade, agriculture, and our alphabet”. The simple

argument of the book is to demonstrate the commonality of historical experiences of the region

currently divided into different states and their inter-dependency. The author, Professor Philip

Khuri Hitti (1886 - 1978) was a Syrian scholar of Semantic Literature who had pioneered Arabic

studies in the USA since 1926 and wrote extensively about the Middle East. His works are

considered a classical history necessary for every student of the Middle East.

15. Ismael, Tareq Y. 2004. The Communist Movement in the Arab World. New York: Routledge Curzon.

This book examines the communist movements in the Arab world from the time of the Russian

Revolution until after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and how they have linked Marxist-

Leninist theory with their cultural specificity. It traces the interaction of the world communist

movement, under the aegis of the Communist International in Moscow. It goes on to trace the

impact of “Arab communism” on a range of issues in the region, including national liberation

and social and economic transformation. The book argues that the role of Arab communist

parties was highly significant, and disproportionate to the relatively small numbers of

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communists in the countries concerned. The author is a Professor of Political Science at the

University of Calgary who draws mostly on the literature and documents of the parties and

participants themselves, while at the same time attempting to consolidate the greater issues and

themes into this one volume.

16. Jalal al-’zum, Sadiq. 1977. Naqd al-fikr al-Dini. Beirut: Dar al-Dali’ah.

Sadiq Jalal al-Azm, Professor Emeritus of the History of Modern European Philosophy, University

of Damascus, is known for his critical work produced after 1967. As part of the new literature of

despair, rage, and self-criticism published after the Arab defeat by Israel, the author produced a

widely read polemic, Al-Naqd al-dhati ba’d al-hazima (‘Self-Criticism after Defeat’, 1968). This

book is a continuation of that critical trend in which the author courageously criticizes religious

traditions as an instrument in the hands of Arab reactionary forces and regimes. The author, a

Marxist, claims that the Arabs will be defeated again, unless they adopt more modern ways of

thought and social organization and emancipate themselves from feudal, tribal, and quietist

religious values. It is a valuable work to read in order to assess modern Arab thought from

different perspectives.

17. Jankowski, James. 2001. Nasser’s Egypt, Arab Nationalism, and the United Arab Republic. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.

This work examines the main narrative of how Egypt became dominant in the Arab nationalist

politics and their adopted policies toward the Arab world from the military coup of 1952 until the

dissolution of the United Arab Republic in 1961. It identifies the ideological and practical

considerations that motivated Egypt’s new leaders to adopt an Arab nationalist orientation,

analyzing Nasser’s political career. Moreover, it also explores Egypt’s evolving relationship with

the Western powers and Israel and how it influenced Egypt’s Arab policies. The book addresses

in its 8 chapters the internal dynamics of the revolutionary regime in Egypt and the short

unhappy history of the Egyptian-Syrian union in the United Arab Republic. The author, a

Professor of History at the University of Colorado, argues that Nasser’s leadership was more

prudent than that portrayed in much of the previous literature on the subject and that his

involvement in Arab nationalism was often pursued with hesitancy and caution.

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18. Jones, Jeremy. 2007. Negotiating Change: The new Politics of the Middle East. IB. Tauris

& Co Ltd.

Jones is a former USA Ambassador to Israel and a senior research associate of the Oxford Center

for Islamic Studies. This book uncovers the new political dynamics of the Middle East and the

movements that seek democracy and reform rooted in local cultures and political tradition. The

author explores agents for the new change from Morocco to Oman, and from Egypt to Iran,

listening to grassroots activists and interviewing major political leaders, such as Turkish Prime

Minister Erdogan. He looks at new forms of political Islam from Hamas in Palestine, to the Justice

and Development party in Turkey, to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The author departs from the

conventional picture of the Middle East as a collection of stubbornly authoritarian states, whose

behaviour could be changed through military interventions, and criticizes the western

democratisation agenda, claiming that a participatory and accountable political culture is slowly

emerging in the Middle East and requires the West’s support and encouragement.

18. Mahmood, Saba. 2005. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the feminist subject.

Princeton: Princeton University Press.

This book is an analysis of Islamist cultural politics through the ethnography of a grassroots

women’s piety movement in the mosques of Cairo, by a Social Anthropologist of Pakistani origin

from the leftist movement. Unlike those organized Islamist activists that seek to seize or transform

the state, she argues, this is a moral reform movement whose orthodox practices are commonly

viewed as inconsequential to Egypt’s political landscape. The book addresses three central

questions: How do movements of moral reform help us rethink the normative liberal account of

politics? How does the adherence of women to the patriarchal norms at the core of such

movements parochialize key assumptions within feminist theory about freedom, agency, authority,

and the human subject? How does a consideration of debates about embodied religious rituals

among Islamists and their secular critics help us understand the conceptual relationship between

bodily form and political images? The author believes that “secularism’s progressive formulation

does not necessarily exhaust ways of living meaningful and richly in this world”. This is an award-

winning book and essential reading for anyone interested in issues at the nexus of ethics and

politics, embodiment and gender, and liberalism and postcolonialism.

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20. Makdisi, Usama. 2000. The Culture of Sectarianism: Community, History, and Violence in nineteenth century Ottoman Lebanon. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Sectarianism is the dominant social, economic, and political reality of Lebanon. This sectarianism

is not a new issue in Lebanon; it preceded the creation of modern Lebanon in 1920. Before that

date, Mount Lebanon was shared primarily between the Druze and the Maronites, and the two

communities did not coexist in peace and harmony. The creation of new Lebanon by the French

finally established three major groups in Lebanon, the Druze, the Maronites and the Muslims. This

book is the history of the sectarianism in Lebanon that is an expression of modernity. Its origins lie

at the intersection of 19th century European colonialism and Ottoman modernization. Makdisi

shows how sectarianism was a manifestation of modernity that transcended the physical

boundaries of a particular country. His study challenges those who have viewed sectarian violence

as an Islamic response to westernization, or simply as a product of social and economic inequities

among religious groups, arguing instead that sectarianism represented a deliberate mobilization of

religious identities for political and social purposes. The book is drawn from the personal

experiences of its author, lived during the Lebanese civil war (1975-1980). It was developed from

a doctoral dissertation at Princeton University. The author is Professor of History at Rice

University in Texas.

21. Marqus, Ilyas. 1966. Naqd al-Fikr al-Qawmi. Beirut: Dar al-Dali’ah.

The outstanding writer Ilyas Marqus criticises one of the outstanding theoreticians of Arab

nationalism, having undertaken the task of criticizing ideologies in the Arab Middle East, such as

communism and Arab nationalism. Initially, he focuses to the study of the ideology of Arab

nationalism, through 9 books authored by Sadi al-Husri during his 50 years as the father of the

ideology of Arab nationalism. The author examines the premises, originalities, examples and his

response to his critics. He pays special attention to the minutiae and details, and criticizes each of

the themes separately whilst making a general critique of the book. In doing so, the author aims to

expose al-Husri’s perspectives, approaches, the development of his thought and conclusions he

come up with. The author argues that al-Husri’s approach to Arab nationalism was influenced by

nineteenth-century European thinkers and was exclusionist in terms of disdaining pan-Islamism

and communist internationalism. This book is an indispensable resource for understanding the

origins of Arab nationalism and its loopholes.

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22. Milton-Edwards, Beverley. 2006. Contemporary Politics in the Middles East. Cambridge:

Polity Press.

The author of this book is Reader in the School of Politics, International Study and Philosophy at

Queen’s University, Belfast. The book is an introduction to contemporary politics in the Middle

East from the end of the Ottoman Empire to the present day. It departs from the traditional Middle

Eastern studies that focus on the states and their associated actors with a country-by-country

approach. The book addresses four major themes in Middle Eastern politics; political Islam,

democratization, women, and ethnicity and minorities. His major argument is that these factors are

essential elements that shape the future of the Middle East. So he examines non-state actors and

says more about the politics of protest than about the ruling regimes of the region. The book paints

a broader picture that focuses on the misunderstood or ignored factors that shape contemporary

Middles East. Further, it concludes by highlighting the politics of the region in the twenty-first

century and the challenges it faces in the future. Some critics of the book are furious at its

emphasis of the role of the external actors on the Middle Eastern political development.

23. Mitchell, Richard. 1969. The Society of the Muslim Brothers. London: Oxford University Press.

This book had been developed from the PhD thesis on the Society of Muslim Brothers completed

by the author in 1960. It is the well-known study and a comprehensive work that deals with the

history, organization and ideology of the Society of Muslim Brothers in Egypt during these early

years. The book provides a brief history of the founder of the society, Hassan al-Banna, and then

traces period of the initial foundation among the workers of the city of Isma’iliyah. It proceeds to

reveal the early days in Cairo and the establishment of the organization’s framework, and its clash

with the authorities that led to the assassination of Hassan al-Banna in 1949. Moreover, it also

explores the ambivalent relationships of the society with the Egyptian revolution. The book was

researched and published during Abdi Nasser’s rule and many of the documents used were

produced by the state; the author, however, does acknowledge those limitations. The major thesis

of the book portrays the Muslim Brotherhood as a traditionalist, reactionary, and exclusivist

response to Westernization – the general interpretation of the Islamic movements by most scholars

before 1990. Recently, however, a new interpretation has emerged, with the publication of Brynjar

Lia which sees the Muslim Brothers and similar movements as a facet of modernization. This

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classical study of the Muslim Brotherhood was translated into the Arabic language by one of the

society’s scholars, with short comments.

24. Pak, Soon-Yong. 2002. At the crossroads of Secularism and Islamism. A PhD Dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

This study examines the Iman-Hatip schools in Turkey from 1995-1997, secondary elective

vocational education institutions, exemplifying the contemporary religious and secular

controversies in modern Turkey that have generated cultural and intellectual confrontations

between the Kemalists and Islamists. Students in these schools have to deal with a complex

reality, requiring them to choose between two different world outlooks of Islam and secularism.

The dissertation documents the transformation of these schools since the Republican era, with

respect to education policies, legal challenges, and state interventions. It concurrently examines

the perspective of students, teachers and parents. By doing so, it offers an insight into the

broader societal ramifications of religious socialization in these schools. Moreover, this thesis

sheds light on secularist policies and religious demands and argues that these have been

constantly negotiated and compromised in the modern day Turkey.

25. Shararah, Waddah. 1988. Dawlat Hizbullah: Lubnan Mujtama’an Islaamiyan. Beirut:

Dar al-Nahar.

Waddah Sharara, a Lebanese sociology professor who is a secular descendant of Shi’ite clerics

writes a critical work on how Hezbollah is creating “a state within the state” in Lebanon.

Hezbollah is a formidable military and political force in Lebanon and has expanded its social

service provisions and territorial control since 1980s. This movement was born of local and

regional events: the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.

With its confrontations with Israel in South Lebanon, it gained strong political support from the

Muslim masses worldwide. The author claims that the resistance movement of Hezbollah

integrates identity politics through the interplay between religion and politics based on its core

Shi’a ideology, linked with the Iranian Islamic revolution and Syrian hegemony. The book

analyses critically how Hezbollah’s identity construction took place, examining how that identity

affects Lebanon as a sovereign state. Waddah approaches his critical analysis from the Marxist

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perspective. He focuses on three key components: religious ideology, political ideology, and the

political program of Hezbollah.

26. Tibi, Bassam. 1997. Arab Nationalism: Between Islam and the Nation-State. Palgrave.

The author is a preeminent professor of International Relations at the University of Göttingen,

Germany, known for his critical approaches to history and civilizations. This book on Arab

nationalism is a critical inquiry into this socio-political phenomenon aimed at explaining it within

a world-historical framework as well as placing it into the context of the modern international

system of nation-states. This book does not exclusively target readers concerned with the Middle

East; it is aimed at bridging empirical area studies and theory-oriented, conceptual approaches in

social sciences and history. The book is addressed to those social scientists who have insight into

the fact that ahistorical and abstract theories and concepts, which are developed independent of a

study of history, lack substance. It also addresses historians who reject the descriptive narrative

style of writing history without any conceptual effort. The author makes a clear argument that the

current politically-inspired Islamic uprising will not lead to a new order but rather to “chaos and

disorder.” He portrays the Arab world as one devoid of freedom of thought, controlled by state

security services, and held together not by nationalism, but by fear of those coercive institutions.

He further argues that Arab nationalism and the secular values it represented offered the best

chance for the Arab world to enter the modern world, but that nationalism became infected with

demagoguery and hollowness, so that these and other factors led to the rise of political Islam.

27. Tripp, Charles. 2007. A history of Iraq. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

This pre-eminent professor of politics of the Middle East at the School of Oriental and African

Studies, University of London, has produced a well-written comprehensive history of Iraq

indispensable for understanding the past and present of Iraq politics. The first edition of the book,

published in 2000, became a classical history for students of the Middle East. Since 1920s, Iraq has

witnessed the rise and fall of successive dictatorial regimes, competing for power. This struggle

culminated in the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and the Ba’ath party regime. This book traces

Iraq's political history from its nineteenth-century roots in the Ottoman Empire, to the development

of the state, its transformation from monarchy to republic and the rise of the Ba’ath party and the

ascendancy and the then-current rule of Saddam Hussein. Its updated version takes in the

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American invasion, the fall and capture of Saddam Hussein and the subsequent descent into civil

strife. The author’s argument is that the history of Iraq throughout the twentieth century has made

it what it is today, an amazing praxis of continuity and change. The author emphasizes themes

such as patron-client relations, organized violence, and the sectarian, ethnic and tribal differences

that have shaped the past and present history of Iraq.

28. Wily, Joyce. 1988. The Islamic Political Movement of Iraq. PhD dissertation, University of South Carolina.

Iraq was ruled by the Ba’athist Sunni regime for years and has experienced many power struggle

uprisings. The strongest oppositions were mobilized under the Islamic banner in reaction to the

secularist ideology of the Ba’ath party. Although the regime suppressed indiscriminately all the

Iraqis, the Shi’a majority were marginalized to a greater extent and so mobilized themselves under

various Islamic movement organizations. This dissertation is about the genesis, development, and

salient events of the Islamic Movement in Iraq with particular focus on the Shi’a party called the

Da’wa party. This party was formed as a way of promoting the Islamic faith against mounting

leftist revolution and state violence. It mobilized its social base, like urban educated youth and

clergy, and formulated rigorous ideology and programs. The main thesis of the work is that the

political Movement motivated by the Islam under the dictatorship of Ba’ath party faces immense

challenges and, should they be empowered, the sectarianism and political culture of the society

will crush their success. This dissertation unravels the historical narratives of the Islamic

movement in Iraq, which acquired significance after the defeat of the Ba’athist party and the

establishment of a new Iraq, with the Islamic Da’wa party in power at present.

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