Democracy and Civil Society in Arab Political Thought: Transcultural PossibilitiesSyracuse University Press, 2006 M10 13 - 279 pages This book provides a significant and unique contribution to the emerging literature of comparative political thought. Michaelle L. Browers offers compelling evidence, with extensive analysis and references, that a rigorous debate is taking place in Arabic concerning the value of democracy and civil society. Exploring the globalization of ideas of democracy and civil society, Browers addresses the question of what occurs when concepts cross the boundaries of cultures or languages. She analyzes the historical concept of democracy in Arab and Islamic political thought, the transformations that have occurred over the past several decades resulting from Arab forays into an international discussion of civil society and what these transformations tell us about the status of ideological and conceptual debates in the region. The book’s value, however, lies in its main premise: despite the dearth of actual democratic practices in the Arab world, intellectual elites of the region have vigorously debated reform concepts for decades. Browers emphasizes that current conflicts involving the Middle East are less about Islam against the west and its secular allies in the region and more about diverse sectors of Arab society grappling with how to reform overreaching and unjust states. Browers shows that the seeds of democratic reform in the region were well planted prior to the war on Iraq and the Greater Middle East Initiative. |
From inside the book
Page 52
... The Essential Civil Society Reader ( Eberly 2000 ) . The tradition of civil society found there traces its origins to Montesquieu and Toc- queville . Integrating these traditions is important for understanding the full range of ideas ...
... The Essential Civil Society Reader ( Eberly 2000 ) . The tradition of civil society found there traces its origins to Montesquieu and Toc- queville . Integrating these traditions is important for understanding the full range of ideas ...
Page 234
... The Essential Civil Society Reader : Classic Essays in the American Civil Society Debate . Lanham , Md .: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers . Ehrenberg , John . 1999. Civil Society : The Critical History of an Idea . New York : New York ...
... The Essential Civil Society Reader : Classic Essays in the American Civil Society Debate . Lanham , Md .: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers . Ehrenberg , John . 1999. Civil Society : The Critical History of an Idea . New York : New York ...
Contents
Crossing the Arab Democracy | 1 |
Democracy in the History of Arab | 25 |
The Politics of Translating Civil Society into Arabic | 58 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
According ahli al-ahli al-madani al-mujtama Arab civil society Arab intellectuals Arab liberals Arab political thought Arab region Arab socialism Arab socialists Arab society Arab thinkers Arab Unity Studies Arab world Arab-Islamic argues authentic Averroes Beirut Cairo Center for Arab chapter characterized ciety civil soci civil society claim concept of civil conceptual change conference contemporary Arab context crisis critique culture debate democratic despite discussion Egypt Egyptian example existing Ezzat Ghalyun Ghannouchi Gramsci groups Hanafi Huwaydi Ibn Khaldun Ibn Rushd Ibrahim ideology ijma ijtihad individual institutions Islamic society Islamists issue Jabiri Kawtharani Marxist Middle East modern movement Muhammad mujtama Muslim Muslim Brotherhood Nahda Naqqash nationalism nationalist organizations parties provides question Qur'an reform religion religious role rule ruler Sa'id Saad Eddin Ibrahim scholars secular shari'a Shaykh shura society and democracy sphere suggests tawhid term tion traditional translation Tunisia Turabi umma women Zghal