Exploring themes of identity and development in the post-Ottoman Arab world, this book updates the author’s earlier Islamic Identity and Development (Routledge, 1990) to analyse the root causes of chaos, civil war, and conflict in the Islamic Core today.
Adopting a neo-Ottomanist framework, and using the latest scholarship on the Middle East, the author traces the historical development of the current crisis to the First World War, when the West instigated invasions, coup d’états, civil and proxy wars. It is argued that Western powers have facilitated the dispossession of the Arab people in their overarching aim to gain control of the oil fields. A range of historical case-studies are provided as evidence, from the Balfour Declaration and the Sykes-Picot Agreement to the creation of Israel and the displacement of Islamic refugees. Individual nations are also analysed, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Egypt. Ultimately, the author suggests that artificial countries and unsustainable frontiers are the root causes of the Islamic crisis. However, a realistic (and long-term) solution may lie in the evolution of a new Silk Route Economy.
This book will appeal to graduate-level students in political economy, area studies, international affairs, and Middle East studies generally.
Author(s): Özay Mehmet
Series: Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Politics, 120
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 255
City: London
Cover
Endorsement
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Tables
Preface
1 Winners and Losers in Nation-Building in the Post-Ottoman Middle East
Young Turks, Social Darwinism, and Oil Politics
The Turkish Petroleum Company
Turks, Arabs, and Jews
Nation-Building: Leadership and Resources
The Kibbutz Movement
Technical Knowledge in Nation-Building
Ideology: Zionism, Turkism, Arabism
The Dreyfus Case
Christian Nationalism, the Eastern Question, and the Destruction of the Ottoman Empire
The Greek Independence
The Christian Heritage of Europe
A Hypothesis
Neo-Ottomanism
Failed States in the Arab Core
References
2 Dar’ul Islam After the Ottomans: The Modern Middle East
The Damascus Debacle
Antonius On the Sykes-Picot Agreement
The Ottoman Legacy
The Ottoman Decline
Pan-Islam and Neo-Ottomanism
The Caliphate in the Ottoman Endgame
Tribalism and Tribal Warfare
The Endless War in Yemen
Arab Unity and the Arab League
Post-Pandemic World
Human Loss, Quality of Life in the Arab Core
Social Capital
The US Invasion, Rise of Islamic Terrorism, and False Caliphates
Note
References
3 Recent Scholarship On the End of Ottomans and the Making of the Modern Middle East
The Berlin–Baghdad Railway (BBR)
The War Over Oil
Salvation Through War?
Deceit and Imperial Folly
The Ottoman Endgame
Poisoned Wells
Oil Kings
Neo-Imperialism at Its Worst
The New Arab Wars
A (Levantine) Paradise Lost
Nostalgia for an Empire Lost
References
4 The Roots of Islamic Underdevelopment: From Mercantilism to Imperialism
The Modern Era, 1453
The Ottoman System at Its Zenith
An Ottoman Traveler: Evliya Çelebi
The Ottoman Trading System
Selim’s Conquest of Cairo
The Social Quality of Life Under the Ottomans
The Damascus-Bursa Trade
The Ottoman Custom Zones, Taxes, and Slave Trade
Towns, Guilds, and Trade Regulation: The Imaret System
Balkans and Arab Provinces Compared
The Trade Regulation in Ottoman Cairo
The Arab Core in International Trade
The Western Shift of International Trade
Capitulations: The Road to Economic Ruin
The Creation of the Atlantic Mercantilist Economy
The Origins of Mercantilism: Ideas First, Institutions After
The Plantation System, Slavery as Pillars of Colonialism
Globalization and MNCs
References
5 The Elusive Quest for the Islamic Social Contract: The Contest Between Nationalism and Imperialism
A Synopsis of Arab Culture
The Rise and Fall of Mohammed Mosaddeq
Saudi Arabia: Wahhabism, Deceit, Oil, and Imperialism
Iraq: Military Dictatorship and Squandered Oil Wealth
The Brutal Al-Assad Regime
The Qaddafi Dictatorship
The Egyptian Case of Nation-Building
Notes
References
6 The Making of the Modern Middle East: Western Invasion, the Sykes-Picot Legacy, Failed States, and Terrorism
What Is Socio-Economic Development?
Labor Market and Youth Unemployment
Energy Transformation: Can Saudi Arabia Do It?
Oil as a Curse
The Mosul Question (Musul Meselesi)
Sykes-Picot Agreement: A Story of Deceit
Creating an Artificial Country, A Consolation Prize
Algeria: The Bloody Case of French Imperialism
The Sykes-Picot Legacy
Who Is a Terrorist? What Exactly Is Terrorism?
References
7 The New Silk Route: Long-Term Revival of the Muslim World?
The Spectacular Rise of China
China Expands in All Directions, SRE
Water Management Challenges
The Muslim Cultural Heritage
The Aral Sea Disaster … and Rehabilitation
Financial Institutions
A Peaceful Future: TAPI Mega Project
Iran-China Relations
Sustainable Development
A Long-Term Revival: Silk Road Economy
The Siberian Hinterland
Turkey-Azerbaijan Energy Cooperation On a New Dimension of the SRE
Azerbaijan as a New Energy Actor
Geopolitics of the Greater Caspian Basin Gas Reserves
Iran-Turkey Energy Relations On the SRE
Turkish-Russian Pipelines
Ceyhan, the New Energy Hub
Turkey Finds Gas in the Black Sea
Changing Geopolitics in the Caucuses
Toward a New World Order
References
8 Europe, Turkey, and Islam: From Crusades to Interfaith Cooperation
Centuries of Crusades
The Cartoons Versus Liberty
Muslims in Europe Today
Treatment of Muslims in Europe: The French Case
The Case of Poland
European Imperialism
How the Inca/Aztec Gold Made Europe Rich
The Dutch Colonialism
The Muslim Refugee Crisis
The Crusading Mentality Today
Turkey as a Cultural Bridge: The Idealist Scenario
Cyprus Joins the EU and Turkey’s Accession Is Put in Deep Freeze
The EU and the Greek-Turkish Maritime Dispute
Regional Issues in Greek-Turkish-EU Relations
European Factor in Arab-Israeli Relations
War Or Peace?
Energy Cooperation On the SRE
Conclusion
References
9 The Muslim Refugee Crisis and Moral Failure
The Vital Issue of Land in Palestine
The British Mandate and the Bloody Way to Partition
A New Breed of “Lords of Poverty”
Palestine: A Nation of Refugees
The “Great Game” in the Middle East
Reparations
The Global Refugee Challenge: The Palestinian Model Is Globalized
The Charity Business
The Brutal Saddam Regime, American Invasion, and the Rise of Terrorism
The Syrian Refugee Crisis
International Moral Failure, The Next 50 Years
References
10 Why the Arab World Never Produced a Democratic Leader?
Conflicts, Civil Wars, a Natural State: Al-Ghazzali’s Ideal State
Al-Ghazzali’s Ideal State
The Current Arab Leadership Dilemma
Saddam Hussein, a Brutal Arab Dictator
Nasserism and Modern Arab Ideology
Arabia and the House of Saud
The Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIL Terrorism
The Profile of an Islamic Terrorist: Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi
The Question of Incompatibility
A Tunisian Exception: Habib Bourguiba?
Note
References
11 Democracy, Arabs, and Islamic Revival
Is Democracy Dying?
Moral Decay in Liberal Democracies, the Crisis of Capitalism
The Evolution of Arab Nationalism
Voices in the Dark
Arab Spring: A Failed Young Turk Revolution, a Century Later?
Ba’athism and the Question of Legitimacy
Is Arab Democracy an Impossible Dream?
Civil Society
Is It Possible to Have Democracy in the Arab World?
Self-Reliance, Social Capital, and Institution-Building for a New SRE
Freedom Under Embargoes: The Case of North Cyprus
References
12 A Summing Up
No Caliphate
Western Guilt and Responsibility
A Cleaner, Sustainable World
The Prospects of SRE
Toward a Humane and Just World
Conclusion
References
13 Postscript On Ukraine War
INDEX
