ABSTRACT
Three main themes are explored in this book, first published in 1984: the first is the problem of religion and politics as a major and long-standing preoccupation of Middle-easterners or Arab Muslims themselves; the second is that of the conflict-ridden inter-Arab and regional politics, approached largely from a local rather than an international perspective; the third deals with Egypt. The book also enquires into the nature of rule and regimes in the Middle East, the basis of authority and the arrangements for the organisation, exercise and use of power. Drawing examples from Egypt and the Fertile Crescent, the emphasis is on the relation between tradition and politics, historical evolution and state policy, domestic factors and external constraints.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part
Islam and Politics
chapter |18 pages
Muhammad ‘Abduh and the Quest for a Muslim Humanism
chapter |13 pages
Recent Trends in Islam
chapter |28 pages
Islam and the Foreign Policy of Egypt
chapter |15 pages
The Rise of the Clerisocracy
part |101 pages
Inter-Arab and Regional Politics
chapter |40 pages
Inter-Arab Relations
chapter |18 pages
Regional Politics
chapter |17 pages
Authoritarianism and Autocracy in the Middle East
chapter |24 pages
Conflict in the Middle East Reconsidered
part |85 pages
History and Politics of Modern Egypt