Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The study of the Middle East lags behind other area studies in both theoretical and substantive terms. The book shows how elements of Borochovism play an important role in the Marxist apologetic for Zionism amongst contemporary Israeli socialists. The main point to establish here is that there is a theoretical continuity, of a basically Hegelian variety, which links together Bauer, Marx, Borochov and, in the modern period, Avineri. In short, Borochovism and related arguments rest upon teleological, historicist interpretations of Marxism, which are rooted in Hegelianism. Orientalist assumptions are present in various sociological positions which suggest that genuine social classes are absent in Islamic societies, along with social revolutions based on class conflict. Orientalism is based on an epistemology which is essentialist, empiricist and historicist.