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The Arab Political Liberalism in the Last Two Decades: The Case of Hazem Saghieh
Abstract
The intellectual discourse in the Arab Middle East is divided into four main types which are not completely separate: the Political-Islamic discourse, the national Pan-Arab discourse, the Socialist-Marxist discourse and the Liberal discourse. The liberal Arab discourse, which is the focus of this presentation, developed from traditions that were influenced from both modern Western history and the Arab-Muslim history of the region. The Arab liberal discourse of the last two decades is the main - if not the only - discourse that challenges the domination of political-Islam. The historical foundation of the recent ideological liberal current occur after contextual and historical changes within the Arab left; the revival of this current philosophically begins in the last sixties with philosophies who contested the Marxism within the Arab left. This process came to an end with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 (the political defeat of the Marxism), the gulf war and in 1991 (the political defeat of Pan-Arabism) and the triumph of the American liberalism. This decade witnessed a remarkable liberal rise which expressed by abandoning Marxism and Pan-Arabism in favor of liberalism. Accordingly, this phenomenon is a direct manifestation of transforming the general enlightened thoughts to positivist well-define ideology that gives total respond to the contemporary political, economical, social and cultural questions. The liberal contemporary Arab ideology is predominantly political; its preference and distinguished issues are political freedom within the borders of the local nation-states (its domestic requests), a regional vision of peace (the idea of New Middle East), pluralism, secularism and individualism mainly in the social and cultural manners. A representing example for this contemporary intellectual and political trend could be found in the biography of the Lebanese intellectual Hazem Saghieh; in the political manner, he supports the idea of the nation-state. His general approach based on progress towards a Middle Eastern regional order that would incorporate Israel. In the social and cultural manner he had wrote many works and articles that focus on cultural and social issues like Individualism and pluralism. The presentation will be divided into two main parts: The first part will present the historical definition and development of the liberal phenomenon in the last two decades, its ideological structure, its interests and ideological aims. The second will present the issue from a vertical outlook; It will examine the phenomenon through the representative personal and intellectual development of the Lebanese liberal ex-Marxist Hazem Saghieh.
Discipline
Political Science
Geographic Area
All Middle East
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries