Being Arab between Neoliberal Globalization and Cultural Nationalism

Abstract

This works aims at exploring the link between economic austerity and increased support for political Islam in the Arab world as more and more people, out of a yearning for community, turn to alternative kinds of solidarity, especially on religious lines, as a revolt against real or perceived foreign domination, materialism, individualism and the pursuit of profits associated with Western culture and globalisation. To elucidate the relation between current trends of respatialisation and the (re)emergence of cultural nationalism, Part I provides an overview of the literature on nationalism and its many shades, in Chapter 1, and neoliberal globalisation – which does not correspond to globalisation tout court - in Chapter 2. Part II is dedicated to the creation and dismantling of Arab social contracts, discussed in Chapters 3 and 4 respectively, focusing on the effects of structural adjustment in Egypt in terms of poverty, inequality, welfare trends, increased activism of faith-based organisations and strengthened political Islam. Finally, in Part III it is noted that neoliberal structural adjustment is not sufficient to explain the persisting malaise, the cultural and religious turn in Arab societies; Chapter 5 thus provides a complementary explanation considering the importance of ideas, perceptions and even “emotions”, pointing to the need for a re-examination of history and the abandonment of victimism and nihilism for Arabs to once again take the future in their own hands.