Introductory Notes: Ideologies & Aspirations

Secular Ideologies:
-Islamic Nationalism in late 1800s
-Arab revolt during WWI
-European Mandates became a huge blow
-Arab elites turned toward European liberalism, constitutionalism, & parliamentary democracy
-Egyptian WAFD ("the Delegation") unsuccessfully pled for liberty during Treaty of Versailles
-Nationalists were superseded by post-WWI & Israel independence war ideologies
-Gamal Abdel Nasser- Pan-Arab Nationalism (not well-articulated, but stressed nationalism, anti-imperialism, state socialism, & reform social inequalities)
-Nasser seized power in 1952 by a bloody coup
-Followed by other coups of the 50s and 60s (ex: Iraq, Syria, Libya)
-Baath Socialist Party (40s) took simmilar view
-Arab Cold War took place between traditional monarchies and new ideology
-Israel was unique, founded on zionism (nationalism) and socialism.
-Arabs found faults within progressive governments, regimes became more self-serving, and monarchies prospered

Islamist Ideologies:
-State corruption and disillusionment with Secular ideologies
-Led to religious ones
-Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (an early reformer) combined Islamic values and European sciences & saw problem with lack of modernity
-Newer reformers ("Rejectionists" thought Europe was subjugating their world.
-Receptionists sought to return to a "pure" Islam
-Islam was never divorced from government (Islamic states under Shari'a law)
-Muslim Brotherhood (Egypt, 1928) advocated return to Islamic Values
-Wahhabism (named for 1700s reformer Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab) denounces corruption of a pure Islam, and is a conservative Sunni Islamic movement. It created a...
-Religious police enforce shari'a law.
-Radical Islamists (Islamic extremists) were forming. This led to groups such as...
-al-Jihad a violent extremist group who assassinated President Anwar al-Sadot (1981) and attacked tourists.
-Iranian Revolution took place in 1979, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah, deposed the authoritarian monarch (the Shah), reversed secularization, vocalized justice for working class, and forced religious observance. It put Mullahs (religious leaders) in charge.
-Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) gained popularity in Algeria in 1992, causing the government to cancel elections because they thought the FIS would change the constitution and elminate the voting process.
-Led to long & brutal civil war during 1975-1976.
-Hezbollah started to form, for militant defense.
-Failure of PLO led to Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
-These two ideas/groups gained notoriety during the Al-Aqsa Intifada (2000), which dispatched suicide bombers against Israeli military and civilians.

Political Handbook of the Middle East 2006.
Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2006. Print.