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Annotated bibliography of the modern history of Arab Middle East

1. Abd-Allah, Umar. 1983. The Islamic Struggle in Syria. Berkeley: Mizan Press.

The Muslim Brotherhood revolted against the regime of Hafiz-al-Asad and formed the Islamic
Front of Syria in 1980. This armed opposition was brutally crushed by the regime. This book
provides information on the Islamic Front, its leadership, its ideology, and program, and its place
in Middle Eastern affairs. It is also provides a good background to Syrian history and an account of
Hafiz al-Asad’s rise to power and policies of his regime. In particular it examines Asad’s policies
towards Israel and the hegemonic designs of the superpowers. It also gives a good historical
background of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood since its inception in 1940s. The main argument of
the book is that the Syrian regime is a sectarian dictatorship and that its claims of nationalism,
socialism and confrontation with Israel serve its purpose of clinging to power. The author of the
book is very sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood and writes from the opposition’s perspective
that is less familiar and different from the official historical narratives of Syria.

2. Abu Jaber, Kemal. 1966. The Arab Ba’ath Socialist Party. Syracuse: Syracuse University
Press.

Professor Abu Jabir took an interest in research on the first “ideological” party to take power in the
Arab world in Syria and Iraq in 1960s. Paradoxically, this party emphasizes the rootedness of its
doctrine in Arabism and Islamism, though having little rapport with the Islamic and Arab
nationalist parties. This book outlines the genesis, development, and character of the Ba’ath party
with particular emphasis on Syria. It explores the ideas of the early Arab socialists and outlines the
history of the Ba’ath party’s activities, ideology, and organization. The major argument is that the
Ba’ath party’s claimed ideology, political behavior and policies are incongruous and ambivalent.
It is a useful work for understanding this puzzling party that clung to power for more than three
decades in Syria in defiance of the emerging democratic movements in other Arab countries.

3. Aflaq, Michel. 1975. Fi Sabil al-Ba’th. Beirut: Dar al-Tali’ah.

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Michel Aflaq (1910-1989) is the founder of the Ba’ath movement in 1940 which took on
politically Syria (1963) and Iraq (1969). He has been theorizing for the party and has written about
its ideology, organizations and its relations with other socio-political forces. The first volume was
published in 1959 and a further 4 volumes were published later. The work addresses many issues
like Arab unity, Arab socialism and heritage. It also provides guidelines on how the party should
strive for freedom and the role of the masses, the required radical change and revolution and
problems of the Arab struggle. Moreover, the work offers ideological underpinnings of how to deal
with Imperialism and Zionism, the two external enemies of the Ba’ath mission. Furthermore, the
work deals with the internal organizational issues, such as revolutionary conduct, the role of
students and youth and the humanitarian role of the Arab revolution. The work is the classic
reference for the ideology of the Ba’ath party and constitutes a collection of articles written at
different times and addressing a variety of topics. Its major argument is that the only way for
Arabs to develop and prosper is through Arab unity, in line with the Ba’ath party’s ideology.

4. Al-Ali, Nadje. 2000. Secularism, Gender, and the State in the Middle East: The Egyptian
Women's Movement. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

This book provides a detailed ethnographic account of the heterogeneous secular Egyptian
women’s movement. The author achieves this aim through critical analysis of modernity in
Egypt and interviews with members of women’s groups and individual activists, done by
contextualizing women’s activism in the wider political culture, and thus exploring the Egyptian
state, Islamist constituencies and the political left, as well as international organizations and
agendas which have an impact upon the discourses of women’s activism. This author argues that
the new challenges emanate from the Islamist discourses in addressing issues – known to be in
the domain of the political left – conservative modernists and secularists. However, the Islamists’
articulation of social justice, democracy and women’s rights may create a new opportunity for
women’s empowerment. Using a postcolonial perspective, the book is important for women’s
study in the Muslim countries, though intended to be used as a resource by the secular Egyptian
women activists.

5. Al-Jabiri, Mohammad. 2001. Al-Aql al-siyasi al-Arabi: mahdudatuhu wa tajiliyatuhu.

Beirut.
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Mohammad al-Jabiri, a Professor of Philosophy and Arabic Islamic thought in Morocco, has
produced a series of critical works on Arab Islamic thought, sponsored by the Center of Arab
Unity Studies in Beirut. The first two works critically examine Arabic thought, while this book
explores the political dimensions of the Arab intellect. By means of in-depth studies of the early
historical development of Islamic thought, the author produces a tripartite frame, within which
politics is conducted in the Arab mind. The components are Islamic faith (al-‘Aqidah), clan
identity (al-Qabilah) and booty (al-Ganimah). The author also explores the political system
produced by the Arab mind, which reverted to monarchy after 30 years of the four caliphate rulers
and the mythology of the imamates in the mindset of the Arabs. The author proposes to transform
clan-based society into civil society organizations, the booty system into a system of economics
based on taxation, and dogmatic into rational faith. The major argument of the author is that any
reform in the Arab world essentially depends on changing the Arab intellect, political thought and
culture. This book is an excellent work that is indispensable for critical research into Arab political
culture.

6. Ayyad, Abdulaziz Ahmad. 1987. The Politics of Reformist Islam: Muhammed Abdu and
Hasan al-Banna. PhD Dissertation, Georgetown University.

This dissertation is a study of the reform programs of the Egyptian Islamic scholar Muhammed
Abduh (1849-1905) and the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood society Hasan al-Banna (1906-
1949). It examines the divergent positions of these two Muslim reformers on socio-economic and
political matters in modern Egypt. Moreover, it investigates the objective and subjective
conditions of their social background, the intellectual and political activities that have shaped
their outlook. This study helps in comprehending the background of the modern Islamic
movements and their political ideology and articulation which they have drawn from the modern
interpretation of the Islamic doctrines. Its major argument is that different conditions create
different understanding and approaches for Islamic activism, and that modern Islamic
movements should be understood in that context.

7. Badran, Margot. 1995. Feminists, Islam and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern
Egypt. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

This is a book about Egyptian women and the feminism they have created since the 19th century
within a rethought Islam and a reconstructed nation. It is the story of women’s agency and their
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insistence on empowerment of themselves, their families, and their nation. Moreover, it is a story
constructed out of their own narratives and records, aiming to convey the process and vision of
their feminism. Furthermore, it is a story of struggles and triumphs over the dominance of
patriarchy and colonial containment. Feminist women legitimized their own discourse of
revitalization and empowerment within the discourses of Islamic modernism and secular
nationalism. Egyptian women’s struggles have influenced women in the Arab countries who are
following the same route to liberation. The major argument is that gradual socio-political reform
and women’s continuous struggle in Arab world had already achieved a wider space for women.
This work is a very good historical narrative and could be used as a case study of how Arab
Muslim women have struggled to break the cultural barriers imposed by traditionalists and by
colonialism.

8. Batatu, Hanna. 1999. Syria’s peasantry, the descendants of its lesser rural notables,
and their politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

This book is a product of research conducted in the years 1980, 1985, 1990, and 1992. It examines
Syria’s peasantry, its differentiation, evolution of its mode of life, economic circumstances, and
forms of consciousness and behaviour. It also contributes much to the understanding of Ba’athism
and those who held power in Syria since 1963. These holders of power had their roots in rural
society and were shaped by its historical experiences. The last part of the book focuses on the
leadership of Asad, his regime and the main lines of his conduct. This book does not promote any
particular thesis and does not produce any general theory from the accumulated evidence, but
simply interprets the relevant data on Syria in the country’s own historical and contemporary
context.

9. Bill, James & Springborg, Robert. 1994. Politics in the Middle East. New York: Harper
Collins College Publishers.

This classic textbook consists of nine chapters that cover diverse themes in Middle East politics
and draws upon a wide range of historical, ideological, social, institutional, and economic
determinants. These themes range from challenges of modernization and political development to
states, beliefs and ideologies, and the genes of politics, such as groups, classes and families.
Moreover, it also examines leaderships, institutions of governments such as militaries,
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bureaucracies, and legislators. Furthermore, it traces the Arab-Israeli connection, the politics of
war and Revolutions in the Persian Gulf, and oil factor in the politics and development. The
authors argue that fundamental unresolved questions of identity, authenticity and legitimacy
continue to plague the region, and that governments resist transformation of their political system.
With the powerful force of resurgent Islam that challenges the current status quo, the western
interest is at stake. To quote from this work, in the Middle East, “there is sure to be more conflict
before cooperation, more war before peace” and all these directly affect the survival and wellbeing
of the West. The co-authors are Professors of Middle East Politics and Government with extensive
experience in US universities and Australia.

10. Botman, Selma. 1991. Egypt from Independence to Revolution, 1919–1952. Syracuse:
Syracuse University Press.

This work departs from more traditional studies on Egypt, since it includes accounts of the less
traditional explorations of Egyptian historical development. In doing so, it aims to convey the
diversity of political experience and to highlight the important economic and intellectual trends
that together characterize Egypt during its so-called liberal era. It assesses political activity at both
the élite and non-élite levels. It argues that significant political evolution occurred in Egypt, not
only through legislative initiative and parliamentary debate, but also as a result of the entrance of
the more humble social classes into the political arena through membership of such groups as
Young Egypt, The Muslim Brotherhood, and the Communist movement. The purpose of the book
is to expose readers to general themes and events in modern Egypt, such as the role of nationalism,
the impact of war, the birth of new social groups, and the influence of culture in a largely illiterate
society. Botman, a professor of political science at the College of the Holy Cross, provides her
readers with good background information essential for understanding contemporary Egyptian
society.

11. Choueiri, Youssef. 2001. Arab Nationalism: A History. New York: Blackwell.

Youssef Choureiri, of the institute of Arab and Islamic studies at Exeter University in the UK, has
written a concise and excellent work on Arab nationalism as a historical movement and as a
doctrine. He looks at the topic from diverse scholarly perspectives and views about the origins of
Arab nationalism, its nature and its intellectual significance. The book identifies the characteristics
of Arab nationalism in recent years, setting them in the context of political, economic, religious
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and cultural change in the Middle East. It identifies and examines its three phases: the cultural, the
political and the social. He also elucidates the current trend of neo-Arabism that focuses on
democratic transformation through civil society institutions. It argues and demonstrates that the
quest for Arab nationalism took different routes in different periods and places and, being
dynamic, it continues to evolve in a new form, as neo-Arabism. It is an excellent book for the
student of the Middle East and provides a list of dynastic chronologies, biographies and a guide to
further reading.

12. Cleveland, William. 2000. A History of the Modern Middle East. Denver: Westview
Press.

This is a text book giving a general introduction to Middle Eastern history since the emergence of
Islam in Arabia. It emphasises the transformations that have occurred in the Middle East from the
late eighteenth to the late twentieth centuries and the historical patterns of the past quarter century
and includes developments up to early 1999. The focus of this book is primarily political, but also
includes narrative discussions of major social, economic, and ideological currents. Being sensitive
to terms used in the Western literature, such as modernization and westernization, the author uses
neutral value-free terms, like transformation, and also portrays Islam in its own terms. The general
theme that runs through the book is the devastating legacy spawned by the dismemberment of the
Ottoman Empire, subsequent colonialism and the creation of the State of Israel. This devastation is
maintained through the desires of Europe and America to maintain their supply of oil – a formula
for disorder and confusion. Certainly, this book succeeds in making modern Middle Eastern
history more comprehensible and better balanced, without reducing complexities to simplicities; its
author, a professor of history, has indeed produced a general history that is indispensable for
students of the Middle East.

13. Fleischmann, Ellen. 2003. The nation and its “New” women: The Palestinian Women’s
Movement, 1920-1948. Berkeley, London: University of California Press.

As a Professor of History at the University of Dayton, a pre-eminent Catholic university in Ohio,

Fleischmann has authored a comprehensive historical study of the emergence and development of
the Palestinian Women’s movement during the British mandate period. Her lived experience in
Palestine since 1986 and the field research she has conducted has produced an original piece of
scholarship that adopts an explicitly feminist stance. It examines and relates how Palestinian
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women challenged British colonialism and Jewish settlements by organizing conferences, meeting
with government officials, smuggling arms, demonstrating, and participating in regional and
international conferences. Its main argument is that women have actively participated in the
Palestinian struggle in many ways. The book draws from lived oral history, newspapers, memoirs
and government documents, and explores the social, cultural and economic context within which
these women operated. It is an outstanding contribution to the women’s study of the Middle East
from an indigenous feminist perspective.

14. Hitti, Philip. 1957. History of Syria: including Lebanon and Palestine. London:
Macmillan.

This is the most popular general history of greater Syria that includes Syria, Lebanon and
Palestine, the cradle of civilization. It is presented as a balanced comprehensive narrative from
the earliest times to the present, in two volumes. It is considered by Amazon to be “a brilliant
history of the land into which more historical and cultural events were crowded than perhaps into
any area of equal size. For Syria has either invented or transmitted to mankind such benefits as
monotheistic religion, philosophy, law, trade, agriculture, and our alphabet”. The simple
argument of the book is to demonstrate the commonality of historical experiences of the region
currently divided into different states and their inter-dependency. The author, Professor Philip
Khuri Hitti (1886 - 1978) was a Syrian scholar of Semantic Literature who had pioneered Arabic
studies in the USA since 1926 and wrote extensively about the Middle East. His works are
considered a classical history necessary for every student of the Middle East.

15. Ismael, Tareq Y. 2004. The Communist Movement in the Arab World. New York:
Routledge Curzon.

This book examines the communist movements in the Arab world from the time of the Russian
Revolution until after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and how they have linked Marxist-
Leninist theory with their cultural specificity. It traces the interaction of the world communist
movement, under the aegis of the Communist International in Moscow. It goes on to trace the
impact of “Arab communism” on a range of issues in the region, including national liberation
and social and economic transformation. The book argues that the role of Arab communist
parties was highly significant, and disproportionate to the relatively small numbers of
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communists in the countries concerned. The author is a Professor of Political Science at the
University of Calgary who draws mostly on the literature and documents of the parties and
participants themselves, while at the same time attempting to consolidate the greater issues and
themes into this one volume.

16. Jalal al-’zum, Sadiq. 1977. Naqd al-fikr al-Dini. Beirut: Dar al-Dali’ah.

Sadiq Jalal al-Azm, Professor Emeritus of the History of Modern European Philosophy, University
of Damascus, is known for his critical work produced after 1967. As part of the new literature of
despair, rage, and self-criticism published after the Arab defeat by Israel, the author produced a
widely read polemic, Al-Naqd al-dhati ba’d al-hazima (‘Self-Criticism after Defeat’, 1968). This
book is a continuation of that critical trend in which the author courageously criticizes religious
traditions as an instrument in the hands of Arab reactionary forces and regimes. The author, a
Marxist, claims that the Arabs will be defeated again, unless they adopt more modern ways of
thought and social organization and emancipate themselves from feudal, tribal, and quietist
religious values. It is a valuable work to read in order to assess modern Arab thought from
different perspectives.

17. Jankowski, James. 2001. Nasser’s Egypt, Arab Nationalism, and the United Arab
Republic. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.

This work examines the main narrative of how Egypt became dominant in the Arab nationalist
politics and their adopted policies toward the Arab world from the military coup of 1952 until the
dissolution of the United Arab Republic in 1961. It identifies the ideological and practical
considerations that motivated Egypt’s new leaders to adopt an Arab nationalist orientation,
analyzing Nasser’s political career. Moreover, it also explores Egypt’s evolving relationship with
the Western powers and Israel and how it influenced Egypt’s Arab policies. The book addresses
in its 8 chapters the internal dynamics of the revolutionary regime in Egypt and the short
unhappy history of the Egyptian-Syrian union in the United Arab Republic. The author, a
Professor of History at the University of Colorado, argues that Nasser’s leadership was more
prudent than that portrayed in much of the previous literature on the subject and that his
involvement in Arab nationalism was often pursued with hesitancy and caution.
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18. Jones, Jeremy. 2007. Negotiating Change: The new Politics of the Middle East. IB. Tauris
& Co Ltd.

Jones is a former USA Ambassador to Israel and a senior research associate of the Oxford Center
for Islamic Studies. This book uncovers the new political dynamics of the Middle East and the
movements that seek democracy and reform rooted in local cultures and political tradition. The
author explores agents for the new change from Morocco to Oman, and from Egypt to Iran,
listening to grassroots activists and interviewing major political leaders, such as Turkish Prime
Minister Erdogan. He looks at new forms of political Islam from Hamas in Palestine, to the Justice
and Development party in Turkey, to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The author departs from the
conventional picture of the Middle East as a collection of stubbornly authoritarian states, whose
behaviour could be changed through military interventions, and criticizes the western
democratisation agenda, claiming that a participatory and accountable political culture is slowly
emerging in the Middle East and requires the West’s support and encouragement.

18. Mahmood, Saba. 2005. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the feminist subject.
Princeton: Princeton University Press.

This book is an analysis of Islamist cultural politics through the ethnography of a grassroots
women’s piety movement in the mosques of Cairo, by a Social Anthropologist of Pakistani origin
from the leftist movement. Unlike those organized Islamist activists that seek to seize or transform
the state, she argues, this is a moral reform movement whose orthodox practices are commonly
viewed as inconsequential to Egypt’s political landscape. The book addresses three central
questions: How do movements of moral reform help us rethink the normative liberal account of
politics? How does the adherence of women to the patriarchal norms at the core of such
movements parochialize key assumptions within feminist theory about freedom, agency, authority,
and the human subject? How does a consideration of debates about embodied religious rituals
among Islamists and their secular critics help us understand the conceptual relationship between
bodily form and political images? The author believes that “secularism’s progressive formulation
does not necessarily exhaust ways of living meaningful and richly in this world”. This is an award-
winning book and essential reading for anyone interested in issues at the nexus of ethics and
politics, embodiment and gender, and liberalism and postcolonialism.
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20. Makdisi, Usama. 2000. The Culture of Sectarianism: Community, History, and Violence in
nineteenth century Ottoman Lebanon. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Sectarianism is the dominant social, economic, and political reality of Lebanon. This sectarianism
is not a new issue in Lebanon; it preceded the creation of modern Lebanon in 1920. Before that
date, Mount Lebanon was shared primarily between the Druze and the Maronites, and the two
communities did not coexist in peace and harmony. The creation of new Lebanon by the French
finally established three major groups in Lebanon, the Druze, the Maronites and the Muslims. This
book is the history of the sectarianism in Lebanon that is an expression of modernity. Its origins lie
at the intersection of 19th century European colonialism and Ottoman modernization. Makdisi
shows how sectarianism was a manifestation of modernity that transcended the physical
boundaries of a particular country. His study challenges those who have viewed sectarian violence
as an Islamic response to westernization, or simply as a product of social and economic inequities
among religious groups, arguing instead that sectarianism represented a deliberate mobilization of
religious identities for political and social purposes. The book is drawn from the personal
experiences of its author, lived during the Lebanese civil war (1975-1980). It was developed from
a doctoral dissertation at Princeton University. The author is Professor of History at Rice
University in Texas.

21. Marqus, Ilyas. 1966. Naqd al-Fikr al-Qawmi. Beirut: Dar al-Dali’ah.

The outstanding writer Ilyas Marqus criticises one of the outstanding theoreticians of Arab
nationalism, having undertaken the task of criticizing ideologies in the Arab Middle East, such as
communism and Arab nationalism. Initially, he focuses to the study of the ideology of Arab
nationalism, through 9 books authored by Sadi al-Husri during his 50 years as the father of the
ideology of Arab nationalism. The author examines the premises, originalities, examples and his
response to his critics. He pays special attention to the minutiae and details, and criticizes each of
the themes separately whilst making a general critique of the book. In doing so, the author aims to
expose al-Husri’s perspectives, approaches, the development of his thought and conclusions he
come up with. The author argues that al-Husri’s approach to Arab nationalism was influenced by
nineteenth-century European thinkers and was exclusionist in terms of disdaining pan-Islamism
and communist internationalism. This book is an indispensable resource for understanding the
origins of Arab nationalism and its loopholes.
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22. Milton-Edwards, Beverley. 2006. Contemporary Politics in the Middles East. Cambridge:
Polity Press.

The author of this book is Reader in the School of Politics, International Study and Philosophy at
Queen’s University, Belfast. The book is an introduction to contemporary politics in the Middle
East from the end of the Ottoman Empire to the present day. It departs from the traditional Middle
Eastern studies that focus on the states and their associated actors with a country-by-country
approach. The book addresses four major themes in Middle Eastern politics; political Islam,
democratization, women, and ethnicity and minorities. His major argument is that these factors are
essential elements that shape the future of the Middle East. So he examines non-state actors and
says more about the politics of protest than about the ruling regimes of the region. The book paints
a broader picture that focuses on the misunderstood or ignored factors that shape contemporary
Middles East. Further, it concludes by highlighting the politics of the region in the twenty-first
century and the challenges it faces in the future. Some critics of the book are furious at its
emphasis of the role of the external actors on the Middle Eastern political development.

23. Mitchell, Richard. 1969. The Society of the Muslim Brothers. London: Oxford University
Press.

This book had been developed from the PhD thesis on the Society of Muslim Brothers completed
by the author in 1960. It is the well-known study and a comprehensive work that deals with the
history, organization and ideology of the Society of Muslim Brothers in Egypt during these early
years. The book provides a brief history of the founder of the society, Hassan al-Banna, and then
traces period of the initial foundation among the workers of the city of Isma’iliyah. It proceeds to
reveal the early days in Cairo and the establishment of the organization’s framework, and its clash
with the authorities that led to the assassination of Hassan al-Banna in 1949. Moreover, it also
explores the ambivalent relationships of the society with the Egyptian revolution. The book was
researched and published during Abdi Nasser’s rule and many of the documents used were
produced by the state; the author, however, does acknowledge those limitations. The major thesis
of the book portrays the Muslim Brotherhood as a traditionalist, reactionary, and exclusivist
response to Westernization – the general interpretation of the Islamic movements by most scholars
before 1990. Recently, however, a new interpretation has emerged, with the publication of Brynjar
Lia which sees the Muslim Brothers and similar movements as a facet of modernization. This
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classical study of the Muslim Brotherhood was translated into the Arabic language by one of the
society’s scholars, with short comments.

24. Pak, Soon-Yong. 2002. At the crossroads of Secularism and Islamism. A PhD
Dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

This study examines the Iman-Hatip schools in Turkey from 1995-1997, secondary elective
vocational education institutions, exemplifying the contemporary religious and secular
controversies in modern Turkey that have generated cultural and intellectual confrontations
between the Kemalists and Islamists. Students in these schools have to deal with a complex
reality, requiring them to choose between two different world outlooks of Islam and secularism.
The dissertation documents the transformation of these schools since the Republican era, with
respect to education policies, legal challenges, and state interventions. It concurrently examines
the perspective of students, teachers and parents. By doing so, it offers an insight into the
broader societal ramifications of religious socialization in these schools. Moreover, this thesis
sheds light on secularist policies and religious demands and argues that these have been
constantly negotiated and compromised in the modern day Turkey.

25. Shararah, Waddah. 1988. Dawlat Hizbullah: Lubnan Mujtama’an Islaamiyan. Beirut:
Dar al-Nahar.

Waddah Sharara, a Lebanese sociology professor who is a secular descendant of Shi’ite clerics
writes a critical work on how Hezbollah is creating “a state within the state” in Lebanon.
Hezbollah is a formidable military and political force in Lebanon and has expanded its social
service provisions and territorial control since 1980s. This movement was born of local and
regional events: the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.
With its confrontations with Israel in South Lebanon, it gained strong political support from the
Muslim masses worldwide. The author claims that the resistance movement of Hezbollah
integrates identity politics through the interplay between religion and politics based on its core
Shi’a ideology, linked with the Iranian Islamic revolution and Syrian hegemony. The book
analyses critically how Hezbollah’s identity construction took place, examining how that identity
affects Lebanon as a sovereign state. Waddah approaches his critical analysis from the Marxist
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perspective. He focuses on three key components: religious ideology, political ideology, and the
political program of Hezbollah.

26. Tibi, Bassam. 1997. Arab Nationalism: Between Islam and the Nation-State. Palgrave.

The author is a preeminent professor of International Relations at the University of Göttingen,

Germany, known for his critical approaches to history and civilizations. This book on Arab
nationalism is a critical inquiry into this socio-political phenomenon aimed at explaining it within
a world-historical framework as well as placing it into the context of the modern international
system of nation-states. This book does not exclusively target readers concerned with the Middle
East; it is aimed at bridging empirical area studies and theory-oriented, conceptual approaches in
social sciences and history. The book is addressed to those social scientists who have insight into
the fact that ahistorical and abstract theories and concepts, which are developed independent of a
study of history, lack substance. It also addresses historians who reject the descriptive narrative
style of writing history without any conceptual effort. The author makes a clear argument that the
current politically-inspired Islamic uprising will not lead to a new order but rather to “chaos and
disorder.” He portrays the Arab world as one devoid of freedom of thought, controlled by state
security services, and held together not by nationalism, but by fear of those coercive institutions.
He further argues that Arab nationalism and the secular values it represented offered the best
chance for the Arab world to enter the modern world, but that nationalism became infected with
demagoguery and hollowness, so that these and other factors led to the rise of political Islam.

27. Tripp, Charles. 2007. A history of Iraq. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

This pre-eminent professor of politics of the Middle East at the School of Oriental and African
Studies, University of London, has produced a well-written comprehensive history of Iraq
indispensable for understanding the past and present of Iraq politics. The first edition of the book,
published in 2000, became a classical history for students of the Middle East. Since 1920s, Iraq has
witnessed the rise and fall of successive dictatorial regimes, competing for power. This struggle
culminated in the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and the Ba’ath party regime. This book traces
Iraq's political history from its nineteenth-century roots in the Ottoman Empire, to the development
of the state, its transformation from monarchy to republic and the rise of the Ba’ath party and the
ascendancy and the then-current rule of Saddam Hussein. Its updated version takes in the
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American invasion, the fall and capture of Saddam Hussein and the subsequent descent into civil
strife. The author’s argument is that the history of Iraq throughout the twentieth century has made
it what it is today, an amazing praxis of continuity and change. The author emphasizes themes
such as patron-client relations, organized violence, and the sectarian, ethnic and tribal differences
that have shaped the past and present history of Iraq.

28. Wily, Joyce. 1988. The Islamic Political Movement of Iraq. PhD dissertation,
University of South Carolina.

Iraq was ruled by the Ba’athist Sunni regime for years and has experienced many power struggle
uprisings. The strongest oppositions were mobilized under the Islamic banner in reaction to the
secularist ideology of the Ba’ath party. Although the regime suppressed indiscriminately all the
Iraqis, the Shi’a majority were marginalized to a greater extent and so mobilized themselves under
various Islamic movement organizations. This dissertation is about the genesis, development, and
salient events of the Islamic Movement in Iraq with particular focus on the Shi’a party called the
Da’wa party. This party was formed as a way of promoting the Islamic faith against mounting
leftist revolution and state violence. It mobilized its social base, like urban educated youth and
clergy, and formulated rigorous ideology and programs. The main thesis of the work is that the
political Movement motivated by the Islam under the dictatorship of Ba’ath party faces immense
challenges and, should they be empowered, the sectarianism and political culture of the society
will crush their success. This dissertation unravels the historical narratives of the Islamic
movement in Iraq, which acquired significance after the defeat of the Ba’athist party and the
establishment of a new Iraq, with the Islamic Da’wa party in power at present.