Politics of the Middle East and North Africa
Horaceyim
MidEastHRLecture1.pptx
Welcome to the course!
Human Rights in the MIDDLE EAST
Faculty: Dr. Nader Nazemi
1
Outline of Presentation
Where is MENA?
Islam: The Basics
Misconceptions and Stereotypes
Human Rights: An Introduction
2
I. Where is MENA?
3
The Middle East
4
Continental Orientation
Bridge between Asia, Africa and Europe
5
Football (Soccer!) Orientation
Egypt is part of the Middle East, but plays in Africa.
Turkey and Israel are part of the Middle East, but play in Europe.
Other Middle Eastern countries play in Asia.
Sports is part politics, part athletics, part geography!
Map of the World: Six FIFA Confederations
6
Summary
The term “Middle East” is a political designation
Most of the Middle East is in Asia. Part of it is in Europe, and a part of it is in Africa
Football (soccer!) is probably the most popular sport in the region
7
Origins of Designation “Middle East”
The Middle East is a modern term used to describe the area covering 16 countries and states in northeastern Africa and southwestern Asia. These are Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Palestinian Authority, Yemen.
“The Middle East's geographic position alone, as the junction of Africa, Asia and Europe, is ample reason for it to command the world’s attention” (Politics and Change, p. xv).
Geopolitical Designation: Etymologically, the term "Middle East" may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office.
Middle East and “Near East”
8
The Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia
9
General Observations
The region is historically defined in terms of Western interests
Colonialism
MENA imagined as the opposite of the West
Dichotomies:
- West/East
- Occident/Orient
- Us/Them
Orientalism
Edward Said, Orientalism
Edward Said, Covering Islam
“Us”, “them”, and human rights
What are implications of dichotomies for our understanding of the human rights potential of the region?
What are the implications of dichotomies for our understanding of what “we” can, and should, do in regard to the human rights situation in the region?
Moving beyond stereotypes and misconceptions
10
II. Stereotypes and Misconceptions,
We should keep in mind the following observation by Rashid Khalidi in Resurrecting Empire (2005):
“..most of the extensive public debate about the relationship between the United States and the Middle East since September 11, 2001, has been taking place in a historical vacuum. The debate has been largely driven by denigrating stereotypes about Arabs, Islam, and the Middle East (p. vi).”
11
What needs to be understood:
“Many influential Middle Eastern intellectuals had a liberal orientation for more than a century “ (p. vii”).
Effort in Iraq reflects “a scorn for the lessons of history “ (p. xi). What are the lessons?
Implications for our understanding of the human rights condition in the Middle East?
12
US Students and Global Literacy: The National Geographic –Roper 2006 Global Literacy Survey
Tested the geography knowledge of 18- to 24-year-olds across the U.S. to see how much they know about the world. “More know where the TV show CSI is set than can find Iraq on a map. The survey shows that too many young Americans have a limited understanding of the world”.
Only 37% of young Americans can find Iraq on a map—though U.S. troops have been there since 2003.
6 in 10 young Americans don't speak a foreign language fluently.
20% of young Americans think Sudan is in Asia. (It was the largest country in Africa.)
48% of young Americans believe the majority population in India is Muslim. (It's Hindu—by a landslide.)
Six in ten (63%) cannot find Iraq or Saudi Arabia on a map of the Middle East, while three-quarters (75%) cannot find Iran or Israel. In fact, 44% cannot find even one of these four countries.
Nine in ten (88%) cannot find Afghanistan on a map of Asia.
13
Stereotypes and Mutual Distrust In canvassing the opinions of 14,000 people in 13 countries in 2006, a study by the Pew Research Center concluded that deep mutual suspicions exist between the Muslim world and the West.
Western Views of Muslims
See Muslims as fanatical, violent and intolerant. Eight in 10 people in both Spain and Germany associate Islam with fanaticism - a view that is less prevalent in France (50%), Britain (48%) and the US (43%).
Western publics say Muslims are held back by “government corruption, lack of education and Islamic fundamentalism.”
Do not regard Muslims as respectful of women
Muslim Views of the West
View the West as selfish, immoral, and greedy - as well as “fanatical and violent.”
Have an aggrieved view of the West and are “much more likely than Americans or Western Europeans to blame Western policies for their own lack of prosperity”.
Do not view Westerners as respectful of women
14
Islam: Arabic for “surrender” to the one God (Allah)
Muslim: One who surrenders to the one God
Over 1.2-1.6 billion Muslims in the world today. The world’s fastest growing religion
Islam was born in the Arabian Peninsula in 610 CE
Prophet of Islam is Muhammad (570-632 CE)
Islam’s sacred text is the Qur’an (Koran), which is written in Arabic
- 114 chapters, or sura
Sacred Cities: Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem
Abrahamic religion
The Arabian Peninsula
III. Islam: The Basics
15
Basic Facts, continued
Hadith: “Report,” or “traditions” of the Prophet
Sharia: Islamic Law.
Pillars of Islam: testifying (shahada), worship service (salat), legal almsgiving (zakat), fasting (sawm), pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj)
The Ulema:
-Scholars, rather than priests.
-The Ulema and political legitimacy
13. Sunni and Shia Islam
- Of the world’s Muslims, roughly 85% are Sunni and the rest are Shia. Countries where the Shia are the largest group are Iran (90%), Iraq (60-65%), Bahrain (70%) and Lebanon (42%, largest confessional group.)
Sufism: Esoteric Islam that goes beyond the Sharia
- Read, for example, the poetry of Rumi (1207-1272 CE)
16
The Shia-Sunni Division of Islam
Questions about leadership of the Umma after the Prophet’s death
Sunni: “The People of the (Prophet’s) Sunna and Community”
Shia: Party of Ali
Origin of Division into Sunni and Shia Islam
The Shia belief in the Imamate
The Shia ulema and the question of political legitimacy
17
- The Shia Factor (Source: Vali Nasr, The Shia Revival, 2007)
18
Common Misconceptions about Islam and the Middle East
Not all Middle Easterners are Arab
- while Arabs constitute the largest ethnic group in MENA, the region is also home to Turks, Persians, Kurds, Baluchis, Turkomen, etc.
Not all Middle Easterners are Muslim
- while the region is the birth place of Islam, and most of its inhabitants are Muslim, there are other religious groups in the region also: Coptic Christians in Egypt comprise 10% of the population. Other religions: Zoroastrian, Judaism, Baha'i, etc.
Most of the Muslims of the World do not live in the Middle East
19
Islam and the World
Roughly 15 percent of India’s population are Muslim, the third largest population of Muslims in any country following Indonesia (222 million) and Pakistan (180 million)
Muslim populations of other non-MENA countries:
Albania 1.4 m
Azerbaijan 6.1 m
Bangladesh 115 m
Bosnia 1.8 m
Bulgaria 1.3 m
China 29 m
Malaysia 10.5 m
Nigeria 65m
Tajikistan 5.2 m
United States 3-5 m
Uzbekistan 15.9 m
20
Muslims are Not Necessarily Opposed to Democracy
Pew Global Attitudes Project surveys conducted in 2002 and 2003 found receptiveness to democracy in nearly all of the 17 Muslim populations in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa covered by the polls.
Relatively few Muslims said that "democracy is a Western way of doing things that would not work here."
Most of the Muslim’s surveyed felt that democracy can work in their country.
Muslims favor democratic government over "a leader with a strong hand." In two Muslim countries – Lebanon and Turkey – the number preferring democracy over a strong leader is about the same as in the U.S. (63% U.S., 63% Lebanon, and 57% Turkey).
While Muslims are generally receptive to democracy and supportive of basic freedoms, they also believe that Islam should have a prominent role in politics. Pew surveys found majorities of Muslims in nine of the 14 countries surveyed favored a "very large" or "fairly large" role for Islam in political life. In Pakistan, 86% of Muslim respondents expressed that view, as did large majorities of Muslims in Indonesia (82%) and Jordan (73%). In Turkey, however, far fewer Muslims (41%) think that Islam should play a major role in the nation's political life.
Pro-democracy views do not necessarily diminish extensive anti-Americanism throughout the Muslim world. Nearly two-thirds of Pakistanis (65%) who strongly support democratic principles express a very unfavorable view of the United States. In Turkey and Indonesia as the same pattern is evident. In Jordan, however, strong supporters of democratic principles do have a much more favorable impression of the United States than those who are less supportive of those ideals. Roughly six-in-ten Jordanians who strongly support democratic ideals have a favorable view of the United States.
“Resurrecting Empire”, vi-vii
21
Sterotypes: Beyond Clash of Civilizations?
Clash of Civilizations?
Samuel P. Huntington, “Clash of Civilizations?” Foreign Affairs, Summer 1993: “It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural”.
Dialogue of Civilizations?
First introduced by former Iranian President Muhammad Khatami
United Nations declared 2001 the year of dialogue among civilizations
Edward W. Said “The Clash of Ignorance,” The Nation (2001): “But we are all swimming in those waters, Westerners and Muslim and others alike. And since the waters are part of the ocean of history, trying to plow or divide them with barriers is futile”.
22
Discussion
23
