GLOBALIZATION AND THE ARAB WORLD IN MIDDLE EAST POLITICS: REGIONAL DYNAMICS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE.

• Author: Ismael, Jacqueline S.

The middle east in general and the Arab world in particular have long held an important place in world affairs, as reflected in the attention given to the region in the Western press, both scholarly and journalistic. However, both have tended to view the area through the prism of great power politics. This paper examines regional dynamics in the Middle East from a historical perspective in order to focus on historical patterns of regional global interaction. Our purpose is to outline successive stages of development in the region over the millennium to understand the place of the Arab world in this context, and identify patterns of continuity and change.

From this perspective, the Middle East is approached as a somewhat fluid unit of analysis in international politics. At any given time, in other words, the parameters of the region are a function of historical context and are delineated in terms of core and peripheral areas.(1) The core, defined as the political center of the region, is characterized by "a relatively regular and intense pattern of interactions, recognized internally and externally as a distinctive arena, and created and sustained by at least two . . . generally proximate actors" (Thompson, 1981, p. 213). Patterns of cooperation and conflict constitute the significant dimensions of core interactions. Actors proximate to the core, but with irregular or less intense involvement in core patterns of interaction, are classified as the periphery. Another category of important actors in Middle East politics are from outside the region altogether and are classified as intrusive forces.

Thus, the concepts of core and periphery provide the basis for outlining the general geographic contours of the Middle East at any given time. The concepts of patterns of cooperation, patterns of conflict and intrusive forces provide the dimensions for examining regional dynamics in Middle East politics at different historical periods. In different historical stages, the dimensions of the region may have been changing, but the dynamics of change were a function of historical context - that is, a function of the regional dynamics driving change in a stage. These are periodized into four stages: Islamic, Ottoman, nationalist and post-nationalist. Although these periods are sequentially related, they are not bounded in time with distinct beginnings and endings. Rather, they tend to blend one into another, with patterns emerging, more or less becoming dominant, then submerging as new patterns come to the fore. The designation of a phase is simply an heuristic label used to connote the central political dynamic through which a period is being viewed.

ISLAMIC PHASE

The Islamic phase covers the period from the 7th through the 13th centuries. The emergence of Islam in Arabia in the seventh century and its rapid expansion outward from Arabia across southwest Asia and North Africa encompassed the central political dynamic of this period. With the expansion, the political center of gravity shifted from Arabia to the Fertile Crescent (first Damascus under the Ummayyad Dynasty, 661-750 A.D.; then Baghdad under the Abbasids, 750-1258 A.D.). It then began to fragment into regional dynasties: in Spain, the Ummayad, 756-1031 A.D.; in Egypt, the Tulunids, 868-905 A.D.; the Fatamids, 969-1171 A.D.; the Ayyubids, 1171-1260 A.D.; in Morocco and Tunisia, the Idrisids, 788-922 A.D.; the Aghlabids, 800-909; the Murabits, 10621145; and the Muwahhids, 1145-1223 A.D.. The socio-political character of the Islamic stage emerged in the context of the process of accommodation and integration of different socio-cultural realities that the spread of Islam presented to civil decision-makers and administrators. Composed of courtiers, clerics, artisans, jurists, the urban based ruling elite adopted Arabic as the language of culture, law and politics, and linked the ruler and ruled in what came to be called Islamic civilization (Amin, 1978, p. 21). Islamic civilization, at its zenith by the tenth century, engendered bonds of solidarity among the diverse ethno-cultural groups that were encompassed within its boundaries. Economic prosperity, catalyzed by the long distance trade made possible by an alliance between nomadic tribes and urban-based merchants, contributed to the social stability and cultural accomplishments of Islamic civilization. In tenth century Islam, the dominant worldview of a balance between the state and the individual was manifested in a strong sense of political and public conscience (Dhia'a al-Din EL-Rayes, 1977, pp. 216-220). This worldview fostered the recirculation of economic surplus (a surplus made possible by the combination of expanding markets due to territorial expansion and increasing exchange between productive centers in the region) for the benefit of socio-cultural diversification in the framework of Arabization and Islamization; and this, in turn, cultivated social solidarity within the framework of Arab-Islamic culture (Amin, 1978, pp. 22-99).

The decline of the Islamic stage coincides with the successive incursions of the Crusades throughout the 11th and 12th centuries which marked the initiation of foreign intrusions and encroachment. Catalyzed by the Crusades, and initiated with the expedition of Marco Polo in the thirteenth century, European mercantilists began the process of exploration that ultimately diverted virtually all of the trade routes of Africa and East Asia away from the Middle East. In the same period, Mongolian armies overran the region, ravishing the physical environment in their wake. Only Egypt was spared their devastation. Successive waves of Mongolian incursions culminated in the Ottoman capture of Constantinople in the sixteenth century.

Over the course of the Islamic stage, the political center or core of the Middle East encompassed the Arabized lands of the expanding Islamic world. Its periphery covered the non-Arabized lands of the Islamic world. During the first several centuries of this period, the region's elastic boundaries expanded westward across Arabia, the Fertile Crescent, and North Africa; and eastward across Persia, Afghanistan and the northern Indian subcontinent. Commerce provided the axis for patterns of cooperation; and territorial expansion was the focal point for patterns of conflict. The Crusades, in effect, provide a marker for the cessation of territorial expansion. Thereafter, patterns of conflict centered on forestalling the territorial incursions of intrusive forces from the West and from the East, and the commercial inroads of the West. Under sustained attack, the vibrancy and buoyancy of the Middle East attained in this stage went into decline.

THE OTTOMAN PHASE

With the collapse of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottomans unified the Middle East under their dominion. With this, the center of gravity of Middle East politics shifted from the Fertile Crescent and North Africa to Istanbul (the Ottoman Empire's capital). Under the banner of Islam, the empire not only brought political unity to the region, but also spread Islam into Eastern Europe, territorially expanding the empire into the Balkans. Ottoman expansion into Europe in effect triggered the initiation of the so-called Eastern Question, a metaphor for European preoccupation in international affairs with the Middle East (Brown, 1984).

Confrontation with the West constituted the dominant pattern of conflict in the Middle East throughout the Ottoman stage. It was manifested not only in military confrontation over territorial incursions/excursions, but also in the economic struggle for supremacy over world commerce, and in the political struggle for suzerainty over the Middle East. The confrontation triggered by Ottoman encroachment into Europe was incarnated as the Eastern Question by historical context. This included the emergence of capitalism, nationalism and nation-states in Europe, which synergized into the industrial revolution. The insatiable appetite of the industrial revolution for raw materials and markets fuelled Europe's onslaught on the rest of the world, known as the age of imperialism.

The penetration of capitalism into the Ottoman Empire disrupted the traditional economy and resulted in lop-sided development. This was marked by the expansion of cash crops and improvement of transportation and financial industries to service the export of cash crops. Alterations in legal and administrative systems were also made to favor the agricultural export economy to the detriment of subsistence agriculture and community economic activity. A grave consequence of the changes ushered in by the penetration of capitalism was the dislocation of the traditional industrial sectors. In effect, artisans, craftsmen, small merchants and the guilds were economically marginalized, while clusters of petit bourgeoisie formed in urban enclaves in association with foreign economic penetration (Issawi, 1982, pp. 1-14). By the turn of the 20th century, the Middle East was economically integrated into Europe's imperialist system, and the traditional economic infrastructure (comprised of local economies and regional exchange networks) was fragmented and impoverished (Amin, 1978, p. 23). The First World War resulted in the demise of the Ottoman Empire and the dismemberment of its dominions.

In the Ottoman phase, the political center or core of the Middle East encompassed not only the Arab world of the Fertile Crescent and North Africa, but also the non-Arab domains of the Ottoman Empire. Ruled from its capital in Istanbul, this huge empire was administered by a vast and complex civil service. Contiguous Islamic lands in the Middle East and southeastern Europe constituted the periphery. Islam provided the framework for the emergence of cultural patterns of cooperation among diverse peoples. Fueled by the...