"Asia and Africa today"
- is a scientificl monthly journal (in Russian)
of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Included in Russian Science Citation Index on
WoS platform, and EBSCO Publishing.
ISSN 0321-5075. Published since July 1957.

Contents

 

TOP PROBLEM                                                           

ISLAMISM AND NATIONALISM IN THE GREATER MIDDLE EAST: ENMITY OR SYMBIOSIS?

DOI: 10.31857/S032150750008741-7

Yuriy M. POCHTA, Dr.Sc. (Philosophy), Professor, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Abstract. The article discusses the reasons for the failure of Arab nationalism in its confrontation with Islamism. The evolution of these ideologies in the context of their interaction and conflict is shown.

    According to the author, Arab nationalism and Islamism are the answer of the Arab-Muslim civilization to the challenges from the West. The author comes to the conclusion that the failures of nationalism and the radicalization of Islamism in the current situation of destabilization of the Greater Middle East can lead to a radical change in the post-colonial geopolitical architecture of the region. the author shows that as independent statehood of individual Arab countries was created, the national interests of individual states began to dominate pan-Arab interests.

    The most important achievements of outstanding Arab leaders were not their attempts to achieve Arab unity, but a successful anti-colonial struggle, the nationalization of major economic assets and the protection of the independence of their countries. At all stages of the evolution of Arab nationalism, Islam remained an essential part of its ideology. But at the same time, Islam itself evolved, right up to its transformation into modern Islamism, combining fundamentalism as a theoretical justification and political movements realizing this ideology.

    The article shows that Islamic fundamentalism is controversial, containing antinomies: anti-modernism - modernism, a constructive and destructive principle. The anti-modernism of fundamentalism, combined with modernist features, manifests itself in its predisposition to the formation of a totalitarian ideology, combined with elements of rationality, to the conviction of the primacy of politics over religion, to the desire to transform the institution of the state, to the willingness to use the technological and organizational achievements of a hostile civilization.

Keywords: nationalism, Islamism, caliphate, republic, democracy, Greater Middle East