Egypt

Egypt PDF

Author: Robert Springborg

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2017-09-18

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 150952052X

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Egypt is one of the few great empires of antiquity that exists today as a nation state. Despite its extraordinary record of national endurance, the pressures to which Egypt currently is subjected and which are bound to intensify are already straining the ties that hold its political community together, while rendering ever more difficult the task of governing it. In this timely book, leading expert on Egyptian affairs Robert Springborg explains how a country with such a long and impressive history has now arrived at this parlous condition. As Egyptians become steadily more divided by class, religion, region, ethnicity, gender and contrasting views of how, by whom and for what purposes they should be governed, so their rulers become ever more fearful, repressive and unrepresentative. Caught in a downward spiral in which poor governance is both cause and consequence, Egypt is facing a future so uncertain that it could end up resembling neighboring countries that have collapsed under similar loads. The Egyptian "hot spot", Springborg argues, is destined to become steadily hotter, with ominous implications for its peoples, the Middle East and North Africa, and the wider world.

The Search for Political Community

The Search for Political Community PDF

Author: Paul Lichterman

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1996-09-19

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 9780521483438

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This book challenges the myth that Americans' emphasis on personal fulfilment necessarily weakens commitment to the common good. Drawing on extensive participant-observation with a variety of environmentalist groups, Paul Lichterman argues that individualism sometimes enhances public, political commitment and that a shared respect for individual inspiration enables activists with diverse political backgrounds to work together. This personalised culture of commitment has sustained activists working long-term for social change. The book contrasts 'personalised politics' in mainly white environmental groups with a more traditional, community-centred culture of commitment in an African-American group. The untraditional, personalised politics of many recent social movements invites us to rethink common understandings of commitment, community, and individualism in a post-traditional world.

Religious Politics and Secular States

Religious Politics and Secular States PDF

Author: Scott W. Hibbard

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2010-10-15

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 0801899206

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2011 Winner of the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize of the International Political Science Association This comparative analysis probes why conservative renderings of religious tradition in the United States, India, and Egypt remain so influential in the politics of these three ostensibly secular societies. The United States, Egypt, and India were quintessential models of secular modernity in the 1950s and 1960s. By the 1980s and 1990s, conservative Islamists challenged the Egyptian government, India witnessed a surge in Hindu nationalism, and the Christian right in the United States rose to dominate the Republican Party and large swaths of the public discourse. Using a nuanced theoretical framework that emphasizes the interaction of religion and politics, Scott W. Hibbard argues that three interrelated issues led to this state of affairs. First, as an essential part of the construction of collective identities, religion serves as a basis for social solidarity and political mobilization. Second, in providing a moral framework, religion's traditional elements make it relevant to modern political life. Third, and most significant, in manipulating religion for political gain, political elites undermined the secular consensus of the modern state that had been in place since the end of World War II. Together, these factors sparked a new era of right-wing religious populism in the three nations. Although much has been written about the resurgence of religious politics, scholars have paid less attention to the role of state actors in promoting new visions of religion and society. Religious Politics and Secular States fills this gap by situating this trend within long-standing debates over the proper role of religion in public life.

The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry

The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry PDF

Author: Joel Beinin

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2023-11-10

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 052092021X

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In this provocative and wide-ranging history, Joel Beinin examines fundamental questions of ethnic identity by focusing on the Egyptian Jewish community since 1948. A complex and heterogeneous people, Egyptian Jews have become even more diverse as their diaspora continues to the present day. Central to Beinin's study is the question of how people handle multiple identities and loyalties that are dislocated and reformed by turbulent political and cultural processes. It is a question he grapples with himself, and his reflections on his experiences as an American Jew in Israel and Egypt offer a candid, personal perspective on the hazards of marginal identities.

Field of Reeds

Field of Reeds PDF

Author: James B. Mayfield

Publisher: Author House

Published: 2012-11-14

Total Pages: 534

ISBN-13: 9781477274903

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Have you ever wondered: 1. Who built the Pyramids of Egypt and who are their descendents today? 2. Why does the author challenge the great Greek historian Herodotus, by auguring that Egypt is more a gift from the Fellahin, than a gift of the Nile? 3. What great event happened in the early 1960s that completely changed the life of the peasants of Egypt? 4. Why did the peasants (fellahin) of Egypt not engage in a massive revolt in the 1990s, when the Government allowed landowners to reclaim their land that the peasants had been cultivating for over 30 years? 5. Do you know the story of the village of Dinshaway that precipitated a national crisis, and that eventually forced Great Britain to leave Egypt after over fifty years of colonial rule? 6. Are the villagers of Egypt prone to violence or to submissiveness and what does that tell us about the future of Egypt? 7. Which farmers in the world have the highest yields in wheat, rice and corn? 8. Are the villagers of Egypt favorable to the Islamic extremist or more favorable to some form of democracy based upon moderate Islam? 9. Where do villagers say they want to live, if they could live any place in the world? 10. Why did a friend email the author on September 12, 2012 and tell him: Please tell the American people that the Egyptians they see storming the American embassy do not represent the people of Egypt. They are mostly a misguided minority of people who see the world through clouded glasses of hatred and bigotry, provoked and misinformed by extremists who share an agenda that is unIslamic, violent and destructive for Egypts future. Dr. James Mayfield, professor of Middle East Studies since 1967, has been studying the villages of Egypt (as a student, professor, researcher, trainer, manager and consultant) for over 40 years. This is a very comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, study of the rural Egypt. This book presents chapters on the history, the culture, the local government system, village schools and health care systems, the agricultural systems, causes and solutions for extreme poverty, the challenge of establishing a civil society in Egypt, and what prospects there are or democracy in Egypt. Each chapter includes a short narration story that brings the existence and culture of the Egyptian villagers to life through short but rich examples of how the Egyptian peasants (fellahin) live, work and survive in a world filled with challenges, problems, but also opportunities and hope for the future.

The Challenge of Political Islam

The Challenge of Political Islam PDF

Author: Rachel Scott

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2010-04-23

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 0804769052

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Based on Islamist writings, political tracts, and interviews with Islamists, this book examines Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt from the perspective of Islamic conceptions of citizenship, and provides non-Muslim responses to those views.

From Secularism to Jihad

From Secularism to Jihad PDF

Author: Adnan Musallam

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2005-10-30

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 0313049408

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The modern political idea of jihad—a violent struggle against corrupt or anti-Islamic regimes—is essentially the brainchild of one man who turned traditional Islamic precepts inside out and created the modern radical political Islamist movement. Using the evolution of Sayyid Qutb's life and writings, Musallam traces and analyzes Qutb's alienation and subsequent emergence as an independent Islamist within the context of his society and the problems that it faced. Radicalized following his stay in the United States in the late 1940s and during his imprisonment from 1954 to 1964, Qutb would pen controversial writings that would have a significant impact on young Islamists in Egypt for decades following his death and on global jihadist Islamists for the past quarter century. Since September 11, 2001, the West has dubbed Qutb the philosopher of Islamic terror and godfather ideologue of al-Qaeda. This is the first book to examine his life and thought in the wake of the events that ignited the War on Terrorism. A secular man of letters in the 1930s and 1940s, Qutb's outlook and focus on Quranic studies underwent drastic changes during World War II. The Quran became a refuge for his personal needs and for answers to the ills of his society. As a result, he forsook literature permanently for the Islamic cause and way of life. His stay in the United States from 1948 to 1950 reinforced his deeply held belief that Islam is man's only salvation from the abyss of Godless materialism he believed to be manifest in both capitalism and communism. Qutb's active opposition to the secular policies of Egyptian President Nasser led to his imprisonment from 1954 to 1964, during which his writings called for the overthrow of Jahili (pagan) governments and their replacement with a true and just Islamic society. A later arrest and trial resulted in his execution in August 1966.

The History of Egypt

The History of Egypt PDF

Author: Glenn E. Perry

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2015-12-01

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1610699149

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Providing a valuable resource for readers seeking information on all periods of Egyptian history, this book covers Egypt starting from ancient times and continuing through the medieval Islamic period to focus on the events of the last 100 years, including the aborted revolution of 2011. Egypt has experienced tumultuous events in recent years, especially starting with the uprisings and revolution of 2011. This second edition of The History of Egypt not only provides readers with in-depth information on events of the last decade—such as the Arab Spring, the removal of Hosni Mubarak from office, and the protests against Mohamed Morsi's presidency—but also provides key background with chapters addressing previous periods of the country's history, starting from pre-Islamic times to pharaonic to Byzantine. The volume offers an objective history of Egypt that is uniquely appropriate for a high school audience. This expanded and extensively updated second edition provides new content and media photographs that help bring recent events to life for readers without previous knowledge about the topic. It also includes coverage of important events in long-ago Egyptian history that lends valuable perspective to events in the 21st century, such the nation's transformation into a Muslim and Arab country and Egypt's post-1778 imperialism and modernization through World War I.