Quest for Democracy: Liberalism in the Modern Arab World - Hardcover

Khatib, Line

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1108482813 ISBN 13: 9781108482813

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2022

Synopsis

Since the uprisings of 2010 and 2011, it has often been assumed that the politics of the Arab-speaking world is dominated, and will continue to be dominated, by orthodox Islamic thought and authoritarian politics. Challenging these assumptions, Line Khatib explores the current liberal movement in the region, examining its activists and intellectuals, their work, and the strengths and weaknesses of the movement as a whole. By investigating the underground and overlooked actors and activists of liberal activism, Khatib problematizes the ways in which Arab liberalism has been dismissed as an insignificant sociopolitical force, or a mere reaction to Western formulations of liberal politics. Instead, she demonstrates how Arab liberalism is a homegrown phenomenon that has influenced the politics of the region since the nineteenth century. Shedding new light on an understudied movement, Khatib provokes a re-evaluation of the existing literature and offers new ways of conceptualizing the future of liberalism and democracy in the modern Arab world.

About this title

About the Author

Line Khatib is a fellow at the Center for Syrian Studies, the University of St Andrews. She was previously Associate Professor of Political Science at the American University of Sharjah. Her research and teaching interests lie within the fields of comparative politics, religion and politics, democratic transitions, and authoritarianism and liberalization in the Arab World. She is the author of Islamic Revivalism in Syria: The Rise and Fall of Ba´thist Secularism (2012) and has published book chapters and articles in Syria Studies, the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, and the Middle East Journal.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1108482813
• ISBN 13: 9781108482813
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288