Elizabeth F. Thompson

Justice Interrupted

The Struggle for Constitutional Government in the Middle East

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

The Arab Spring uprising of 2011 is portrayed as a dawn of democracy in the region. But the revolutionaries were-and saw themselves as-heirs to a centuries-long struggle for just government and the rule of law. In Justice Interrupted we see the complex lineage of political idealism, reform, and violence that informs today's Middle East.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: De Gruyter
• Seitenzahl: 432
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. April 2013
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 241mm x 159mm x 40mm
• Gewicht: 811g
• ISBN-13: 9780674073135
• ISBN-10: 0674073134
• Artikelnr.: 36645988

Autorenporträt

Elizabeth F. Thompson

Inhaltsangabe

Contents Preface Introduction I. The Rise of A Constitutional Model of Justice, 1839- 1920 1. Mustafa Ali: Ottoman Justice and Bureaucratic Reform 2. Tanyus Shahin of Mount Lebanon: Peasant Republic and Christian Rights 3. Ahmad Urabi and Nazem al- Islam Kermani: Constitutional Justice in Egypt and Iran II. Movements For Local and Collective Models of Justice, 1920- 1965 4. Halide Edib, Turkey's Joan of Arc: The Fate of Liberalism after World War I 5. David Ben-Gurion and Musa Kazim in Palestine: Genocide and Justice for the Nation 6. Hasan al-Banna of Egypt: The Muslim Brotherhood's Pursuit of Islamic Justice 7. Comrade Fahd: The Mass Appeal of Communism in Iraq 8. Akram al-Hourani and the Baath Party in Syria: Bringing Peasants into Politics III. Struggles for Justice in the Absence of a Political Arena, Since 1965 9. Abu Iyad: The Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Turn to Political Violence 10. Sayyid Qutb and Ali Shariati: The Idea of Islamic Revolution in Egypt and Iran 11. Wael Ghonim of Egypt: The Arab Spring and the Return of Universal Rights Chronology Notes Further Reading Index

Rezensionen

Thompson sees the thirst for justice and reform blossoming as long as 400 years ago, when the region was in the hands of the Ottoman Empire. In the generations since, bureaucrats, intellectuals, workers, and peasants have seized on the language of empire, law, and even Islam to agitate for rights and due process... Most intriguing, she finds elements of this constitutional liberalism even within fundamentalist Islamist movements that democratizers most worry about. These threads suggest a possible way forward, a way to build a constitutional, democratic consensus on indigenous if often overlooked traditions. Islamists and secular Arabs, it turns out, have found common ground in the past, even written constitutions together. The same could happen again now... It's easy to assume that religiously driven movements are all antidemocratic-and indeed, some have proven so in practice, like the ayatollahs in Iran or the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. But Thompson offers a more nuanced view, showing that many of these religious movements have internalized central elements of liberal discourse.
-- Thanassis Cambanis Boston Globe
Thompson's portraits are lively, accurate and informative-a highly readable primer for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of Middle Eastern political history.
-- Lawrence Rosen Literary Review
[This] study on the rise of constitutionalism in the Middle East swiftly dispenses with the facile explanations of the Arab uprisings, instead offering readers a comprehensive yet nuanced look at the lasting impact of efforts to enshrine and institutionalize the language of justice across the region during the last two centuries.

-- Abdullah Al-Arian H-Diplo
A major work by an eminent scholar of the Middle East, Justice Interrupted provides a panoramic view of the region's struggle for justice and constitutional government over the past century and a half. Thompson offers powerful evidence that the pro-democratic aspirations of the Arab Spring have long roots.
-- Charles Kurzman, author of The Missing Martyrs: Why There Are So Few Muslim Terrorists
Once again, Elizabeth Thompson delivers a first-rate book: original in approach, rich in content, yet readable in style. Rejecting superficial cultural stereotypes, Thompson articulates the importance of the common citizen and the social activist struggling for a more just society during a time of wrenching change. She is inspiring and brilliant, and I will recommend her new book enthusiastically.
-- Leila Tarazi Fawaz, author of An Occasion for War: Mount Lebanon and Damascus in 1860
Thompson boldly tackles some of the thorniest issues in the making of the modern Middle East-constitutionalism, freedom, democracy, visions of justice from across the political spectrum-and lucidly demonstrates how they have been experienced and contested by a broad range of social actors. An urgent and accessible history of 'ideas in action,' Justice Interrupted is essential reading for anyone interested in the past, present and possible futures of the entire region.
-- Max Weiss, author of In the Shadow of Sectarianism: Law, Shi'ism, and the Making of Modern Lebanon