The Arab Predicament Arab Political Thought and Practice since 1967 [Paperback]

Ajami's acclaimed study, updated in 1992 in light of recent turbulent events, remains an indispensable guide to the politics of the Arab world.A revised edition of the author's acclaimed 1981 study of major political ideas and trends in the Arab world has been updated in the light of recent turbulent events: the death of Sadat, the Iranian revolution, the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War.A revised edition of the author's acclaimed 1981 study of major political ideas and trends in the Arab world has been updated in the light of recent turbulent events: the death of Sadat, the Iranian revolution, the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War.How have Arab political ideas and institutions evolved since the 1967 War? How have the Arabs contended with the external influences to which their wealth has exposed them? What are the implications of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism? Fouad Ajami seeks to answer these and related questions in his illuminating study of the constraints and possibilities facing the Arab world today. This book documents the political and intellectual response to the defeat of 1967 and surveys the choices facing the Arab world as exemplified by the case of Egypt. It seeks to explain the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism and locates its roots in the failures of the dominant political order, and the stalemate of secular political ideas. This revised 1992 edition of Ajami's acclaimed study has been updated and renews the book's status as an indispensable guide to the politics of the Arab world.Part I. One's World As It Really Is: 1. The radical sensibility; 2. The Ba'th party: a retrospective; 3. The Islamic response: radical fundamentalism; 4. Conservative fundamentalism; Part II. Egypt As a State: 5. The legacy reassessed; 6. The Egyptian search; 7. The ways of the Pharoah, the ways of others; 8. The push of the desert, the pull of the Mediterranean; 9. Egypt as a mirror, as a state; Part III. Fractured Tradition: The Claims of Authenticity, the Realities of DlÇ