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Arabs and Fascism: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives

Arabs and Fascism: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives The article establishes an interpretive framework for Arab responses to fascism during the 1930s and World War II. Promoters of the Islamofascism paradigm refer to this period as simply a manifestation of the allegedly illiberal inclinations of a vast majority of Arabs and Muslims. They present Arab expressions of sympathy for fascism as conditioned by alleged authoritarian or totalitarian structures inherent in the Islamic religion. In a more nuanced interpretation, Arab reactions to fascism form a phenomenon that can only be understood in the local and chronological contexts of decolonization, in which fascism was a model and reference as a tool of social disciplining with the ultimate goal of getting rid of colonial control. According to this framework, totalitarian references in political discourse were a means to an end that was widespread at the time. Other, equally nuanced interpretations see pro-fascist trends in Middle Eastern states—as they became manifest in party platforms, uniformed youth organizations, or collaboration schemes with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy—as manifestations of global fascism as a ‘type’. According to this reading, totalitarian and racial ideological systems and leader- and discipline oriented forms of social organization have to be understood as representations of a worldwide trend comparable to Marxist or Capitalist ideology. Examples from India and Latin America provide a comparative framework for this. Neither of the two latter approaches subscribes to a thesis of an Arab “Sonderweg” in the adoption of fascism. Reactions in the Arab world in particular and in Muslim societies in general did not differ substantially from those in other colonial societies. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Die Welt des Islams Brill

Arabs and Fascism: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives

Wien, Peter
Die Welt des Islams , Volume 52 (3-4): 331 – Jan 1, 2012
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0043-2539
eISSN
1570-0607
DOI
10.1163/15700607-201200A4
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The article establishes an interpretive framework for Arab responses to fascism during the 1930s and World War II. Promoters of the Islamofascism paradigm refer to this period as simply a manifestation of the allegedly illiberal inclinations of a vast majority of Arabs and Muslims. They present Arab expressions of sympathy for fascism as conditioned by alleged authoritarian or totalitarian structures inherent in the Islamic religion. In a more nuanced interpretation, Arab reactions to fascism form a phenomenon that can only be understood in the local and chronological contexts of decolonization, in which fascism was a model and reference as a tool of social disciplining with the ultimate goal of getting rid of colonial control. According to this framework, totalitarian references in political discourse were a means to an end that was widespread at the time. Other, equally nuanced interpretations see pro-fascist trends in Middle Eastern states—as they became manifest in party platforms, uniformed youth organizations, or collaboration schemes with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy—as manifestations of global fascism as a ‘type’. According to this reading, totalitarian and racial ideological systems and leader- and discipline oriented forms of social organization have to be understood as representations of a worldwide trend comparable to Marxist or Capitalist ideology. Examples from India and Latin America provide a comparative framework for this. Neither of the two latter approaches subscribes to a thesis of an Arab “Sonderweg” in the adoption of fascism. Reactions in the Arab world in particular and in Muslim societies in general did not differ substantially from those in other colonial societies.

Journal

Die Welt des Islams – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 2012

Keywords: international fascism; generic fascism; Arab world; decolonization

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