SOAS Research Online

A Free Database of the Latest Research by SOAS Academics and PhD Students

[skip to content]

Achcar, Gilbert (2018) 'Analyzing the Middle East.' In: Vidal, Matthew, Smith, Tony, Rotta, Tomás and Prew, Paul, (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Karl Marx. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[img] Text - Accepted Version
Restricted to Repository staff only

Request a copy

Abstract

Marx’s historical materialism is a powerful antidote to culturalist essentialism of the kind that became known as Orientalism after Edward Said. The Marxian perspective allows for a full consideration of the role of Western imperialism in hindering the development of the Middle East as well as in the deliberate preservation of archaic sociopolitical features in the region. The concept of Bonapartism that Marx developed in his writings on the French Second Empire is highly relevant to the analysis of the national-developmental experiences that emerged in the Middle East in the twentieth century. His insight on the reactionary aspiration of sections of the petite bourgeoisie confronted with capitalist transformation provides an important clue to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East. Marx’s theory of revolution as resulting from the blockage of economic development finds a most striking illustration in what is commonly designated as the Arab Spring.

Item Type: Book Chapters
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > Department of Development Studies
Legacy Departments > Faculty of Law and Social Sciences > Department of Development Studies
ISBN: 9780190695545
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190695545.013.43
Date Deposited: 30 Sep 2017 14:59
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/24645

Altmetric Data

Statistics

Download activity - last 12 monthsShow export options
Downloads since deposit
6 month trend
5Downloads
6 month trend
384Hits
Accesses by country - last 12 monthsShow export options
Accesses by referrer - last 12 monthsShow export options

Repository staff only

Edit Item Edit Item