Abstract : A collection of essays on the relation between {nationalism} and {religion} in the Middle East. Some analyze the workings of ideology and power and some address the ways in which identity has been defined and changed in the Middle East while some are part of debates concerning the subject. The Irish author is his essays address three main themes. First is the {formation of culture} and how is itself subject to change, whether national or religious. 2nd is the impact (economic, military, political or cultural) of external context on Middle East and the contemporary focus on {globalization}. 3rdly: the possibility of discussion on analytic and moral issues, between peoples and cultures. The author believes in the dialogue of civilizations and the single world economic and political system based on {modernity}. He thinks that no Middle Eastern-society is immune to international context giving examples of Wahhabi Saudi Arabia and Revolutionary Iran. Political Theory and Nationalist Ideology; Modernity and the State; and Reportages about Tehran 1979, Saudi Arabia 1997, Turkey 1998, and England are discussed. |