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Political Science
Chapter 3
The Arab Kemalists regarded the western culture as a source of inspiration upon which they would build their nation. Western ways were considered the ideal model for altering the people and moving forward to civilization. Kemalists is mostly known for the reforms it conducted in the culture, religion, social and political sectors of turkey after fighting for independence. Its main aim was delivering the new nation from the old ottoman traditions that had colonized them in order to adopt the western way of life. This included establishing democracy, political and gender equality, as well as civil. Generally, it adopted the secular traditions.
During colonization, many of the colonized countries resisted. In addition, majority of the Arab countries wanted to shape their countries in their own traditions. Kemal chose to comply with western ways to have turkey reformed. Today, turkey is one of the most democratic Arab countries. In 1937, the country became a republic governed by rule of law based on secularism. This was one of the compliances with the colonizers.
After gaining independence from the Ottoman Empire, the new nation maintained a few rules such as discouraging of autonomous groups that could pose a threat to the security of the country and its ability to go one with its modernization. Any resistance to modernization was suppressed. This later resulted in alienation of most of the people in the rural areas who thought otherwise concerning modernization. This maintained secular urban area while rural areas were still living in traditional ways until 1950s.
Chapter 4
Today, the Arab countries have recognized that the western democracy is better than their reserved way. Specifically, they have accepted that their ways are backward compared to westernized nation. This has been in an effort to find a new identity and way of modernizing their countries. Many of the Arab Nationalists have recognized the need for adopting some of the western measures such as nation state.
They went ahead to blame the resent Muslim for the out datedness of the Muslim societies, but not the Islamic religion. This meant that the Muslims needed a new way that is untainted in order to regain a lost essence that Arabs are exceptional. There are three historical identities associated with Arabs that emerge. These include, the Arab Bedouin, which is western oriented and served as an Arab heritage for sometime. The second identity is grounded in ancient times of civilization in Egypt, Babylon and Hittites. The final one is the return to piousness that is original of Muhammad and the followers of 7th century.
The chapter also indicates that the Arab Nationalist have recognized the western knowledge and superiority especially in terms of science and technology. This is evidenced by their efforts to emulate the statecraft economy, as well as science. However, the Arab Nationalists still believe in the idea of a unique way of life, yet embraces westernization for modernization. This is brought about by the fact that Arab Nationalists have a split personality between the interior and exterior. The interior identity is consistent of customs, religions, heritage and traditions, which they believe have to be protected from the western changes. The exterior identity is concerned with science, education, governance, administration and reason. This is considered universal and can be adopted without affecting their identity. In conclusion, the Arab Nationalists are looking to modernize their nations without losing their cultural identity.