The Geopolitics of Emotion by Dominique Moisi

Author:Dominique Moisi [Moïsi, Dominique]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-385-52536-7
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2004-04-11T04:00:00+00:00

FLASHES OF HOPE

There is a single major exception to my generalizations about the culture of humiliation in the Arab-Islamic world, a place where the necessary change in attitude is most likely to emanate from.

The Gulf emirates are a subregion that constitutes a zone of prosperity and stability in an otherwise poor and turbulent environment. Politically these emirates are classic oligarchies, where autocracy in a Bedouin tradition is tempered by the dialogue with and concern for the interests of others. The enlightened despotism of the reigning families is encouraged by their sense of fragility. Beyond the terrorist threat, always present, there is the demographic threat. With the exception of Saudi Arabia (which does not fit into the enlightened category) and Oman, the local populations represent only a small minority (15 percent in the United Arab Emirates, 20 percent in Qatar).

Furthermore, one must acknowledge that the self-confidence of the emirates is somewhat artificial, based as it is on wealth fueled almost entirely by the accident of oil. It may be true that Dubai and Bahrain have expanded their economies beyond petrol to trade—some are even speaking of Dubai as the biggest money-laundering machine in the world—but it is still oil and gas that constitute the basis of their wealth and their relative freedom. Their progress is also fragile. Where will they be when the world finally outgrows its dependence on fossil fuels or when the reserves under the sands run out?

Thus, unless one is a deep believer in homeopathy, the power of a tiny influence to transform a much greater body, the emirates cannot serve as a model for the rest of the Arab-Islamic world. Their progress for the time being is spectacular but too devoid of any spiritual content to inspire anything more than envy or jealousy.

A recent sketch of life in Dubai by journalist Michael Slack-man captures some of the contradictions of contemporary life in the emirates. Slack-man observes:

Dubai is, in some ways, a vision of what the rest of the Arab world could become—if it offered comparable economic opportunity, insistence on following the law and tolerance for cultural diversity. In this environment, religion is not something young men turn to because it fills a void or because they are bowing to a collective demand. That, in turn, creates an atmosphere that is open not only to those inclined to a less observant way of life, but also to those who are more religious. In Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Algeria, a man with a long beard is often treated as an Islamist—and sometimes denied work. Not here in Dubai.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.