1.3.3 The Middle East in the 19th Century: The Politics

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From the course by Tel Aviv University

The Emergence of the Modern Middle East - Part I

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Tel Aviv University

The Emergence of the Modern Middle East - Part I

651 ratings

This course will review the emergence of the modern Middle East from the fall of the Ottoman Empire, at the end of the First World War to the present. We will discuss the Ottoman legacy in the region and the Western imperial impact on the creation of the Arab state system. The course will review the rise and retreat of Arab nationalism, the problems of internal cohesion of the Arab states, issues of religion and state, and the evolution of Islamist politics. We will also focus on the evolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict and its impact on the region and will conclude with an in depth analysis of the “Arab Spring” by placing these contemporary revolutionary events in their historical context. Please note that there is a second part to this course which is a direct extension of this part. We highly recommend to continue to the second part after you finish this one (https://www.coursera.org/learn/modern-middle-east-2/home/info).

From the lesson

Intro

In our first lesson, we will locate the Middle East in time and space. We will get to know the 19th-century Middle East, the structure of its society and economy as well as the dynamics of its politics. We will then look into the dramatic change that took place in the last quarter of the 18th century, that is the widening gap between Europe and the Middle East as we will dwell on the impact this change had on the future of the region. We will conclude our first lesson with a discussion on the "Eastern Question," which refers to the fate of the Ottoman Empire and the balance of power in Europe.

1.0 This course is about....2:22

1.1.1 What and Where is the Middle East? (part 1)7:09

1.1.2 What and Where is the Middle East? (part 2)8:04

1.2 What is the Modern Era?9:57

1.3.1 The Middle East in the 19th Century: The Structure of Society9:08

1.3.2 The Middle East in the 19th Century: The Economy6:46

1.3.3 The Middle East in the 19th Century: The Politics3:00

1.4 The Changing Balance of Power with Europe8:24

1.5 The "Eastern Question"10:39

Meet the Instructors

Professor Asher Susser
Senior Research Fellow
Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies

[BLANK_AUDIO]

Moving into politics in the Middle East of the 19th century, I refer again to

the British historian Malcolm Yapp, who spoke

about politics being governed by two main characteristics.

Government was diverse.

And minimal, he said.

The government says we have not recognized

the existence of groups and not individuals.

Muslims and non-Muslim subjects were governed

in different ways and by different laws.

Muslims followed the Sharia, and Christians and

Jews followed their ecclesiastical or legal frameworks.

Tribesmen had their own modes of settling disputes.

Foreigners were also granted special legal

privileges; they were called the capitulations.

Foreigners were governed by the laws of their

own countries, implemented by their respective consular representations.

Government was minimal, as was taxation.

Services like law and education were not supplied

by the central government, but by the various communities.

To outside observers, this gave the impression of

a decentralized and even ineffective government in decline.

But as another British historian, Albert Hourani, has noted, these were

actually adaptations in the style

of governance, according to changing circumstances.

And they were and remained quite effective.

The locus of power shifted from the sultan to the higher [FOREIGN]

of the bureaucracy in the office of the Grand Vizier, the chief minister.

Provinces were often controlled by local [UNKNOWN] as was the

case in Egypt and in other parts of the empire.

In the Arab cities of the empire, there were notable families,

some Arab, some Turkish, that assumed positions of wealth and power.

But because of the importance of religion,

notable families tended to send their children

to obtain religious education and to become

functionaries in the religious and legal establishment.

Through this kind of employment, they

gained control of religious endowments, awqaf as

they are known in Arabic, which were

sources of great wealth and political control.

Boys but not girls, were schooled in the

traditional schools, the Qutb and the Madrasas, where

they learned the Quran and religious jurisprudence,

as well as some secular subjects like mathematics and astronomy.

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