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Preface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2009

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Summary

No idea has captured the imagination or expressed the hopes of the Arabs in the twentieth century as has Arab nationalism, and perhaps no subject has received so much attention from historians of the Middle East. But while many historians have explored its sources, few have considered the social and political environment in which Arab nationalism evolved as an ideological movement. This study attempts to correct the imbalance.

Its focus is on the social and political life in Ottoman Damascus and, in particular, on the great notable families of that city who were to play a disproportionate role in politically activating the Arab nationalist idea before World War I. Chapters 1 and 2 explore the ways such long-term factors as the Ottoman reformation, European economic expansion and agrarian commercialization in Syria encouraged rival and socially differentiated networks of locally influential families in Damascus to merge into a socially cohesive upper class. Under the umbrella of a reinvigorated Ottoman central authority, this class of landowners and bureaucrats produced a new urban leadership which dominated local politics after 1860.

Although this leadership faced no serious challenges from further down the social scale in Damascus, it was by no means free of internal conflicts. Economic and political competition between and within upperclass family networks was always rife. Chapter 3 focuses on the ways this factionalism comes to be expressed in ideological terms, after the Young Turk revolution of 1908 shook the established balance of power between the Arab provincial elites and the Turkish authorities.

Type
Chapter
Information
Urban Notables and Arab Nationalism
The Politics of Damascus 1860–1920
, pp. ix - xii
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1983

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  • Preface
  • Philip S. Khoury
  • Book: Urban Notables and Arab Nationalism
  • Online publication: 14 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511563522.002
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  • Preface
  • Philip S. Khoury
  • Book: Urban Notables and Arab Nationalism
  • Online publication: 14 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511563522.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Preface
  • Philip S. Khoury
  • Book: Urban Notables and Arab Nationalism
  • Online publication: 14 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511563522.002
Available formats
×