This book presents the multiple facets of Arab political thought since the nineteenth century, which fall within a very rich culture that has become forgotten today due to the flood of Islamist religious literature that has flourished over the last half-century. The author reviews the vitality of this thought and the main debates that characterized it. Georges Corm demonstrates that those working in the field of Arab political thought are not all supporters of radical or moderate political Islam; rather, many have continued to express deep critical thought, whether on a religious, philosophical, anthropological, or historical level. In this context, the author analyzes the works of critical Arab thinkers within the framework of the colossal geographical, social, and economic changes that have affected the Arab world for two centuries. He explains how major powers, dominant in the military, academic, and scientific spheres, have contributed, to a great extent, to the marginalization of Arab critical thought—whether it be the thought of the pioneers of the Arab Renaissance, including the reformist giants of Al-Azhar, or the progressive and socialist Arab thought that made major contributions to understanding the turmoil and disturbances that have afflicted the Arab world since Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He also explains how Arab Islamist thought, which now seeks to freeze Arab thought and confine it to an Islamic personality with a character of absolute otherness in relation to other religions and civilizations, was encouraged and generalized. This book is a guide to the pluralistic and critical nature of Arab political, historical, and philosophical thought. The author recalls that Arab culture, both before and after Islam, was distinguished by poetry of all kinds, in addition to art, music, and song. He also sees in the Arabic language and its expressive capabilities a repository for the collective Arab cultural consciousness, regardless of the efforts made by external and internal forces to dissolve the Arab identity into a closed religious mold.

• Publishing House: Dar Al-Farabi for Publishing and Distribution
• Number of Pages: 432
• Year of Publication: 2018
• ISBN: 9786144328200