Arab Liberal Thought in Historical Perspective

Abstract

An analysis of Arab liberal thought, with its core values of rationalism, freedom, civic rights, constitutionalism, and cultural ecumenism, involves several methodological and historical difficulties. Arab liberals in the twentieth century, especially since 1967, have constituted a heterogeneous and poorly organized group. They have lacked a coherent school of thought, divided as they were by religious creed, professional training, and attitudes toward Islam, the West, and Israel. Their language was too rational and remote for the general public, and they offered no attractive solutions to socioeconomic ills beyond calling for gradual educational and political reform. Moreover, they lacked an effective network of civil associations, not to mention political parties, that could back their cause. Many liberals were identified with centers of Western civilization, whose colonial history in the region was such that anyone who empathized with a Western political or cultural agenda was accused of seeking to destroy their society's indigenous identity, and in fact of constituting a fifth column.