What I’ve learned so far about nation-building in the Middle East
What I’ve learned so far about nation-building in the Middle East:
I’ve often wondered why history is so important to Middle Easterners. To be sure, here in the U.S. as well as in Europe history is also appreciated and studied. But obsession with history takes on several additional layers of importance for Middle East peoples, governments, and institutions. Why is that?
Here, I’ll share a few points I’ve learned in conversations with guest scholars throughout the last four seasons of my program.
Virtually every country and/or nation in the Middle East harks back to its real or mythical glorious past. What’s interesting is that many of these modern nations bear no resemblance to their former selves — e.g., modern Iran is nothing like the Achaemenid Empire, modern Turkiye doesn’t resemble the Ottoman Empire at its apogee, and the Arab Republic of Egypt is nothing like the Pharaonic or Ptolemaic Egypt of the past. Yet, that doesn’t stop these countries from reclaiming those glorious pasts.
As I’ve learned from my guest scholars, there are two reasons for this.
The first one Middle Easterners share with Europeans. The second reason is more particular to the Middle East.
