Emile Sahliyeh – författare

This book examines the highly politicized religious groups and movements that have surfaced since the late 1970s in the United States, Central America, South Africa, the Philippines, India, and the Middle East. Sahliyeh and others analyze this trend toward the politicization of religious conservatism and question a number of assumptions central to concepts of modernization. For example, it has been assumed by development theorists that the interrelated components of modernization would enhance the trend toward secularization of societies. This book shows that in many societies today religious revivalism and fundamentalism seem to be direct products of modernization. A global, comparative approach is utilized to formulate general explanations for religious revivalism and its implications for modernization, development, and politics.

For much of the past decade, all diplomatic initiatives designed to advance the Arab-Israeli peace process have had in common a concern for the future of the West Bank. This region, along with the Gaza Strip, has often been discussed, but rarely studied. Palestinians living under occupation were often seen as passive and leaderless. This view is no longer tenable.The uprising, or intifadah, that began in the West Bank and Gaza in late 1987 and continued into 1988 represents a new phase of the Palestinian resistance to occupation and search for self-determination. Palestinians in these areas, especially the youth, are politically mobilized and highly nationalistic. The uprising needs to be seen in perspective. It is the product of profound political, social, and economic changes that have taken place over the past twenty years.Emile Sayliyeh analyzes in detail and with great personal knowledge the internal politics of the West Bank Palestinians and their international implications. Traditionally, West Bank politics had been the domain of elite, prominent families used by the Ottomans, the British, and the Jordanians to control local politics. Recent social changes, such as the growing trend toward higher education, exposure to the mass media, and labor mobility, have coincided with recent political changes—the consolidation of the communist movement, the radicalization of the student population, and the resurgence of Islam—to challenge the political order and give more power to the mass-supported local politicians.In Search of Leadership offers the first comprehensive look at the social and political bases of the factions and groups in the West Bank and suggests how they will affect Palestinian politics in the years ahead.