Orientalism and Islam

European Thinkers on Oriental Despotism in the Middle East and India

Häftad, Engelska, 2009

AvMichael Curtis

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Through an historical analysis of the theme of Oriental despotism, Michael Curtis reveals the complex positive and negative interaction between Europe and the Orient. The book also criticizes the misconception that the Orient was the constant victim of Western imperialism and the view that Westerners cannot comment objectively on Eastern and Muslim societies. The book views the European concept of Oriental despotism as based not on arbitrary prejudicial observation, but rather on perceptions of real processes and behavior in Eastern systems of government. Curtis considers how the concept developed and was expressed in the context of Western political thought and intellectual history, and of the changing realities in the Middle East and India. The book includes discussion of the observations of Western travelers in Muslim countries and analysis of the reflections of seven major thinkers: Montesquieu, Edmund Burke, Tocqueville, James and John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, and Max Weber.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2009-06-08
Mått155 x 234 x 22 mm
Vikt550 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor392
FörlagCambridge University Press
ISBN9780521749619

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Kulturvetenskap inom Samhälle och politik

Michael Curtis is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of political science at Rutgers University. He is the author of approximately 30 books, most notably Verdict on Vichy (2004), Three Against the Third Republic (1959),Totalitarianism (1979), and Antisemitism in the Contemporary World (1973). For many years, he was the president of American Professors for Peace in the Middle East and editor of the Middle East Review.

1. European views of Islam and their correlation with Oriental despotism; 2. Observant travelers; 3. Political thinkers and the orient; 4. The Oriental despotic university of Montesquieu; 5. Edmund Burke and despotism in India; 6. Alexis de Tocqueville and colonization; 7. James Mill and John Stuart Mill: despotism in India; 8. Karl Marx: the Asiatic mode of production and Oriental despotism; 9. Max Weber: patrimonialism as a political type; 10. Conclusion.

'Michael Curtis has written a discerning, authoritative book of intellectual history. He takes us back to the greats - Burke and Mill and Marx and Tocqueville and Weber - and throws a floodlight on the present. He has read widely and thoughtfully. From his pages, and from the company of those intellectual giants, we return with a new understanding of the civilizational conflicts that mark our contemporary world. This is a book of deep scholarship and learning, but it is written with ease and grace. A book of political theory, and of history as well. An essential book, for it retrieves for us a big piece of Western intellectual history and thought.' Fouad Ajami, Johns Hopkins University