The Islamic Cultural Heritage as a “Problem”: Is Arab Political Science Culturalist?

Abstract

The study of political culture in the Arab world presents us with a paradox: albeit cultural explanations of Arab politics by Western scholars (e.g., Huntington 1993) have been widely criticized from within the region as latter-day Orientalist views, the cultural approach remains one of the leading analytical approaches employed in Arab social sciences. Central to this tradition is the idea that Arab societies have specific cultural characteristics that contribute to, or are the cause of, the region’s general “backwardness,” especially politically. Collectively known as critics of al-turāth (cultural heritage), this school of thought sparked important scholarly debates in Arab academic circles. This paper reflects on these debates, mainly focusing on how Arab political science, broadly defined, has considered the role of culture as a potential explanatory variable for the endurance of authoritarianism in the Arab world and the failure of democratic transitions. Several influential Arab intellectuals adopt the cultural approach, but they do not necessarily define culture in static, primordial, or fixed terms. If Arab political culture is deemed problematic, it can still be changed. For this academic tradition, the “critical intellectual” is a central agent for any sociocultural and political change.