The Concept of Nation in Arab-Israeli Conflict - Regulating International Community Under International Law

Abstract

The aim of the paper is not to define nationhood but with the pattern of Egypt to demonstrate the importance of understanding the liberal concept of nation as challenged by the Arab, Islamic, and Muslim worlds in their diversity, plurality, and inherent dynamism against the background of general geostrategic positioning in the contemporary World as the understandings of democracy are related to people who frequently tend to identify themselves as belonging to a nation group.

The first part of the Paper compares the Western thought and Islamic thought, the second part of the Paper distinguishes between the categories Arabic, Muslim, and Islamic in their diversity, and in their relation with liberalism and democracy. The third part of the Paper distinguishes between different historical and cultural epochs, layers, and influences in Egypt.

The main conclusions are: although the problems related to a position of a nation within larger societal layers are diverse, embracing different aspects, and incoherent, they allow the conclusion that there are strong trends toward nationalism in Egypt that may influence the Arabic and Islam worlds. It was not possible to treat all the aspects coherently in this paper but the author hopes that she could at least point out some problems for further research and inter alia challenge the presumption that the cause of Arab-Israeli conflict and „Arab Spring“ has been bad internal governance.

Keywords: Arab, Islamic; Muslim, Western

JEL Classification: B30