Western Culture And Policies That Have Shaped The Modern World

“What is the West, a better question might be what was not the west. It seems when we talk about the west one has to stop and think are we talking about a geography location or are we talking about a culture or could we be talking about a civilization. It is true when we are talking about western culture that we need to know at what time period of time we are talking because it has evolved so much over time.

All throughout history from the from the pre-modern period all the way to the contemporary period, there have been major events both inside and outside of the middle east that have had an impact on the middle eastern communities. While some were more drastic than others, they all had an impact one way or another that helped shape the society we know of today.

The geostrategic importance of Middle East is also derived from its psychological and political significance, Pollack (2011). It is a symbolic area serving as the center of the shrines of the three world’s greatest religions, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The influence of Islam extends from this region to Morocco and profound inside Africa. Therefore, Middle East has changed foreign policies of many world states.

​ “Becoming a modern society is about industrialization, urbanization, and rising levels of literacy, education, and wealth.” Samuel Huntington. Modernity is a term used to describe the evolution of life. It was a period of history that focused on the progression of the individual rather than the society. Modernity is a progressive idea dedicated to rejecting tradition and focusing in individualism and capitalism. Modernity is essentially the progression of technology, rationalization, and a movement towards capitalism. Modernity was essential to creating western civilization and the way the western culture continues to operate. Modernity is the progression of individual rights and creating a capitalist society, and the foundation of western civilization.

The Middle East has always been an extremely restless region. Throughout its whole history, this region was shaken by various wars and conflicts. The beginning of the 20th century can be considered one of the most significant points in the history of this area. After the discovery of some resources, it became interesting for some greater powers of the world in economic terms. As a result, economic reasons for discord of the Arab states of this region was added to the already existing social, religious and political. The history of the influence of the economic factors of the discord and collaboration in the Middle East can be divided into two periods: pre-WW1 and post-WW1.

Rami G. Khouri discusses his opinion on the lingering issues of the Middle East in a talk held on October 27th, at 7:00pm in the Koffler building. The room resembled more of an auditorium packed with millennials, senior citizens and age groups in between, all with their full attention on the speaker. Throughout his talk, Khouri explained how the last century has been exceptionally problematic for the Arabians due to zero political development, the Arab Israeli conflict, and the Arabian revolution. Khouri’s main argument is that there is an entirely new situation at hand due to Turkey, Iran, Israel, and Saudi Arabia currently driving the actual developments of the Middle East and the Superpowers unhelpful ways.

Due to the ever increasing pressures of the surrounding world, the Arab and Persian worlds were disrupted through the processes of modernization. The reasons for these changes were not always for the Westernization of the state but rather for the adoption of selected European innovations, however, judicial practices and environmental interactions during this era of transformation were thoroughly disrupted in what was a disorienting and tumultuous experience for the people of the Middle East. The continuous changes caused by modernity brought about a cultural renaissance that would see the people of the Middle East searching for a path free of future interference with a united identity.

Elsewhere in the world, other nations experienced tumultuous inter-relational struggles. In Arab countries, political and

The multifaceted political and socio-cultural context of the Middle-East often leads to misunderstandings about the nature of its society. In order to be fully aware of the reasoning as to why states in the Middle-East do what they do, an in depth analysis linking both the past and present is necessary. The continuous disorder portrayed in the news has created a negative image of the Middle-East. In the case of Iran, this is especially true. Similarly to many other states in the Middle-East, Iran’s past can be characterized by perpetual ideological conflict, rivaling tribal factions and a difficulty in sustaining a

The new borders created after World War 1created long lasting conflicts that continue to cause strife even today. At the end of WW1 the French and the British sat down to recreate the borders for the Middle East because they thought the local population would benefit from European rule. Prior to WW1 the region was based on tribal borders as represented by the following map.

The majority of Middle Eastern countries have suffered for decades under authoritarian regimes and have not succeeded at reforming their oppressive policies or at democratizing. There have been arguments made stating that it is nearly impossible for the Middle East to democratize and that as a region, democracy will not work. There was also another argument made stating that Islam does not allow for democracy to exist. Both these arguments ignore the history of the region, in which foreign powers have had a lot of influence, and have created the oppressive regimes that are present currently in the region. Foreign factors have played a great role in inhibiting any reforms from taking place in the region. Foreign powers entered the Middle East for its resources, took what they needed from the region then abandoned it. These countries were required to build and strengthen their economies suddenly after years of being controlled by foreign powers. The curse of oil in the Middle East has also played a role in inhibiting political and economic reforms from taking place. Oil rich countries have had significantly less political reforms over the past decades, as seen clearly in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, regional factors such as the Israeli occupation of Palestine, have also inhibited reform in that part of the region. Foreign and regional factors have inhibited political and economic reform in the Middle East, however, each country in the Middle East has had a different history

The term Middle East is used to refer to the region between Afghanistan and the Atlantic Ocean on the east and west respectively. The area generally referred to as the Middle East is made of nineteen countries with a population of 3% of the world’s number (Murphy and Hussein). Although there is a heterogeneous group of people living in these countries there are some characteristics of the region that are unique to the Middle East.

Globalisation is the “process of interaction and integration among people, companies and governments of different nations”. This subsequent process has led to the erosion of cultural diversity and language, whereby Western culture and ideals have extinguished other beliefs and practices, ingraining the idea that western is ‘best’ and other ways of living are immoral or unethical. This wide scale homogenisation has allowed extremist groups such as ISIS to take advantage of the impressionable or naïve, as well as encouraging hazardous global ties and bigotry within the global community.

At the root of Arab culture is a religious, highly masculine, high context, polychronic atmosphere that affects all things from what is done on a daily basis to what is watched in movies and listened to on the radio.

[2] Not surprisingly, the Middle East has frequently been at the centre of political debate and conflict, particularly in the Persian Gulf region.