Tribes and Power

This work provides an understanding of the structure, the functioning and the mutation of tribes in the Middle East today. A contemporary view holds that modernity will inevitably lead to the extinction of pre-modern social organizations. However, the 1990s have shown that the tribal factor in some Middle Eastern countries has not only been strengthened but has become decisive. But tribes are not "passive" entities for they have a life of their own - they flexibly mutate, producing various new forms of tribalism in the process, and providing a platform for social, economic and political action. This platform has been allowed to expand and become more complex, despite the fact that authoritarian regimes have attempted to co-opt tribal configurations as a means of control and coercion. Nobility of lineage, tribal allegiance and other aspects of tribalism have been re-activated or re-structured to replace an eroded 'modern' revolutionary legitimacy. The theoretical part of this work scrutinizes the complexities of kinship structures in view of the Islamic and Arab culture; the case studies cover Iraq, Iran, Lybia, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

ISBN 0863568041   Pages 325 ISBN13 9780863568046 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Saqi Books   Weight (grammes) 699 Imprint Saqi Books   Published in London Format Hardback   Height (mm) 240 Publication date 01 Nov 2002   Width (mm) 165 Library of Congress DS58.T75 2   Spine width (mm) 24 DEWEY 320.540956   Academic level Tertiary education, Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC21

		Introduction		7
1		Agnatic Illusions: The Element of Choice in Arab Kinship by Edouard Conte		15
2		Ibn Khaldun and Contemporary Anthropology: Cycles and Factional Alliances of Tribe and State in the Maghreb by Pierre Bonte		50
3		Sheikhs and Ideologues: Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Tribes under Patrimonial Totalitarianism in Iraq, 1968-1998 by Faleh A. Jabar		69
4		The 'State-ization' of the Tribe and the Tribalization of the State: the Case of Iraq by Hosham Dawood		110
5		Tribalization as a Tool of State Control in Iraq: Observations on the Army, the Cabinets and the National Assembly by Keiko Sakai		136
6		Kurds, States and Tribes by Martin van Bruinessen		165
7		Yazidi Tribes, Religion and State in Early Modern Iraq by Nelida Fuccaro		184
8		A Few Reflections on 'Tribe' and 'State' in Twentieth-Century Morocco by Kenneth Brown		205
9		Tribal Confederations and Emirates in Central Arabia by Madawi al-Rasheed		214
10		The White Tent programme: Tribal Education Under Muhammad Reza Shah by Farian Sabahi		234
11		The Social Ontology of Late Colonialism: Tribes and the Mandated State in Iraq by Toby Dodge		257
12		Tribes and Nationalism: Tribal Political Culture and Behaviour in Iraq, 1914-20 by Thair Karim		283
		Contributors		311
		Glossary		314
		Index		321

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