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Development and disappointment: Arab approaches to economic modernization in mandate Palestine
Arab intellectuals in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are well-known for their fascination with notions of progress and modernisation. Much of the historiography to date has examined this strand of thought within the context of political reform, examining the various solutions (liberalist, egalitarian or nationalist), put forward to remedy the ills of a ‘backward’ Arab society. This paper argues there was an equally strong, economic aspect to this reformism that has hitherto been understated in the literature. A firm belief in the need for the modernisation of infrastructure and the exploitation of nature for economic profit was a consistent feature in the writings and pronouncements of Arab reformists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The paper explores the enthusiasm for this type of development in the context of Palestine through the late Ottoman and British periods of rule. If firstly discusses the writings and pronouncements of prominent Palestinian intellectuals and public figures. It then moves on to describe a particular case: the debates over the development of the Dead Sea for mineral extraction. Through this case study the paper argues that the disenfranchisement of a generation of Arab developers-in-waiting constituted a major element of Palestinian opposition to the British Mandate.
History
Publication status
- Published
Publisher
RoutledgePage range
275-290Pages
463.0Book title
The Routledge Handbook of the History of the Middle East MandatesPlace of publication
LondonISBN
9781317497066Series
Routledge History HandbooksDepartment affiliated with
- History Publications
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- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Editors
Cyrus Schayegh, Andrew ArsanLegacy Posted Date
2015-06-25Usage metrics
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