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The sacred cow and the new Comer: A comparative study of nation-state and umma

International relations discipline witnessed debates among its mainstream theories. Today the debate worthy of attention is the Western-centrism of the discipline. There is an immense critique of the Westphalian state order, the nation-state, and the absence of religion in IR theory. This research a...

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Main Author: Mohamed, Ayat Abdulaty
Format: Thesis
Published: AUC Knowledge Fountain 2015
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access_status_str Open Access
author Mohamed, Ayat Abdulaty
author_browse Mohamed, Ayat Abdulaty
author_facet Mohamed, Ayat Abdulaty
author_sort Mohamed, Ayat Abdulaty
collection Thesis
description International relations discipline witnessed debates among its mainstream theories. Today the debate worthy of attention is the Western-centrism of the discipline. There is an immense critique of the Westphalian state order, the nation-state, and the absence of religion in IR theory. This research aspires to partially account for the voids of the IR theory. It engages with the debate over the Western-centrism and the loopholes of IRT. This thesis introduces a non-Western contribution to international relations, an Islamic perspective of IR. This thesis argues that for IR discipline to be truly pluralistic and to claim universality it should be opened to other non-Western contributions. The thesis introduces the ‘Islamic Civilizational Paradigm’ (ICP), a project developed over a decade from mid 1980s to mid 1990s to lay the foundation of an Islamic theory of IR. The paradigm reflects a different episteme, unlike the mainstream IR theories it introduces a new conceptualization of the relationship between religion and politics; it is a religious-inspired paradigm. Moreover, It escapes the state-centric lens that dictates the analysis in IR by introducing the Umma as a new level of analysis. To explore the advantage of integrating non-Western contributions -in this case the ICP- to IR discipline I focus on the Umma-level compared to state-level and investigate the advantages and limitations of that new level and evaluate its potential feasibility. The thesis concludes that the Umma-level complements the state-level as it has the ability to account for the complexities of the international phenomenon. Even more, through Umma lens we can identify and analyze state and non-state actors, groups, transnational social movements, individuals. The thesis shed light on what the Islamic Civilizational Paradigm presents and how it should be further improved.
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institution American University in Cairo (Egypt)
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provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress
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spelling oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-2826 The sacred cow and the new Comer: A comparative study of nation-state and umma Mohamed, Ayat Abdulaty International relations discipline witnessed debates among its mainstream theories. Today the debate worthy of attention is the Western-centrism of the discipline. There is an immense critique of the Westphalian state order, the nation-state, and the absence of religion in IR theory. This research aspires to partially account for the voids of the IR theory. It engages with the debate over the Western-centrism and the loopholes of IRT. This thesis introduces a non-Western contribution to international relations, an Islamic perspective of IR. This thesis argues that for IR discipline to be truly pluralistic and to claim universality it should be opened to other non-Western contributions. The thesis introduces the ‘Islamic Civilizational Paradigm’ (ICP), a project developed over a decade from mid 1980s to mid 1990s to lay the foundation of an Islamic theory of IR. The paradigm reflects a different episteme, unlike the mainstream IR theories it introduces a new conceptualization of the relationship between religion and politics; it is a religious-inspired paradigm. Moreover, It escapes the state-centric lens that dictates the analysis in IR by introducing the Umma as a new level of analysis. To explore the advantage of integrating non-Western contributions -in this case the ICP- to IR discipline I focus on the Umma-level compared to state-level and investigate the advantages and limitations of that new level and evaluate its potential feasibility. The thesis concludes that the Umma-level complements the state-level as it has the ability to account for the complexities of the international phenomenon. Even more, through Umma lens we can identify and analyze state and non-state actors, groups, transnational social movements, individuals. The thesis shed light on what the Islamic Civilizational Paradigm presents and how it should be further improved. 2015-01-29T08:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1797 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2826/viewcontent/Thesis_Ayat___Jan15__11I_.pdf Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain Umma Nation State International Relations Theory Islamic perspective of International Relations Non-Western theory of International Relations Umma Nation State International Relations Theory Islamic perspective of International Relations Non-Western theory of International Relations Near and Middle Eastern Studies Political Science Political Theory
spellingShingle Umma
Nation State
International Relations Theory
Islamic perspective of International Relations
Non-Western theory of International Relations
Umma
Nation State
International Relations Theory
Islamic perspective of International Relations
Non-Western theory of International Relations
Near and Middle Eastern Studies
Political Science
Political Theory
Mohamed, Ayat Abdulaty
The sacred cow and the new Comer: A comparative study of nation-state and umma
title The sacred cow and the new Comer: A comparative study of nation-state and umma
title_full The sacred cow and the new Comer: A comparative study of nation-state and umma
title_fullStr The sacred cow and the new Comer: A comparative study of nation-state and umma
title_full_unstemmed The sacred cow and the new Comer: A comparative study of nation-state and umma
title_short The sacred cow and the new Comer: A comparative study of nation-state and umma
title_sort sacred cow and the new comer a comparative study of nation state and umma
topic Umma
Nation State
International Relations Theory
Islamic perspective of International Relations
Non-Western theory of International Relations
Umma
Nation State
International Relations Theory
Islamic perspective of International Relations
Non-Western theory of International Relations
Near and Middle Eastern Studies
Political Science
Political Theory
url https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1797
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2826/viewcontent/Thesis_Ayat___Jan15__11I_.pdf
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