The Arab State as a Hostage of Interdisciplinary Politics
Abstract
The region of the Middle East has for a long time been regarded as
resistant to theory. While general theory remains too “general” for
comprehending its regional particularities, attempts to explain its regional
politics by drawing on models particular to the Middle East have only made
little impact outside of the region. These problems are aptly manifested in
discussions regarding the nature, origins and goals of discipline- and area-oriented production of knowledge. Within these barriers, the state remains
an ambiguous concept. In order to e!ectively theorise the Middle East and
circumvent the traps of “Orientalism” and cultural essentialism, a new
structural theory of the state must be formulated, one that is capable of
reconciling the two dimensions of the dual character of the state – its
domestic and international dimension. The path towards such a theory is,
however, beset by all manner of conflicts and intellectual dilemmas.
Keywords
International Relations, Middle East studies, disciplinary science, area studies, state, Orientalism
Author Biography
Jaroslav Weinfurter
Jaroslav Weinfurter, born in 1986, he studied International Relations at the School of Social Sciences, and Economics at the Business School of the University of
Aberdeen in the UK. He is currently a PhD candidate in International
Relations and European Studies at the Metropolitan University Prague.
Professionally he deals with the study of international relations of the
Middle East, democratization in the MENA region, theories of international
relations and questions of production and use of knowledge between and
across disciplinary and territorial scientific disciplines.