Globalization in the middle east: regression in progress

The MENA region has been for centuries one of the most vibrant and cosmopolitan areas in the world. Due to its geographical position, it was a gateway between the East and the West, an area that merged people from different cultures, religions and civilizations. It was the birthplace of the three major monotheistic religions of the world and it was for centuries an area where science, economy and art flourished unquestioned. While the great majority of the areas in the world present a progressive tendency to go from a closed and self-centered society to an open, cosmopolitan one, sacrificing regional specificities in favor of an international integration and interaction, the MENA region surprisingly presents a counter trend. That same region that used to be the center of intercultural, scientific and commercial exchanges is almost reversing. As a fact, during the last decades, the process of globalization brought Western countries to a gradual opening to each other, while the Middle East seems not to fit in this process. Although with some exceptions, little progress has been done and this area seems to be determined to resist. The paradox of globalization in the MENA region is that, instead of smoothing the differences, as it is doing elsewhere, it is fueling parochialism, thus strengthening the cultural identity and exacerbating the decade-long opposition between the East and the West. Not only governments and radical movements, but also intellectuals and a great part of the population dread it and perceive it as a threat. Where the Arab world has been forced to let globalization in, it has also made sure to preserve and stress the role of tradition and religion both in the public and private sphere. This research intends to investigate the uniqueness of globalization in the Arab world, analyzing the process from different perspectives. The core of the dissertation will analyze globalization from three main aspects: economic, political and cultural.