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Project

Europe and the call of Arab socialism: European support networks for development and rights in the Arab socialist world, 1950s-1980s.

In the wake of postwar decolonization, various forms of "Arab socialism" reached their zenith in the Arab world, inspiring revolutions, popular resistance, and reforms of new regimes. Though there now exists a broad understanding of Arab socialism's impact on the Muslim societies involved, and its role in international relations has become subject of new research, its impact on non-state relations between Western Europe and the Arab world is far less known. Indeed, narratives of conflicts between a "liberal" Europe and a "violent" Arab world have overshadowed Western European exchanges and fascination with Arab socialism. Left-wing solidarity with the Muslim world might be well-known due to present-day civil campaigns over causes such as Palestine and Syria. This engagement, however, is part of an older and broader fascination that proceeded through a variety of transnational contacts linking the West with the Arab socialist world starting in the 1950s. Nasser's modernization of Egypt, Socialist Algeria, and Gaddafi's Libya became models for non-alignment, socialist development, and human rights in surprisingly wide circles among Western European NGOs, intellectuals, and solidarity movements. The goal of this research project is to delve into the networks and ideas that connected social movements in Western Europe and the Arab world. In this way, it addresses critical issues in the history of transnational North-South connections, "socialist" globalization, and human rights.
Date:1 Oct 2016 →  30 Sep 2017
Keywords:SOCIALISM
Disciplines:History