Conference discusses ‘Causal Dynamics of Political Culture’ among 10 topics

The three-day Conference on Social and Human Sciences, being held by the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies, continued for the second day Sunday with ten lectures across four sessions.

Dr Stephen Welch, honorary fellow at the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University in Britain, gave an introductory lecture on the topic 'Causal Dynamics of Political Culture'.

Mohamad Hamshi, a researcher at the Arab Centre in Doha, spoke on 'Criticism of the theory of political culture in the Arab world.' He argued that the concept of cultural politics is not separate from the sociology of the history of concepts, given that it is a shift from reflections, which can be described as philosophical and linked to traditions dating back to Plato and Aristotle. In this regard, the researcher referred to the works of Stephen Welsh and Margaret Somers, then moved on to criticising the discourse of political culture theory, based on the works of Azmi Bishara.

On a related topic, Abdul Karim Amenkay gave a lecture titled 'Arab Culture between the Fields of Middle Eastern Studies and Contemporary Arab Thought: Are Cultural Essentialism and Heritage Criticism Two Sides of the Same Coin? The professor of political science at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies (DI) proceeded from the observation that the cultural approach, which is one of the most important theoretical and analytical currents in the field of Middle East studies, has known ebbs and flows in the extent of its dominance over this field of American origin, and regained its strength in the wake of the fall of the eastern camp with the beginning of the 1990s.

The sixth session of the conference was devoted to philosophical approaches to political culture. Raja Bahloul, professor of philosophy at the DI, talked about 'Emotional Attitudes and Democratic Political Culture', in which she started from a question about the possibility of a causal relationship between political culture and the political system.

Then, Mouldi Ezzedine, professor of philosophy at the University of Sfax, Tunisia, gave a lecture titled 'A Philosophical Contribution to Liberating the Values of Arab Political Culture from Ideological Culturalism', in which he made a critical philosophical distinction between a political culture and an ideological culture that theoretically and practically posed an extreme danger.

Differentiating between the two contexts, the limit of comparison between them is governed by the hope of opening up a possible way to liberate the society of the Arab countries from its ailment due to several factors, on top of which the political practice that is contrary to the concepts of freedom and democracy.

The seventh session devoted approaches to political culture in the Iraqi, Syrian, and Palestinian cases. Rahaf al-Daghli initiated it with a paper entitled 'The Persistence of Tyranny through Political Culture: Forms of Loyalty and Subjectivity in Syrian Public Discourse.' The director of research at the Harmon Centre for Contemporary Studies said it is important to consider how socialisation spreads under authoritarian regimes, and the influence of the political scene on the level of behaviour and attitudes of citizens.

In dealing with the Palestinian situation marked by the division, Hassan Obaid talked about 'Reframing the Political Culture through Pierre Bourdieu’s Social Theory: A Case Study of the Field and Capital Formation of the Hamas and Fatah Movements after the Division.'

Al-Nasser Duraid, consultant at the Iraqi Centre for Strategic Studies, concluded the session with a lecture titled 'The Phenomenon of Nostalgia in Politics in the Middle East: Iraq as a Case.' He presented a definition of the phenomenon of nostalgia, and its causes, in a manner specifically related to the political culture in Iraq.

Abdelkader Abdelali, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Dr Moulay El Taher University in Saida, presented the 'Political Culture, Social Cracks and Democracy: A Case Study of Algeria.' He shed light on the relationship between political culture and the structure of social cracks, and its impact on support for democracy, and its considerable importance in knowing the current status of the orientation towards democracy in Algeria.

Muhammad Naimi, professor of sociology at the Institute of Social Development in Rabat, presented 'Political Culture' and Protest Collective Action in the Context of the Arab Uprisings (2011-2019).' He analysed the issue of political culture among the Arab public during the 2011 and 2019 waves of the Arab uprisings, and showed how to build Collective action, and its dismantling within the Arab protest space in connection and interaction with the prevailing political culture(s) in the Arab world. The researcher concluded that it is useful to understand and explain the transition of this political behaviour from a state of relative submission to one of growing resistance, by adopting a social approach.