Clash of Values in the Middle East and North Africa: Islamic Fundamentalism Versus Liberal Nationalism

The political conditions of the contemporary Middle East and North Africa appear hard to grasp. This paper attempts to reduce this complexity by highlighting the opposition of Islamic fundamentalism and liberal nationalism as the key dimension of political conflict and ideological warfare currently transpiring in the region. Bringing empirical evidence on the depth and breadth of the clash of the fundamentalist and liberal values among members of the ordinary public across seven countries in the region—Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Turkey—where comparative cross-national survey data were available, and showing that the variables that weaken fundamentalism strengthen liberal values among individuals, this paper proposes that the future political development of the Middle East and North Africa lies on how this conflict is resolved. It is whether such values as expressive individualism, gender equality, secular politics, religious tolerance, and national identity are turned into the permanent features of social order or are undermined as a result of the fundamentalist rigorous patronage of the system of patriarchy, the institution of male supremacy and gender segregation, Islamic authoritarian government, religious intolerance, ingroup solidarity, and hostility toward outsiders, the West in particular. Using data from two waves of panel survey carried out Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey, and longitudinal data from Iraqi and Saudi Arabia, this paper also shows that trend in values across these countries are toward secular politics, support for national identity, religious tolerance, and to a limited extent gender equality. The paper then discusses the utility of these indicators for the study of politics and predicting political change in the Middle East and North Africa.