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Date: Saturday 12 December 12 through Sunday 13 December 1997
Place: Center for International Relations, Kibi International
University,Okayama, Japan
Saturday, December 12 (18:00-20:00)
Speaker: Prof. Abdeljelil TEMIMI, General Director of the Temimi Foundation, Professor at the University of Tunis
"Developments and Problems of Historical Studies in the Arab World"
Summary:
Prof. TEMIMI's presentation was a so-called historiography: a study of h istorical research in the contemporary Arab world. He overviewed how the philosophical and ideological trends in each period of time, and the religious and political stance of each scholar, have shaped the development of Arab studies in the Arab world. He particularly referred to two important branches of research: Ottoman Studies and MorisqueStudies.
There are three major points in Prof. TEMIMI's presentation. First, the use of various manuscripts recently explored (i.e., regarding Waqf, andFatwa) has opened new fields of research. Second, differences in ideology,ethnicity, and nationalism among Arab scholars have obstructed scholarly research. Third, based on the above-mentioned trends in the past, Prof. TEMIMI emphasized the importance of academic dialogue among all scholars in the Arab World as well as in Japan, and that mutual understanding of scholarly works should go beyond religious and political conflicts embedded in each scholar's background.
Sunday, December 13 (09:00-16:00)
Symposium: "Why are Civil Societies important now?"
Chair of the Morning Session: Noriko OYAMADA
Chair of the Afternoon Session: MIURA, Toru
Presentations and Panelists:
Summary:
Mainly, two topics were discussed in this symposium. KOSUGI and KISAICHI examined various theoretical and conceptual problems with the term "Civil Society" in the Middle East. MIYAJI and MIZUNO discussed case studies of civil movements from Maghrib countries, and from Indonesia, respectively.
KOSUGI critically reviewed the concepts of "civil society," "democracy," and "democratization" employed by Western scholars in discussions of "civil society" in general, and pointed out diverse problems in applying the concept of civil society to Islamic societies in particular. He argued that expanding the concept of "civil society," making it applicable to the discussion of "civil society" in Islamic societies, is significant from the perspective of comparative political science, and area studies of the Islamic world. Furthermore, he suggested that the concept of the "Ummat" would be a hallmark of the discus sion of the civil society in the Middle East.
KISAICHI overviewed "definitions of civil society" discussed by Western scholars, and argued that it is more important to pay attention to functions of "civil society" rather than political and legal systems. He also indicated the fact that various systems and functions have existed inside traditional Islamic societies which we could identify as characteristics of some kind of "civil society." He suggested using the term, "popular society," replacing the term "civil society," to clarify the dynamic relationship between the state and the individual.
MIYAJI's talk, entitled "Democratization and Social Movements in Maghrib Societies," dealt with the comparative study of Algeria, Morocco,and Tunisia, and discussed dynamics in the relationship between the state apparatus and non-governmental organizations. He pointed out that change in the functions of the state effected change in and development of social movements.
MIZUNO discussed the development of civil and social movements in Indonesia since 1985, when the Indonesian government started allowing the emergence of Islamic organizations and Islamic political parties in Indonesian politics. He indicated the significant role played by the Muslim Intellectual League in filling the gap between the state and localcommunities.
Comments and discussions for the above-mentioned presentations were mainly four-fold: first, how significant is the academic discussion of "civil society" in the Islamic world, in the Islamic Area Studies Project; second, to what extent one can identify characteristics of "civil society," as some panelists argued, as unique to Islamic societies;third, how the relationship between the state and individual has shaped agendas of civil and social movements; fourth, whether "civil society" generally promotes democracy or not, and how one can differentiate between democracy and democratization in civil society. Prof. TEMIMI informed us that about 200 Arab scholars attend an annual conference held at his institute, and reports of each conference have been published, which,he maintains, contribute to the world-wide development of Arab studies. As mentioned above, the scope of discussion was diverse. It is to be noted that the concept of "civil society" in Islamic World was discussed from the comparative perspectives of other societies such as France,Thai, Malaysia, China, and so forth. Thus, the Symposium was quite a success and promises further discussions in the future.