East Tennessee State University Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University Electronic Theses and Dissertations Student Works 8-2007 The Arab Quest for Modernity: Universal Impulses vs. State Development. Kevin Wampler Jones East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd Part of the Islamic World and Near East History Commons Recommended Citation Jones, Kevin Wampler, "The Arab Quest for Modernity: Universal Impulses vs. State Development." (2007). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2113. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2113 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The Arab Quest for Modernity: Universal Impulses vs. State Development _______________________ A thesis presented to the faculty of the Department of History East Tennessee State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in History _______________________ by Kevin Wampler Jones August 2007 _____________ Dr. Leila S. Al-Imad, Chair Dr. Melvin E. Page Dr. Stephen Fritz Keywords: Middle East, Arab, Arab nationalism, Pan-Arabism, Islam, Islamic modernism ABSTRACT The Arab Quest for Modernity: Universal Impulses vs. State development by Kevin Wampler Jones The Arab Middle East began indigenous nation building relatively late in the twentieth century. Issues of legitimacy, identity, and conflicts with the West have plagued Arab nations. Arab states have espoused universal ideologies as solutions to the problems of Arab nation building.