Comparison of the Political Thought of the Arab Left in the Maghreb on the Ground with the Intellectual Debate

• Applicant: Dr. Valerian Thielicke-Witt
• Subject Area: Political Science ; Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 541767981

The project is dedicated to an often neglected area of research: political thought "on the ground" and compares it with the intellectual debate. The latter is usually the analytical focus of political theory. But one can also find rich and profound political thought outside of monographs and theoretical publications by intellectuals or from the academic sphere of political science and philosophy. Especially activists in the political sphere regularly reflect on their own actions, which is why particular innovations in political thinking can be found there. However, only a comparison of the two can reveal whether and which sources and authors from the intellectual debate are relevant for political practice. Although there are already some studies on this in Europe, the Arab region has received little attention so far. Research has been limited to individual terms or questions. The Arab Left, on the other hand, has not yet been systematically researched outside the intellectual level. Especially after the processes of the Arab Spring (IS, migration, re-autocratisation, peace process with Israel), the left is under pressure to adapt, which should also be reflected in its thinking. For this purpose, the belief system analysis method is further developed, which is a new qualitative analysis procedure for examining interview data to be collected in the project. For practical research reasons and also to exclude certain factors such as different colonial experiences, the focus will be limited to the Maghreb. In order to ensure comparability, the sample will be restricted to leading activists from trade unions and the largest left-wing parties, resulting in a relatively large qualitative data sample (approx. 50 qualitative interviews), which will later be made available to the German and international research community for further use via Qualiservice as part of good research data management. The sample will enable the project to expand our knowledge of the political thinking of the Arab Left, making their actions more comprehensible. This makes possible the central goal of investigating the extent to which the political thinking of the left in the Arab region corresponds on the ground with the thinking of intellectuals and academia, or which sources are relevant. With the help of the results, theoretical reflections on their interrelation will be developed. In this way, a new field of research will be opened up that will enable further comparisons of this kind. It also makes a contribution to Comparative Political Thought in general, as it opens up a new object of research on the one hand, and methodologically expands its debates on the other.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants