Suchergebnisse

THIS ARTICLE EXPLORES THE NOTION OF FUNDAMENTALISM, AND ANCHORS IT IN THE CONCEPTS OF EXTREMISM, RADICALISM AND SCRIPTURALISM. IT ARGUES THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO STUDY THE PHENOMENON OF FUNDAMENTALISM WITHIN THE PARADIGMS OF RATIONALISM THAT PREVAIL IN MODERN SOCIAL SCIENCE. FURTHERMORE, WHILE ALL FUNDAMENTALIST MOVEMENTS SHARE CERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS, ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM DIFFERS FORM OTHER FUNDAMENTALIST MOVEMENTS IN MANY SUBSTANTIAL WAYS, INCLUDING POLITICAL SPACE, THE ABILITY TO PENETRATE INTER-STATE BOUNDARIES, ISLAM AS A PROTEST MOVEMENT, THE TOTAL ADHERENCE OF BELIEVERS TO A SET OF BEHAVIORAL TENETS, THE DIFFICULTY OF SEPARATING STATE FROM RELIGION, A STRONG ORIENTATION TO THINGS COLLECTIVE, ISLAMIC LEGITIMACY OF STATES, THE COMMANDMENT OF "JIHAD" AND THE IMMEDIACY OF FAITH IN THE LIFE OF BELIEVERS. IN THE LIGHT OF ALL THIS, ISLAMIC COUNTRIES TEND TO BE RATHER VULNERABLE TO WAVE OF FUNDAMENTALISM, WHICH, HOWEVER, EBB AND FLOW IN RESPONSE TO CONCRETE SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE RELEVANT COUNTRIES.

This article is intended as a 'footnote', written from the political science point of view, to more comprehensive accounts of the subject. Its main concern is to underline some respects in which Philippine nationalism is atypical in Southeast Asia. It is not proposed to define nationalism. Many definitions seem to fall into one of two groups, the unsatisfyingly general or the (still unsatisfying)determinedly specific. An example of the former is that nationalism consists in "on one side the love of a common soil, race, language or historical culture…" This immediately prompts the question, "which soil, which race etc."? The latter group is exemplified by the definition of Karl W. Deutsch, which is based on the existence of "complementary habits and facilities of communication."