Questions posed by Individualism in Arab Societies: the cognitive, social and historical junctures and uncertainty

Abstract

This paper explores all the questions addressed by the papers presented at the symposium “Individual Freedoms and Social Individuality in Arab Societies”, discussing their proposals and results. The paper focuses on one of Uthe most important aspects of the discussion and the theories and concepts that it relied on; the complex relationship between the individual and the group. It is looked at first as outdated problematic knowledge that needs to be reviewed and secondly as a socio-human rights normative issue, and ultimately an ideology, subject to social conflict and context. The background to this debate is individual rights and freedoms in the context of the “Arab Spring”, specifically that which occurred in Tunisia and which is underway in Algeria and Morocco, while coming to a head in countries that have lived under sectarian rule for decades (Lebanon, Iraq ...). The symposium investigated much broader experiences that will be seen by Arab societies in the years ahead.