The Political Reverberations of Gulf: Reading the Insistence of Arab Spring on Gulf Nationalism

• Main Author: Jithin Joseph
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sarat Centenary College 2019-07-01
• Series: PostScriptum: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Literary Studies
• Subjects: Arab Spring; nationalism; depthlessness; Middle Easternism; Mediterranean option
• Online Access: http://postscriptum.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/pS4.iiJithin.pdf

On the outset of any analytical deliberations in the contemporary political and cultural situations of Gulf, it would be the instability that marks the defining features it. Just like a children’s ‘Building the Block’ game in which progress is attained in the expense of stability, in Middle East, Power either political or economic is constantly reconstituting ever since the decolonised era, and the question, “where do I belong to?” reflects the indefinite nationalism and national boundaries shared by the people. Taking Middle East as a cultural discourse where power is in motion in variant forms has to be observed very prudently today. For the last two decades, Arabian nations are in constant political turmoil and have witnessed overthrow of power regime in five more countries. All those movements assumed integrated political stability on land, but all resulted either in unprecedented civil wars or irreversible human exile. Arab spring was a revivalist movement in the early 21st century, calling for paradigm shift in the existing political regimes in Middle East nations. The spring swept away the lands and replaced the systems, but never defined a discourse to take the rule ahead. The revivalist governments replaced the preceding, but failed in promise to keep a stable and legitimised political system ever. Moreover, to take the lead with an ideological ambush for the so called Arabian Spring, none of the indigenous writers of the land attempted. Rather, there were far grievances caught banner headlines in top rated magazines by the so called writers in exile who luxuriously exploit the European life. This paper is an investigation into the cultural factors that signifies the real deep power structures possess the land of gulf.