НАУЧНЫЙ ОБЗОР НА КОЛЛЕКТИВНУЮ МОНОГРАФИЮ: БЛИЖНИЙ И СРЕДНИЙ ВОСТОК: ПАРАДОКСЫ МОДЕРНИЗАЦИИ / под ред. И.Д. Звягельской

Abstract:

This academic review analyzes the fundamental collective monograph "The Middle East and the Near East: Paradoxes of Modernization," edited by Prof. Irina Zvyagelskaya and prepared by leading scholars of IMEMO RAS. The monograph examines the peculiarities of non-Western developmental trajectories and the phenomenon of modernization paradoxes across diverse country cases, including Turkey, Iran, Israel, the Gulf monarchies, Egypt, Syria, Algeria, and Afghanistan. The review highlights the key theoretical contributions of the volume: the deconstruction of Eurocentric equations of modernization with Westernization via Shmuel Eisenstadt’s "multiple modernities" concept, the conceptualization of hybrid political systems in the East, the instrumental utility of traditional institutions, the decisive role of ruling elites, the reversibility of modernization ("demodernization"), and a nuanced perspective on the Islamic factor as a viable developmental framework. The authors argue that this work represents an essential intellectual tool and programmatic resource for higher education, academic research, and foreign policy analytics in Uzbekistan and Central Asia.

Keywords: Middle East, Near East, paradoxes of modernization, hybrid political systems, multiple modernities, Oriental studies, demodernization, tradition and modernity, Islamic factor, IMEMO RAS, political elites.