Orient-Occident : La Fracture imaginaire

by Georges Corm

Essai historique critique pour en finir avec les représentations idéologiques d'essence religieuse qui prétendent expliquer les événements du 11 septembre et l'actualité mondiale par le choc des civilisations. Une telle fracture n'est qu'imaginaire et cache de façon très opportune des intérêts de puissances très profanes.

Genres: History

186 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

(Arabic: جورج قرم)

Higher Education
G. CORM is Lebanese, he was born in 1940. He studied in Paris and graduated in 1961 from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Major in Economics and Public Finance) and from the Faculté de Droit et de Sciences Economiques where he successively obtained the Licence en Droit (1962), the Diplôme d’Etudes Supérieures (1966) and the Doctorat d’Etat (Ph.d.) in Constitutional Law with the highest honors (1969). His PhD thesis on religious pluralism through history and its influence on political systems was published in three languages (French, Arabic and Serbo-Croatian).

Professional Career
G. Corm began his career with the Lebanese Civil Service in 1963. He served first as Economist with the Ministry of Planning, then as Monetary and Financial Expert with the Ministry of Finance (Department of Central Bank Control and Coordination). In 1969, he continued his professional career in the banking sector in Lebanon, France and Algeria until 1985. From 1985 to 1998, G. Corm was based in Paris as an independent Economic and Financial Consultant for International institutions like the World Bank, ESCWA, UNDP, the European Commission and Arab and Lebanese institutions, as well as for private companies and banks. He has worked for these institutions in more than 15 countries.

From Décember 1998 to October 2000, G. Corm served as Minister of Finance of the Lebanese Republic. In this capacity, he prepared a Five Year Plan for fiscal reform, began introducing VAT and paid all accumulated arrears due by the State to the private sector. He is now back to consulting activities and teaching at Saint Joseph University in Beirut.

Academic Record
Professor Lecturer between 1972 and 1985 at Saint Joseph University (Beirut), American University of Beirut, Lebanese University. Regular teaching courses on Arab Modern Political Thought, Nations and Nationalism, Development Economics, Economic history and International Financial markets; since 2001, he has been teaching International Economic Cooperation and Financial Management of the State at Saint Joseph University and Balamand University. Since 1985, he has been member of several Committees at different French Universities to examine Ph. d. thesis and has given from time to time Lectures or Seminars in Europe and the US on Middle-Eastern topics.

Membership in Professional Bodies
Member of the Executive Board and Secretary General of the Arab Organization to fight corruption (Beirut), Research Fellow and member of the Advisory Committee of the Economic Research Forum for the Arab World, Turkey and Iran (Cairo) – Member of Arab Economic Research Society (Cairo) – Member of Arab Tought Forum (Amman) – Société des amis du Monde Diplomatique (Paris) – Member of the Conseil Scientique du Centre de Recherches de l’Orient Contemporain IFAPO (Paris) – Member of the Advisory Board of the Swedish Institute in Alexandria – Member of the Adivsory Board of Casa Araba (Madrid) - Former Member of the Conseil Scientifique des Cahiers d’études sur la Méditerranée Orientale et le monde turco-iranien CEMOTI (Paris) – Former Member of the Consultative Committee of the Institut Universitaire d’Etudes du Développement (Geneva) – Founding Member of le Mouvement du Citoyen Libanais (Beirut-Paris).
http://www.georgescorm.com/personal/a...

Reviews

[Majd]

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يناقش هذا الكتاب موضوع مهم نعيشه بشكل يومي في حياتنا الواقعية وهو الشرخ المعنوي الذي نشعر به بين الشرق والغرب وليس الشرق العربي والاسلامي فحسب،انما يشمل اليابان والصين وكوريا النمور الاسيوية عموما.
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يحاول الكاتب تفكيك الاشكاليات والنظريات التي عززت وجود شرخ وهمي اسطوري بين الشرق والغرب وغالبا تحمل يبنى هذا الشرخ على نظرة ثنائية سطحية، شرق مستبد وغرب ديمقراطي، شرق روحاني وغرب مادي ونحوه.
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يحاول الكاتب ان يفند هذه الخصوصيات السطحية التي فرضتها نظرة الغرب النرجسية حيث نسبت لها كل الحسنات ونسبت لغيرها السلبيات، وكذلك يدافع عن الاسلام من تهمة الارهاب والاستبداد محاولا اثبات ان الثيوقراطية نتاج غربي وان الاستبداد ليس خاص بالشرق او بالغرب.
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يحتوي الكتاب على الكثير من الافكار تتفق معه وتتفق في بعضها لكن هذا لا يقلل من قيمته مهما اختلفت معه، جورج قرم صاحب فكر قوي يستحق القراءة.

[Lorenzo Carrieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

L’incipit di una quadrilogia maestosa dello storico Corm parte con una critica radicale all’epistemologia del Medio Oriente, e quindi alle categorie della conoscenza dell’Occidente sulla regione usate per perpetrare dominio e monopolio: dal prisma dell’Islam come fatto sociale totale fino all’utilizzo del concetto di ‘asabiyya con cui interpretare ogni fenomeno che accade in Medio Oriente, passando per altri fattori etnico-religiosi che continuano a cristallizzare l’area e le popolazioni che ci vivono in un passato-che-non-passa mai, evitando scrupolosamente di guardare a questa parte di mondo come inserita invece nelle dinamiche del capitalismo globale e nella conseguente divisione del lavoro internazionale in un rapporto di subordinazione centro-periferia. Illuminante.