There are some global trends that can be observed in all regions of the world including the regions where the predominant religion is Islam. In the papers written by De Konig (2005) and Genis (2007) and the book written by Hazbun (2008) one can read about such global trends: emergence of coffee houses, construction of gated communities and development of international tourism. All three trends show that despite the ideological and religious differences between the Islamic and the Christian countries there are some universal processes that take place no matter what the situation in the countries is. However, the factors that cause these trends may significantly differ.
In the PhD thesis “Global Dreams: Space, Class and Gender in Middle Class Cairo” (2005) De Konig writes that in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, more and more men and women prefer to go to the coffee houses and this is unusual for the Egyptian culture. Emergence of the coffee houses may be attributed to the development of the new leisure culture in Cairo since the mid-1990s (De Konig 121). There are a number of reasons why the coffee houses became so popular in Cairo. First of all, young people have much more personal freedom than before even though there is a certain degree of islamization in Egypt. It is not shameful anymore to go to the coffee houses instead of the traditional cafes. Secondly, the coffee houses are especially popular with the upper-middle class professionals that work for the international companies or the local companies that are involved in the international trade. For such people the active urban public life is of great importance and they can afford going to the coffee houses on a regular basis. In addition, they are often unmarried and have much personal independence (De Konig 124,126-127). Thirdly, the coffee houses are very friendly for the women. There they feel comfortable and can communicate with their friends and colleagues freely (De Konig 126). Fourthly, Cairo’s social and sports clubs are not as popular as before. They are targeted at families and the membership in them is very costly. So young people prefer to spend their money in the other places including the coffee houses, even though the prices are high there. In the past some other western-like places were popular with the Egyptian people. They were some well-known American café chains like Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut or McDonald’s (De Konig 128). Later a lot of malls were built in Cairo, but nowadays those people who have high incomes prefer to go to the coffee houses to meet their friends. Finally, in more general terms the western-like places mean modernity, sophistication and are influenced by the global cultural flows (De Konig 132). Nevertheless, the coffee houses are not inclusive and attract only the upper-income class people. There is no place for the people of the lower social level. Some cafes even have a dress code in order to avoid the “unqualified” customers who will be dirty, vulgar and poor (De Konig 143, 148).
The same thing can be observed in another well-known city Istanbul, Turkey. In the article “Producing Elite Localities: The Rise of Gated Communities in Istanbul” Serif Genis writes about the gated communities that lead to the segregation based on the level of income. The gated communities have not emerged in Turkey and can be found in the developed countries, Arab countries, etc. (Genis 771). The gated communities provide security, highlight prestige of the residents and offer very comfortable living conditions (Genis 771-772). In Turkey the gated communities started to emerge since the 1990s when the Turkish economy was quickly growing and were the result of the neo-liberal urban policies (Genis 772). The gated communities are good places for living for the people who would like to have an anti-city lifestyle, because Istanbul and some other major cities in Turkey are quite chaotic and need a lot of investment in the infrastructure. As in many other countries of the world in Turkey the gated communities are usually built thanks to the resources of the high-income people. So the poor and the middle income people do not have any access to the new districts. The author of the article thinks that emergence of the highly homogeneous gated communities around the world was caused by the transnational ideologies and neo-liberal globalization (Genis 794). In terms of the gated communities in Istanbul, the local residents think that they are real Istanbulites that are secular and westernized (Genis 792).
In Chapter II of the book “Beaches, Ruins, Resorts” (2008), Walled Hazbun writes about the development of tourism in Tunisia since the 1970s. This country is located in Northern Africa and has access to Mediterranean Sea. Because of that there are quite many tourists from Europe. The tourist industry in Tunisia developed under the influence of the global and internal factors and there were several stages of development. Since the 1960s the country was led by Habib Bourguiba. He created an authoritarian and secular state and ruled the country until he was 84 years old. For Tunisia the tourism was an important industry that brought foreign currency into the country and gave jobs to about 500,000 people (Hazbun 42). Many hotels typical to the hotels in the other countries were built along the sea coast and attracted many Europeans. However, in the 1980s Tunisia faced many economic and political problems. The Islamic movement became popular among the poor people and the tourism industry ended up in a very deep crisis (Hazbun 45). The tourism industry started to develop again when Zine El Abidine Ben Ali became president in 1987 (Hazbun 50). The government invested more money in the other regions of Tunisia which do not have access to the sea. As the result, there were a large number of new tourist products with the higher quality. Moreover, the government was able to control the disparities between the regions and built the close complexes that would not be controversial for the Islamic society that was promoted by Ben Ali (Hazbun 65).
All three trends - emergence of coffee houses, construction of gated communities and development of international tourism – are common for Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey. These countries are not rentier states like many countries in the Middle East. Therefore there should be some preconditions for democracy in order to get wealth from societies (Global Interactions and Modern States 5). At the same time one can see that there is a constant tension between the secular and religious or other conservative movements in the Middle East. As the result, the global trends described above receive some unique local qualities in the countries of the Middle East leading to the glocalization rather than globalization. However, construction of the gated communities and hotel complexes and opening of the coffee houses for the high income people do not lead to the equality, because the majority of the local people cannot afford it. So the influence of the global trends is limited and only a small number of the people get benefits from it. The authors of the articles show how divided the societies in Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey are. Even among the high income people there are differences in terms of their lifestyles and values. This is why they try to create such places where they will be able to live and communicate safely not taking into account the existing conservative norms in their societies. Moreover, despite the segregation objectives of all mentioned trends, one may view them as a desire to live and work in accordance with the cosmopolitan values which depend on the high level of individuality. Therefore it is possible to see the western-like leisure places including cafes, hotels and residential buildings not only in the Middle East, but also in the other developing regions of the world. The new trends help to improve the quality of life and attract tourists or investors into a country. At the same time they may be seen as a risk for the country’s identity and culture by some hostile groups. So some countries try to find the balance between secular and Islamic policies in order to avoid violence and political instability. The growing incomes of the people in Tunisia, Egypt, and Turkey will contribute to the further popularization of the neo-liberal policies. So the other global trends will also influence the social and economic systems in these countries in the future.
Works Cited
De Konig, A. Global Dreams: Space, Class and Gender in Middle Class Cairo. FMG:
Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR). PhD Thesis. 2005. Web.
Genis, S. Producing Elite Localities: The Rise of Gated Communities in Istanbul. Urban
Studies, Vol.44, No.4, 771-798. April 2007. Web. 26 February 2016
Global Interactions and Modern States: The Story of Oil. n.d. PDF
Hazbun, W. Beaches, Ruins, Resorts: The Politics of Tourism in the Arab World. University
Of Minnesota Press. 2008. Print.
