Globalization and Culture in the Thought of Arab Thinkers

One of the needs of strategic studies at the country level is identification of currents and events that unfold in the regional countries or in the Muslim world and due to requirements stemming from adjacency as well as the ideal of cooperation with the Muslim world, Iran inevitably encounters them. On the other hand, one of the common problems of the Muslim world is encountering the cultural consequences of globalization. Taking into account the relationship between three levels of description, analysis and strategy in research and the necessity of studying issues on the basis of methods, the present study is an attempt to provide answers to the following questions: what are the definitions of the Arab thinkers of globalization? What are the main cultural problems of the Arab thinkers? What are their strategies? Arab thinkers normally look at globalization issues within the framework of confrontation between Islam and the West, Arabs and Westerners and East and West (or North and South). While the engine of globalization in the West is economic and materialistic tools and motivations, in the Arab world, it is a cultural issue. Also, Arab thinkers identify globalization with the following five categories: 1 – the formation factors and actors; 2 – objectives and ideals; 3 – results and consequences; 4 – philosophy of formation; and 5 – the nature of changes originated from modern technology. In most of these areas a passive picture of the Arab world is depicted, while by having a glimpse of some of their solutions it becomes clear that the Arab thinkers are not uninformed of the solutions to their problems. However, in most cases, they have been unable to produce a realistic literature capable of critically studying the “correct and incorrect cognition” in the world of Islam and the Arab world. It is something which is required for the realization of such plans as cooperation and empathy among Arabs, economic growth and realization of sustainable comprehensive development.