Quarterly Journal of Political
Research in Islamic World

Understanding and recognizing the tendencies and interests of the Middle Eastern people including the Arab countries in the region which is rooted in the identity discourses, is best achieved through carrying out scientific opinion polls.The considerable and periodic polls by Pew institute can be helpful in this regard. This study, through employing the discourse analysis method of Laclau and Mouffe, aims at describing and understanding the identity discourses of the people in 6 important Middle Eastern countries, i.e. Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Pakistan in a more realistic manner. These identity discourses are in a way the product of articulating nodal points such as Islam, liberty, development, and in the final conclusion, some kind of relationship between elements of tradition and modernization. The truth is that instability and restlessness of nodal points and seeking to dominate one discourse through temporary articulations among identity nodal points and establishing one identity discourse and seeking to marginalize the rival discourse continues. The analysis of these opinion polls’ results suggests that one-sided and mental analysis in understanding the nature of these movements is ineffective and often-conflicting tendencies of the Middle Eastern people in inclining towards combining liberal and Islamic values in the midst of an effective economy, suggest the rivalry among identity discourses.