Islamism

Features literature about Islamism--the active affirmation and promotion of beliefs of an Islamic nature--aiming to explain the origins, values, and movements within the Islamic faith.

A political, social, and cultural battle is currently raging in the Middle East. On one side are the Islamists, those who believe Islam should be the region’s primary identity. In opposition are nationalists, secularists, royal families, military establishments, and others who view Islamism as a serious threat to national security, historical identity, and a cohesive society. This provocative, vitally important work explores the development of the largest, most influential Islamic groups in the Middle East over the past century. Tarek Osman examines why political Islam managed to win successive elections and how Islamist groups in various nations have responded after ascending to power. He dissects the alliances that have formed among Islamist factions and against them, addressing the important issues of Islamism’s compatibility with modernity, with the region’s experiences in the twentieth century, and its impact on social contracts and minorities. He explains what Salafism means, its evolution, and connections to jihadist groups in the Middle East. Osman speculates on what the Islamists’ prospects for the future will mean for the region and the rest of the world.

This book offers a nuanced and muti-layered approach towards comprehending the possibilities of democratization or likelihood of authoritarian resilience in the Muslim world. The volume highlights the complex diversity within Islamist movements and parties— characterised by internal tensions, struggles and contestations. The very existence of this diversity within and among Islamist movements, and their general willingness to partake in mainstream politics, signals an important transformation in the Muslim world over recent decades. It demonstrates that the Muslim world has gravitated from the simplistic focus on the compatibility or incompatibility of Islam and democracy. Islamist movements and parties embody the multiple manifestations and trajectories within political Islam. The granular case-studies and theological analyses in this volume draw attention to the policy refinements, socio-political reforms and ideological transformations engendered by Muslim intellectuals and Islamist movements and ideologues. The diverse political landscape in the Muslim world is inextricably linked to the socio-political and theological shifts within Islamism—in particular, the yearning for greater social, economic and political justice, a yearning that lies at the core of an inclusive wasatiyyah Islam.

Provides an important new framework for understanding the full impact of Islamism in the Middle East and beyond.

Militant Islam is a powerful force in the Horn of Africa, and the U.S. war on terrorism has thrown the region and its politics into the international spotlight. Since the 1990s, when a failed U.S. military mission was called in to maintain order, Islamist organizations, with heavy sponsorship from Saudi Arabia, have multiplied and established much-needed health and education services in the region. However, despite the good that they are clearly providing, these organizations are labeled "terrorist" by the U.S. Islamist extremists have been found to be responsible for the deadly embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the attack on an Israeli jet in Mombasa. Since September 11, 2001, global effort has been concentrated on bringing these groups to their knees. Focusing on how Islamist movements have been viewed post-9/11 and how the U.S. agenda is being translated into local struggles in the region, this book is an important step toward understanding the complex dynamics that enfold the region. Contributors are Roland Marchal, A. H. Abdel Salam, M. A. Mohamed Salih, and Alex de Waal.

"Islamism is the doctrine of state in Iran and Sudan, and the ideology of opposition across the Middle East. Is Islamism driven by religious fervor, social protest, or nationalist xenophobia? Is the rise of Islamism a threat to stability, tolerance, and order? Or is it the first step towards reform, participation, and democratization? Does repression of Islamists radicalize them or tame them? Are Islamists in power guided by their ideals or their interests? Should the governments of the West base their policy on human rights or realpolitik? Does Islamism have the momentum to remake the future, or is it a rearguard action that is already falling?" "These are just some of the questions debated by the contributors to this volume. Nine authors - leading protagonists in the Islamism debate, from the United States, France, Britain, and Israel - argue their cases with varying combinations of evidence, analysis, and polemic."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject History Europe - Other Countries - Newer History, European Unification, grade: 1,5, University of Luxembourg, course: Regionalismin World Politics, language: English, abstract: In this research paper, I intent to analyse Islamism and its effects on the western world. Does Islamism really represent a danger to western civilisation? Is Islamism in decline, as written by the French scholar Gilles KEPEL? What measures does the European Union take to ensure the security of the people and to protect them from terrorist acts? To describe people's view on the Orient and the Arabic world, I begin in a first chapter with a monograph written by the U.S. - Palestinian author Edward SAID on Orientalism and the representation of Muslims and Arabs in western media. In a second chapter, I will continue with Gilles KEPEL'S thesis on the decline of Islamism and oppose it in the third part to Bassam TIBI'S counter thesis. I will base my analysis mainly on KEPEL'S book about the jihad, where he develops his thesis on the ascension and decline of Islamism, and on Bassam TIBI'S writings "The Challenge of Fundamentalism: Political Islam and the New World Disorder" and "Der neue Totalitarismus" where he describes Islamist fundamentalism and its impacts on the West. The fourth part of this paper deals with the anti-terror measures of the European Union and the question on how they affect people's privacy.

A senior scholar of Islamic politics, providing a corrective to a dangerous gap in understanding, explores the true nature of contemporary Islamism and the essential ways in which it differs from the religious faith of Islam.

Scholars and public intellectuals debate the significance of the term "Islamism" and ask what it means to apply this term to Islamic religion, tradition, and social conflict.

Based on original research into women's participation in the workforce, this book is the most up-to-date study of women in Iran available. The Islamisation of state and society which followed the 1979 revolution involved an attempt by the Islamic state to seclude women within the home. However, the power of the state was constrained by many factors - the Iran-Iraq war, economic restructuring - and women's own responses to oppression. In spite of continual attempts by the state to strengthen patriarchal relationships, women's participation in the labour force in 1999 is greater than it was before the revolution.Women's participation in both the economy and in political movements has led to a much greater level of gender consciousness in the 1990s than at the height of westernisation in the 1960s and 70s. Religious and secular women in urban areas have demanded reforms and forced the Islamic state to return to the position of the pre 1979 reforms.Providing a history of Iran, an introduction to Islamism and an analysis of the women and Islam debate, this book will be necessary reading for students and academics of Middle East studies, women's studies and labour studies.

A fascinating exploration of the philosophy behind NBC’s hit TV series, 30 Rock With edgy writing and a great cast, 30 Rock is one of the funniest television shows on the air—and where hilarity ensues, philosophical questions abound: Are Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy ethical heroes? Kenneth redefines "goody two shoes", but what does it really mean to be good? Dr. Leo Spaceman routinely demonstrates that medicine is not a science, so what is the role of the incompetent professional in America today? In 30 Rock and Philosophy, Tina Fey and her fellow cast members are thrust onto the philosophical stage with Plato, Aristotle, Kantand other great thinkers to examine these key questions and many others that involve the characters and plotlines of 30 Rock and its fictional TGS with Tracy Jordan comedy show. Takes an entertaining, up–close look at the philosophical issues behind 30 Rock′ s characters and storylines, from post–feminist ideals to workaholism and the meaning of life Equips you with a new understanding of Liz Lemon, Jack Donaghy, Tracy Jordan, Jenna Maroney , Dr. Spaceman, and other characters Gives you deep and meaningful new reasons (who knew?) for watching Tina Fey and your other favorites on 30 Rock Ideal for both casual and diehard fans, this book is the essential companion for every 30 Rock­ –watcher.

This volume features more than two thousand entries on the history of Islamism and Islamic countries. It provides a balanced account of events and organizations, as well as philosophers, activists, militants, and other prominent figures, and offers a window into a movement that has irrevocably changed both Muslim and Western societies. The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism includes entries on the roots of Islamism and jihad in Africa, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Morocco, the Balkans, and the United States, among many other countries and locations. It profiles such key individuals as Louis Farrakhan; Tariq Ramadan; Algeria's Hassan Hattab, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood; Egypt's Hassan Al-Banna; and the leader of the Afghan Jombesh-i Melli Islami movement, Abdul Rashid Dostum. The dictionary uniquely examines this antimodern incarnation of Islam and its efforts to claim (or reclaim) Muslim society, families, and professional environments. It considers such questions as whether activist Islam is "terrorist" and if it can coexist with Western societies; whether terrorism can be justified by the Quran; and what are the components of an international Islam. Widely celebrated for his scholarship and expertise, Antoine Sfeir remains sensitive to the differences between Islam and Islamism and approaches the ideology from geopolitical, sociological, and historical perspectives.

The essays of Post-Islamism bring together young and established scholars and activists from different parts of the Muslim World and the West to discuss their research on the changing discourses and practices of Islamist movements and Islamic states largely in the Muslim majority countries.

This is a provocative account of the ways in which Muslim identities have come to play an increasingly political role in recent years. Theoretically innovative, it shows how Islamic movements -- despite the wide variety of their manifestations -- are best understood as a continuation of political and cultural decolonization. The fear and anxiety aroused by the so-called Islamic threat is not a myth nor is it simply a consequence of terrorism or fundamentalism. The emergence of Islamism signals the end of the uncontested notion that ‘West is best’. As the author demonstrates, Islamism means having to rethink Western identity and its place in the world, having to come to terms with the idea that the West is just another civilization among many. This study draws upon the full breadth of poststructuralist thought as a means of better understanding Islamism. As such, it is necessary reading for all those who are interested in the Muslim world -- in both its state and diasporic forms -- as well as academics concerned with questions of ‘race’ and place in a poststructuralist context.

Islamism in the Modern World is an accessible, student-oriented introduction to the debates surrounding the historic origins of contemporary Islamism. It explores controversies surrounding contemporary Islamists' indebtedness to various European and Islamic thinkers, as well situating debates concerning the relationship between political Islam, violence and democracy in an historic context. W. J. Berridge explores the continuities, discontinuities, and the impacts of long term social, economic and political change on the nature of Islamism as an ideology. Readers are encouraged to subject the claims of current commentators to the scrutiny of historical analysis, exploring the complexities of the relationship between Islamist and European thinkers – whether classical, Renaissance or modern liberal, fascist or Marxist. The book understands political Islam in the longue durèe, comparing medieval, early modern and modern Islamist thinkers, as well as discussing the compatibility of Islamism – and, indeed, Islam itself – with supposedly 'Western' values such as democracy, feminism, and human rights. Each chapter contains a short bibliography of relevant primary and secondary sources, as well as excerpts from key sources and a glossary of Arabic terms, making this the ideal introduction to the subject for history students.