1st Edition

Political Islam A Critical Reader

Edited By Frederic Volpi Copyright 2011
    488 Pages
    by Routledge

    488 Pages
    by Routledge

    As the topic of political Islam gains increased visibility in international politics and current affairs, it has become more difficult to navigate the vast literature that is devoted to explaining this phenomenon. This reader provides the student with an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the study of political Islam. Offering a clear route to the most influential literature in the field, the diverse range of viewpoints presented allows students to obtain a detailed, authoritative and critical perspective on the most pressing questions of the post-9/11 era.

    With detailed introductory chapters and clear presentation of existing literature, thematically-arranged sections cover:

    • modern understandings and explanations of Islamism
    • the emergence and development of Islamist groups
    • political responses to the phenomenon
    • democracy and democratization
    • multiculturalism
    • political violence and terrorism
    • globalization
    • the future of political Islam.

    This overview of political Islam will help students at all levels to appreciate its many manifestations and dimensions. A relevant text to introductory courses on history, international affairs, government and sociology, this reader is an essential tool for students of the Middle East, Muslim politics, religion in politics and Islamism.

    Part 1: Introduction: Critically Studying Political Islam  Part 2: Modern Understandings and Explanations of Islamism  1. What is Political Islam? Charles Hirschkind  2. Being Muslim: Islam, Islamism and Identity Politics Salwa Ismail  3. The Forgotten Swamp: Navigating Political Islam Guilain Denoeux  4. Deciphering Islam's Multiple Voices: Intellectual Luxury or Strategic Necessity? Mohammed Ayoob  5. Excerpt from Chapter Two From National Struggle to the Disillusionments of "Recolonization": The Triple Temporality of Islamism François Burgat, translated by Patrick Hutchinson  Part 3: Political Islam, the State and Political Power  6. Visions of an Islamic Republic: Good Governance According to the Islamists Gudrun Kramer  7. Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism Mahmood Mamdani  8. Religion and Realpolitik: Islamic Responses to the Gulf War James Piscatori  9. The Islamist Impasse Salman Sayyid   Part 4: Political Islam and Democracy  10. Public Islam and the Problem of Democratization Robert W. Hefner  11. The Path to Moderation: Strategy and Learning in the Formation of Egypt’s Wasat Party Carrie Rosefsky Wickham  12. Social Movement Theory Janine Clark  13. The Politics of Presence Asef Bayat  Part 5: Islamist Movements in Multicultural Settings  14. Beyond Migration: Islam as a Transnational Public Space John R. Bowen  15. Trying to Understand French Secularism Talal Asad  16. Islam in Public: New Visibilities and New Imaginaries Nilufer Gole  17. The Predicament of Diaspora and Millennial Islam: Reflections on September 11, 2001 Pnina Werbner  18. Islam in the West or Western Islam? The Disconnect of Religion and Culture Olivier Roy  Part 6: Political Islam and Political Violence  19. A Genealogy of Radical Islam Quintan Wiktorowicz  20. Global Jihadism After the Iraq War Thomas Hegghammer  21. The Origins and Development of the Jihadist Movement: From Anti-communism to Terrorism Gilles Kepel  22. Accounting for Al Qaeda Faisal Devji  Part 7: The Globalization of Islamism  23. Reimagining the Umma Peter Mandaville  24. New Medinas: The Tablighi Jama‘at in America and Europe Barbara Metcalf  25. Civic Virtue and Religious Reason: An Islamic Counterpublic Charles Hirschkind  26. Globalization and Diversification of Islamic Movements: Three Turkish Cases Ahmet T. Kuru  Part 8: The Future of Political Islam  27. The Future of Political Islam Graham E. Fuller  28. Islamists and the Politics of Consensus Daniel Brumberg  29. Ethical Formation and Politics of Individual Autonomy in Contemporary Egypt Saba Mahmood  30. The End of Islamism? Turkey’s Muslimhood Model Jenny White

    Biography

    Frédéric Volpi is Deputy Director of the Institute of Middle East and Central Asia Studies and Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of St Andrews. He is the author of a number of books on political Islam and democracy in the Muslim world, and is coordinator of the BRISMES research network.

    "Frédéric Volpi has collected an impressive reader of short articles from many of the scholars who have been writing about the issue for the past two decades."

    Daniel Martin Varisco, Review Essay: The Perpetual Politics of Islam, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013