Ahmed Bangura argues that a deeply ingrained pattern of prejudice toward Islam in European-language writing on Africa has led to serious misreadings of many West African novels. Extending Edward Said's study of the orientalist tradition in Western scholarship, Bangura traces the origins of contemporary misunderstandings of African Islam to the discourse of colonial literature. Western critics    More >

This unusually accessible book provides a comprehensive picture of Islam in contemporary Egyptian politics and society, emphasizing its diversity and heterogeneity. Tracing the development of Islam as a social, political, and economic force in Egypt, Sullivan and Abed-Kotob analyze the role it plays in governance and opposition to political authority, in social relations, and in the often-ignored    More >

Russia's Muslims, numbering some 15 million, constitute far from a homogeneous sociopolitical group. So ... What does it mean to be a Muslim in Russia today?  How is the image of Islam constructed, and how do the country's Muslims—and non-Muslims—perceive and react to it? These are the questions that gave rise to this book. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the    More >

Haim Gerber addresses the phenomenon of radical revolution within Islam, seeking both to understand a certain type of revolution and to discover whether there is a typical Muslim response to Communism. Gerber first investigates the 1944 Marxist revolution in Albania and the 1967-1969 Marxist revolution in South Yemen. He finds, in conformity with the sociological theory of revolution, that these    More >

Simon Murden investigates how Muslim societies in the Middle East are being affected by globalized politics and economics, and how they are adapting to it.   Murden describes how a Western-designed set of economic and political norms, institutions, and regimes has come to be a hegemonic system. His focus is on the encounter between the Islamic vision of society, with its emphasis on    More >

Schirazi uses agricultural policy to demonstrate the complications and consequences resulting from the Islamization of development policy in Iran. Refuting claims by Iran's religious leaders that their interpretation of Islam provides the best possible solution for development problems, not only in Iran, but throughout the world, the author concludes from his research that the conception of    More >

What exactly is Islamism? And what explains its violent expansion in recent decades? Why are Islamists so determined to change the world order? Are there similarities between Islamism and classical totalitarian regimes and ideologies? Will it fail, as those regimes did in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union—or can it adapt effectively to changing realities? What are the fundamental strengths    More >

Islamism is often portrayed as a reaction against, or at best a belated accommodation to, modernization. Refuting this dismissive opinion, Bjørn Utvik explores the movement through the lens of its engagement with social and economic change in Egypt.   Utvik provides a comprehensive picture of debates within mainstream Islamist groups that are grappling with concrete economic issues.    More >

In June 2017, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE announced a comprehensive boycott of Qatar. Diplomatic ties were severed, trade was banned, and airspace was closed. Qatari nationals were expelled from all four countries. It seemed that disaster loomed for this small Gulf nation. But not so. Instead, in an unexpected turn of events, the Qatari government deftly used its enormous wealth and    More >

Discussions of democratic backsliding typically include examples from Hungary, Poland, Turkey, and even the United States, but rarely a mention of Israel. Neta Oren asks: Should scholars include Israel in this list? Should Benjamin Netanyahu be considered a populist leader? Are there lessons about populism and democratic decline to be learned from the Israeli case? Answering yes to each of    More >