Global Political Islam »

Peter Mandaville is Associate Professor of Government and Politics at George Mason University, USA. He is the author of Transnational Muslim Politics: Re-imagining the umma and has also co-edited several volumes of essays. Research interests include the impact of globalization in the Muslim world, theories of cosmopolitanism, and global development.

This book offers an accessible and comprehensive account of political Islam in the twenty-first century.

Drawing on insights from comparative politics, sociology, international relations and Islamic studies, it explains the complex interaction between political Islam, nationalism, state and society, and globalization. An ideal teaching text, Global Political Islam also provides the necessary historical background and conceptual tools for understanding contemporary Muslim politics. The book contains detailed up-to-date case studies of political Islam in a variety of key settings such as Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, and Palestine. It also explains the evolution of Islamic radicalism through a detailed account of Al Qaeda and the global jihad movement. Transnational Islamic networking receives considerable attention, as does the role of new media and information technologies in political Islam. Fully illustrated throughout, featuring maps, supplementary textbox case studies, a glossary, and suggestions for further reading, this is the ideal introduction to the crucial rule of political Islam in the contemporary world.

List of illustrations     viii
A note on transliteration and style     ix
Preface     x
Acknowledgments     xii
Abbreviations     xiv
Introduction: thinking about Islam and politics in global perspective     1
Islam and politics: history and key concepts     24
State formation and the making of Islamism     49
Islam in the system: the evolution of Islamism as political strategy     96
Islam as the system: Islamic states and "Islamization" from above     147
Islam for lack of a system: Islamism in weak and failed states     198
Radical Islamism and jihad beyond the nation-state     237
Muslim transnationalism: brotherhoods, networks, diasporas     275
Who speaks for Islam? Religious authority in the global umma     302
Beyond Islamism: globalization and Muslim politics     332
Key economic and political indicators for selected Muslim countries     352
Glossary     353
Notes     355
Suggestions for further reading     371
Index     376