Political Islam: Revolution, Radicalism, or Reform

by John L. Esposito (Editor)

For more than a decade, policymakers and observers in the Muslim world and the West have struggled with the spectre of political Islam - or ""Islamic fundamentalism"" - often confounded by myriad and contradictory images. This book offers an examination of the impact of political Islam on domestic and international politics in countries ranging from North Africa to South Asia. Covering both governments and Islamic movements and organizations, the authors analyze the multifaceted nature and dynamics of contemporary Islamic politics in the context of three the struggle between governments and illegal opposition; Islam within the political process; and the international relations of political Islam. They make a contribution to the understanding of a phenomenon that incorporates extremists as well as moderates, and demagogues as well as representative populist movements.

Genres: Islam, Politics, Islamism, Religion

310 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

He is a professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University. He is also the director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal center for Muslim-Christian understanding at Georgetown University.

Esposito was raised a Roman Catholic in an Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City, and spent a decade in a Catholic monastery. After taking his first degree he worked as a management consultant and high-school teacher. He then studied and received a masters in theology at St. John's University. He earned a PhD at Temple University, Pennsylvania in 1974, studying Islam and held post doc appointments at Harvard and Oxford. He is well-known as a promoter of strong ties between Muslims and Christians and has challenged the Vatican to make greater efforts to encourage such ties.

A specialist in Islam, political Islam, and the impact of Islamic movements from North Africa to Southeast Asia, Dr. Esposito serves as a consultant to the Department of State as well as multinational corporations, governments, universities, and the media worldwide. In 2005, Professor Esposito won the American Academy of Religion's prestigious Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion. This award honors a scholar who has been exemplary in promoting the public understanding of religion. A prolific writer, Professor Esposito is the author of over 25 books, including What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam, The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?, and Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, The Oxford History of Islam, and The Oxford Dictionary of Islam.

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent explanation of Islamic political movements and the complex background from which they have emerged.

[Vampire Who Baked · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been a good book and actually does have some pretty insightful analysis and exposition, but so much of the book is spent as an apologia, whitewashing indefensible aspects of radical elements or theocratic orthodoxy, all with false equivalences, obfuscatory metaphors and euphemisms, and general sophistry -- this makes the book far far less valuable as a resource.

Also, the book came out in 1997, before 9/11, iraq/afghanistan, arab spring, syria, and the innumerable other things that have happened since then, so it's obsolete anyway.

If you want to understand Islam more in all its complexity, I would recommend read something else -- Saba Mahmood's books are a great alternative, for example (even though they are a very different lens and deal with the grassroots rather than elite politics).