Akbarzadeh - Routledge Handbook of Political Islam

Routledge Handbook of Political Islam

The Routledge Handbook of Political Islam provides a multidisciplinary overview of the phenomenon of political Islam, one of the key political movements of our time. Drawing on the expertise of some of the top scholars in the world, it examines the main issues surrounding political Islam across the world, from aspects of Muslim integration in the West to questions of political legitimacy in the Muslim world.

Bringing together an international team of renowned and respected experts on the topic, the chapters in the book present a critical account of:

• Theoretical foundations of political Islam
• Historical background
• Geographical spread of Islamist movements
• Political strategies adopted by Islamist groups
• Terrorism
• Attitudes towards democracy
• Relations between Muslims and the West in the international sphere
• Challenges of integration
• Gender relations

Presenting readers with the diversity of views on political Islam in a nuanced and dispassionate manner, this handbook is an essential addition to the existing literature on Islam and politics. It will be of interest across a wide range of disciplines, including political science, Islamic studies, sociology and history.

Shahram Akbarzadeh is Professor of Asian Politics (Middle East and Central Asia) and Deputy Director of the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies at Asia Institute, the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on Islamic radicalism and Muslim identity in the West. He is published extensively and is a regular contributor to the public debate on Islam and Middle East politics.

Routledge Handbook of Political Islam

Edited by

Shahram Akbarzadeh

First published 2012

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2012 Shahram Akbarzadeh for selection and editorial matter; individual contributors, their contributions.

The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Routledge handbook of political Islam/edited by Shahram Akbarzadeh.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Islamic countriesPolitics and government21st century. 2. Islamic countriesPolitics and government20th century. 3. Islam and politics. 4. Islam and world politics. I. Akbarzadeh, Shahram.

DS63.1.R68 2011

320.5'57dc23 2011025970

ISBN: 978-0-415-48473-2 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-203-15414-4 (ebk)

For Alexandra, Benedict, Pasha and Nikoo

Advisory Group

Prof Anoush Ehteshami (Durham University)

Prof John Esposito (Georgetown University)

Prof James Piscatori (Durham University)

Prof Amin Saikal (Australian National University)

Contents

Shahram Akbarzadeh

Ahmad S. Moussalli

M.A. Muqtedar Khan

Raja Bahlul

Barbara Zollner

Mohammed M. Hafez and Marc-Andr Walther

Lara Deeb

Mohamed Nawab Bin Mohamed Osman

Robert W. Hefner

Shahram Akbarzadeh

Gareth Jenkins

Rebecca Barlow and Shahram Akbarzadeh

Ali M. Pedram

Samina Yasmeen

Eman Mohammad Alhussein

Shahin Gerami

Valrie Amiraux

Tahir Abbas

Beverley Milton-Edwards

Benjamin MacQueen

Bernard Rougier

Howard V. Brasted with Adeel Khan

Contributors

Tahir Abbas has been Associate Professor of Sociology at Fatih University, Istanbul, Turkey since 2010. His books include: Islamic Radicalism and Multicultural Politics: The British Experience (Routledge, 2011) and The Education of British South Asians: Ethnicity, Capital and Class Structure (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004); as editor, Islam and Education (four volumes, Routledge, 2010), Islamic Political Radicalism: A European Perspective (Edinburgh University Press and Columbia University Press, 2007) and Muslim Britain: Communities Under Pressure (Zed, 2005); and as coeditor, Honour, Violence, Women and Islam (with M.M. Idriss, Routledge, 2010) and Immigration and Race Relations: Sociological Theory and John Rex (with F. Reeves, I.B. Tauris, 2007). His current interests are in the areas of young Muslim ethno-religious political identities, ethnicity, diaspora studies, Islamism, and historical and political sociology. He sits on the editorial boards of a number of international journals. He is Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (since 2006) and a Fellow of the Muslim Institute (since 2010).

Shahram Akbarzadeh is Professor of Asian Politics (Middle East and Central Asia) and Deputy Director of the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies at Asia Institute, the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on Islamic radicalism and Muslim identity in the West, Middle East politics and Central Asian affairs. He is published extensively and is a regular contributor to the public debate on Islam and Middle East politics.

Eman Mohammad Alhussein is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies in the University of Exeter. Her research focuses on analysing Orientalist/neo-Orientalist trends in the rhetoric of war following the 11 September 2001 attacks. She earned an MA with distinction in Gulf Studies from the University of Exeter.

Valrie Amiraux is Professor of Sociology at the department of sociology of the University of Montreal where she holds the Canada Research Chair for the study of religious pluralism and ethnicity. She is on leave from her permanent position at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). Since 2003 she has been a senior expert for the Open Society Institute and is the author of the 2011 Paris report on discrimination against Muslims in Paris-Goutte dor. Her recent publications include: Religious authority, social action and political participation. A case study of the mosque de la rue de Tanger in Paris, in Martin van Bruinessen and Stefano Allievi (eds), Production and Dissemination of Islamic Knowledge in Western Europe (Routledge, 2010); From Empire to Republic, the French Muslim Dilemma, in Anna Triandafyllidou (ed.), Muslims in 21st Century Europe. Structural and cultural perspectives (Routledge, 2010); Crisis and new challenges? French Republicanism featuring multiculturalism, in A. Silj (ed.), European Multiculturalism: What went wrong? (Zed Books, 2010); and Breaching the Infernal Circle? Turkey, the European Union and religion, in Aziz el Azmeh and Effie Fokas (eds),