Islamism in the Modern World: A Historical Approach

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Islamism in the Modern World is an accessible, student-oriented introduction to the debates surrounding the historic origins of contemporary Islamism. It explores controversies surrounding contemporary Islamists indebtedness to various European and Islamic thinkers, as well situating debates concerning the relationship between political Islam, violence and democracy in an historic context. W. J. Berridge explores the continuities, discontinuities, and the impacts of long term social, economic and political change on the nature of Islamism as an ideology. Readers are encouraged to subject the claims of current commentators to the scrutiny of historical analysis, exploring the complexities of the relationship between Islamist and European thinkers whether classical, Renaissance or modern liberal, fascist or Marxist. The book understands political Islam in the longue dure, comparing medieval, early modern and modern Islamist thinkers, as well as discussing the compatibility of Islamism and, indeed, Islam itself with supposedly Western values such as democracy, feminism, and human rights. Each chapter contains a short bibliography of relevant primary and secondary sources, as well as excerpts from key sources and a glossary of Arabic terms, making this the ideal introduction to the subject for history students.

Reviews

This is a cogent, well-written text that not only introduces readers to the various forms of Islamism, but does so in way that pays attention to the interpretive frames put forward by scholars to make sense of the subject. The breadth of the book is stunning. * John Calvert, Professor of History, Creighton University, USA *
Berridge provides an analysis of Islamism that goes beyond recent current events, placing the movements and people within a broad historical framework. This study presents helpful biographical portraits of major leaders of the movements as well as examinations of their ideologies. Although the book is designed as a text for students, its in-depth coverage will also be of use to anyone interested in modern Muslim movements. * John Voll, Professor Emeritus of Islamic History, Georgetown University, USA *

Author Bio

W. J. Berridge is Lecturer in History at Newcastle University, UK. She is the author of Hasan al-Turabi: Islamist Politics and Democracy in Sudan (2017) and Civil Uprisings in Modern Sudan (2015).