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This book explores the rise of Hizbullah as a direct consequence of both the Iranian Revolution and the entanglement of Lebanon in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Protracted civil war and overwhelming foreign intervention by Lebanon’s neighbors enabled Hizbullah to emerge as the country’s dominant politico-military force. Hizbullah disabled the Lebanese political system and, in its capacity as Iran’s premier foreign proxy, allowed the Islamic Republic to take the lead in the regional tug of war with Israel. In its quest for achieving a distinguished regional status commensurate with its ambitions, Iran used Hizbullah to abort the Syrian uprising, actively contribute to its burgeoning influe...
This accessible and deeply informed book examines the threat that Islamic extremists pose to America and provides a balanced and nuanced discussion of the link between Iraq and the war on terror. Explaining the basics of Islam and guiding the reader through the intricacies of each significant fundamentalist group, the Palmers answer key questions: Who are the Muslim extremists and how do they fit within the broader context of the Islamic religion? What is their war plan and how do they operate? Who are their allies and what are their weaknesses? What is the experience of Israel, the Islamic world, and the United States in fighting Muslim extremists? How can they be defeated? The book includes detailed analyses of Hizbullah and the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, the Iraqi clones of Hizbullah, and the Islamic government in Turkey.
This accessible and deeply informed book examines the threat that Muslim extremists pose to America and suggest steps that will facilitate U.S. efforts to defeat them.
The fate of the Islamist activists and resistance groups who leave their origins for electoral politics.
The Political Economy of Middle East Peace looks at the political economy of the Middle Eastern peace process with a focus on the politics of trade. Contributors investigate the ways new commercial alliances develop as a result of economic agencies established via the Arab-Israeli peace process and look at institutions which contribute to redirection of Arab intra- and inter-regional trade, such as the Palestine Monetary Authority, the Middle East Development Bank and free trade zone agencies in Aquaba and Dubai.
In this fifth volume of the Fundamentalism Project, Fundamentalisms Comprehended, the distinguished contributors return to and test the endeavor's beginning premise: that fundamentalisms in all faiths share certain "family resemblances." Several of the essays reconsider the project's original definition of fundamentalism as a reactive, absolutist, and comprehensive mode of anti-secular religious activism. The book concludes with a capstone statement by R. Scott Appleby, Emmanuel Sivan, and Gabriel Almond that builds upon the entire Fundamentalism Project. Identifying different categories of fundamentalist movements, and delineating four distinct patterns of fundamentalist behavior toward outsiders, this statement provides an explanatory framework for understanding and comparing fundamentalisms around the world.
The authoritative account of Islam's schism that for centuries has shaped events in the Middle East and the Islamic world. In 632, soon after the Prophet Muhammad died, a struggle broke out among his followers as to who would succeed him. Most Muslims argued that the leader of Islam should be elected by the community's elite and rule as Caliph. They would later become the Sunnis. Otherswho would become known as the Shiabelieved that Muhammad had designated his cousin and son-in-law Ali as his successor, and that henceforth Ali's offspring should lead as Imams. This dispute over who should guide Muslims, the Caliph or the Imam, marks the origin of the Sunni-Shii split in Islam. Toby Matthiese...
Lebanon experienced serious instability and ethno-national conflict following the Syrian withdrawal in 2005, compounded by the Arab Spring, which led to regional instability and civil war in Iraq and Syria. Why did consociational democracy fail? Was failure inevitable? What impact could external powers play in creating an environment where consociationalism might be successfully implemented? This book addresses these key questions and provides a comprehensive analysis of how internal and external elite relations influence the chances of a successful regulation of ethno-national conflict through power-sharing. Exploring the roles played by Syria, Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United States a...
How are identities being forged during the age of globalization? This collection of essays, by scholars from various disciplines and regions of the world, discusses both the construction and deconstruction of identity in its engagement with culture, ethnicity, and nationhood. The authors explore the tension resulting from the desire to create a new cultural space for identities that are at once national, regional, linguistic, and religious. Among the wide-ranging approaches, Tanja Stampfl looks at the elusiveness of cultural identity in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner; Dawn Morais investigates issues of ethnicity and nationality in Malaysia’s tourism advertising; and Cathy Waegner explores ethnic identities as globalized market commodities. Throughout the volume, identity is approached from a variety of sites—fiction, news analysis, film, theme parks, and field work—to contribute new insight and perspective to the well-worn debate over what identity signifies in societies where the existence of minorities, both indigenous and immigrant, challenges the dominant group.
The essays focus on identity formation in five minority groups - Copts in Egypt, Baha'is and Christians in Pakistan, Berbers in Algeria and Morocco, and Kurds in Turkey and Iraq. While every minority community is distinctive, the experiences of these groups show that a state's authoritarian rule, uncompromising attitude towards expressions of particularism, and failure to offer tools for inclusion are all responsible for the politicization and radicalization of minority identities. The place of Islam in this process is complex: while its initial pluralistic role was transformed through the creation of the modern nation-state, the radicalization of society in turn radicalized and politicized minority identities. Minority groups, though at times possessing a measure of political autonomy, remain intensely vulnerable.