Welcome to our book review site go-pdf.online!
You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
The Shi'is of Iraq
The Shi'is of Iraq provides a comprehensive history of Iraq's majority group and its turbulent relations with the ruling Sunni minority. Yitzhak Nakash challenges the widely held belief that Shi'i society and politics in Iraq are a reflection of Iranian Shi'ism, pointing to the strong Arab attributes of Iraqi Shi'ism. He contends that behind the power struggle in Iraq between Arab Sunnis and Shi'is there exist two sectarian groups that are quite similar. The tension fueling the sectarian problem between Sunnis and Shi'is is political rather than ethnic or cultural, and it reflects the competition of the two groups over the right to rule and to define the meaning of nationalism in Iraq. A new introduction brings this book into the new century and illuminates the role that Shi`is could play in postwar Iraq.
Reaching for Power
As the world focuses on the conflict in Iraq, the most important political players in that country today are not the Sunni insurgents. Instead, they are Iraq's Shi'I majority--part of the Middle East's ninety million Shi'I Muslims who hold the key to the future of the region and the relations between Muslim and Western societies. So contends Yitzhak Nakash, one of the world's foremost experts on Shi'ism. With his characteristic verve and style, Nakash traces the role of the Shi'is in the struggle that is raging today among Muslims for the soul of Islam. He shows that in contrast to the growing militancy among Sunni groups since the 1990s, Shi'is have shifted their focus from confrontation to...
The Other Shiites
Shia Islam is a central issue in contemporary politics. Often associated with Iran, Shiite communities actually exist in many Islamic countries. Focusing on the «other Shiites» outside Iran, this book offers a survey of their diversity and multiplicity in the last two centuries. The contributions cover three major topics. The first part deals with the relationship of Shia minorities to the Sunni regimes. Secondly the public affirmation of their identities through specific rituals and social attitudes is analysed. Finally, the third part of this volume examines the strengthening of these identities through traditional religious rituals and cultural performances, or through the re-interpretation and adaptation of these to present-day life. Coming from various academic backgrounds, the authors have used different methodologies and have been engaged in field-work.
Transnational Shia Politics
This book illuminates the historical origins and present situation of militant Shia transnational networks by focusing on three key countries in the Gulf, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, whose Shia Islamic groups are the offspring of Iraqi movements. The reshaping of the area's geopolitics after the Gulf War and the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003 have had a profound impact on transnational Shiite networks, pushing them to focus on national issues in the context of new political opportunities. For example, from being fierce opponents of the Saudi monarchy, Saudi Shiite militants have tended to become upholders of the Al-Sa'ud dynasty.The question remains, however, how deeply in society have these new beliefs taken root? Can Shiites be Saudi or Bahraini patriots? Louer concludes her book by analysing the transformation of the Shia' movements' relation to central religious authority, the marja', who reside either in Iraq and Iran. This is all the more problematic when the marja' is also the head of a state, as with Ali Khamenei of Iran, who has many followers in Bahrain and Kuwait.
Inventing Iraq
Between 1920 and 1932, Great Britain endeavored unsuccessfully to create a modern democratic state in the region that became known as Iraq. The unwieldy patchwork state it fashioned embodied the imperatives of Whitehall while running roughshod over the political sensibilities of the region's inhabitants. When Britain grew weary of holding together its fractious creation, it hastened Iraq toward independence. Democracy was quickly dispensed with by a series of coups, culminating in 1968 with the Ba'ath Party's siezure of power. Britain's failure, Dodge contends, forms the crucial historical backdrop against which the Bush administration's removal of Saddam Hussein and its aftermath must be understood.
Shi'ite Identities
The current political events surrounding the Iranian nuclear crisis, the precarious situation in Lebanon, as well as the still unsettled fate of Iraq have resulted in a renewed interest in the Shi'ite dimension of Islam among political observers. This volume covers the phenomenon of political assertiveness among contemporary Shi'ite Muslims in the Middle East, as well as among converts in Southeast Asia. It argues that Shi'ite identities are often based on local cultural heritage and history and are - contrary to what is usually assumed by the wider public - not to be considered monolithic. Christoph Marcinkowski, award-winning Professor of Islamic Studies and Interreligious Relations at Germany's Catholic University of Eichstatt-Ingolstadt and the author of "Religion and Politics in Iraq," is currently working for Germany's Federal Interior Ministry and CIBEDO (the Christian-Muslim dialogue forum of the German Catholic Bishops' Conference) on a survey of Shi'ite organisations in Germa
Sectarianism in Iraq
Viewing Iraq from the outside is made easier by compartmentalising its people (at least the Arabs among them) into Shi'as and Sunnis. But can such broad terms, inherently resistant to accurate quantification, description and definition, ever be a useful reflection of any society? If not, are we to discard the terms 'Shi'a' and 'Sunni' in seeking to understand Iraq? Or are we to deny their relevance and ignore them when considering Iraqi society? How are we to view the common Iraqi injunction that 'we are all brothers' or that 'we have no Shi'as and Sunnis' against the fact of sectarian civil war in 2006? Are they friends or enemies? Are they united or divided; indeed, are they Iraqis or are ...
Sectarian War
This book is the first comprehensive account of how Pakistan became involved in sectarian terrorism starting in the 1980s. How was the state of Pakistan dragged into this terrorism? All Pakistanis want to know about the roots of today's terrorism. This book lays bare the infrastructure of terror as it targeted the sects in its first phase. The demand for this book is going to be across the spectrum, from the scholar to the lay reader. It will make available the answers no one has tried to supply in the past.
Iraq Since 1958
In the West, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 and later Saddam Husain's political survival following a punishing defeat in war have been greeted with bewilderment and incomprehension. The history of politics in Iraq and the context which has given rise to Saddam Husayn's violent Ba'thist regime have been barely understood. This highly praised book is the first to explore the emergence of modern Iraq from its foundation in 1920 into the 21st century. It covers the period from the revolution in 1958, concentrating particularly on Saddam Husayn's rise to power and his consolidation as leader. It is the only political history of modern Iraq now available to provide a critical analysis...
The Iranian Revolution at Forty
How Iran—and the world around it—have changed in the four decades since a revolutionary theocracy took power Iran's 1979 revolution is one of the most important events of the late twentieth century. The overthrow of the Western-leaning Shah and the emergence of a unique religious government reshaped Iran, dramatically shifted the balance of power in the Middle East and generated serious challenges to the global geopolitical order—challenges that continue to this day. The seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran later that same year and the ensuing hostage crisis resulted in an acrimonious breach between America and Iran that remains unresolved to this day. The revolution also precipitated...
