Islamic Modernism, Nationalism, and Fundamentalism: Episode and Discourse

By Mansoor Moaddel

Book Overview

The Islamic world has experienced extensive social changes in modern times--the rise of new social classes, the formation of massive bureaucratic and military states, and the incorporation of its economies into the world capitalist structure. Yet despite these changes, a national consensus on even the most important principles of social organization--the form of government, the status of women, national identity, and rule making--has yet to emerge.

An ambitious comparative historical analysis of ideological production in the Islamic world from the mid-1800s to the present, Mansoor Moaddel's Islamic Modernism, Nationalism, and Fundamentalism provides a unique perspective for understanding the social conditions of these discourses. Moaddel characterizes these movements in terms of a sequence of cultural episodes characterized by ideological debates and religious disputations, each ending with a revolution or military coup. Understanding how the leaders of these movements formulated their discourses is, for Moaddel, the key to understanding Middle Eastern history. This premise allows him to unlock for readers the historical process that started with Islamic modernism and ended with fundamentalism.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226533336
• ISBN13: 9780226533339
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 424 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.0"