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Islam has become a potent political force around the world since it reemerged in the late 1960's and 1970's as a religio-political alternative to failed nationalist ideologies. In countries throughout the world, individuals and movements have attempted to reconstruct the political, economic, and social dimensions of their societies along Islamic lines, taking different approaches to the shari`a and to the questions of whether and how to establish an Islamic state. Key Islamic Political Thinkers offers an examination of some of the leading intellectuals behind the resurgence of political Islam. The essays in this volume cover a selection of thinkers that is representative of the main strands of contemporary Muslim political thought. It starts with the forefathers of contemporary political Islam, Hasan al-Banna and Abu al A`la al-Mawdudi, analyzes the revolutionary ideas of Sayyid Qutb, Ali Shari`ati, and Ayatollah Khomeini, and ends with the "intellectuals" of political Islam, Hassan al-Turabi, Rashid al-Ghannoushi, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Muhammad Khatami, and Abdolkarim Soroush, who exemplify the diversity and complexity of contemporary Muslim political discourse. This volume provides a valuable guide to the most important intellectual architects of the Islamic revival.

Islam has become a potent political force around the world since it reemerged in the late 1960's and 1970's as a religio-political alternative to failed nationalist ideologies. In countries throughout the world, individuals and movements have attempted to reconstruct the political, economic, and social dimensions of their societies along Islamic lines, taking different approaches to the shari`a and to the questions of whether and how to establish an Islamic state. Islam and Politics Around the World is a comprehensive and analytical examination of Islam and politics in a rapidly changing and globalizing world. Its case studies provide overviews of the development and interaction of Islam and politics in North America, Europe, and the Middle East, and across Asia and Africa. Taken together, these essays provide readers with an illuminating and in-depth overview of the state of political Islam today.

Essays discuss Islamic identity, influential Islamic leaders, and reasons for the revitalization of Islam in the Middle East.

The actions and political rhetoric of the day seem to affirm the commitment of many Muslims to a more Islamic political, social, and economic order. But despite the pervasiveness of this phenomenon and its geopolitical significance, our understanding of the contemporary Islamic world has remained astonishingly limited. More than half of the world's 800 million Muslims live in Asia, and yet most people continue to think of Islam as an essentially Arab phenomenon. This wide-ranging volume brings together previously unpublished writings by leading authorities on Islamic affairs to provide the fullest picture of the diverse roles played by Islam in Asian publiclife today. Central topics include how Islam is presented in the public life--government, national ideology, law, and political parties--of Asian Muslims, and the ways in which Islam influences both the domestic politics and foreign policies of Muslim countries today.

Religious resurgence and democratization have been two of the most significant developments of the last quarter of the twentieth century. Frequently they work together; other times they are at odds. In the muslim world, this relationship is of special importance because of the strength of the Islamic resurgence, and the intensity of muslim demands for greater popular participation in political processes Esposito and Voll use six case studies to look at the history of this relationship and the role played by new Islamic movements. At one end of the spectrum, Iran and Sudan represent two cases of militant, revolutionary Islam opposing the political system. In Algeria and Malaysia however, the new movements have been legally recognized and made part of the political process. The authors identify several important factors, such as the legality or illegality of the new Islamic movements and the degree to which they cooperate with existing rulers, as being key to understanding the success or failure of these movements. Still, the case studies prove that despite the commonalities, differing national contexts and identities give rise to differences in agenda and method. This broad spectrum of experience contains important lessons for understanding this complex and subtle relationship, and will also provide insight into the powerful forces of religion and democracy in a broader global context.

One of the most controversial and emotionally charged aspects of the Muslim religious resurgence has been its effect on women in Muslim societies. The essays collected in this book place the issue in its historical context and offer case studies of Muslim societies from North Africa to Southeast Asia. The volume as a whole militates against the stereotype of Muslim women as repressed, passive, and without initiative, while acknowledging the very real obstacles to women's initiatives in most of these societies.

This book examines the development of contemporary Islamic movements and thought through the biographies of nine major activist intellectuals whose work povides the core of what the Islamic resurgence became in the 1990s, and is an important foundation for what it can become in the 21st century. By profiling nine such internationally recognised figures this volume provides a new understanding of the intellectual foundations of contemporary Islamic awareness and politics. The nine figures covered are: Ismail al-Faruqi, Khurshid Ahmad, Maryam Jameelah, Hasan Hanafi, Rashid Ghannoushi, Hasan al-Turabi, Abdol Karim Soroush, Anwar Ibrahim, and Abdurrahman Wahid. These nine have contributed to some of the most significant intellectual and activist developments in the Muslim world during the 1980s and 1990s - the period during which Islamic movements became a major force in Muslim societies and international affairs. They represent a distinctive phase in the evolution of Islamic thinking: the ongoing effort to create an effective synthesis of modernity and Islamic tradition.

Islamophobia has been on the rise since September 11, as seen in countless cases of discrimination, racism, hate speeches, physical attacks, and anti-Muslim campaigns. The 2006 Danish cartoon crisis and the controversy surrounding Pope Benedict XVI's Regensburg speech have underscored the urgency of such issues as image-making, multiculturalism, freedom of expression, respect for religious symbols, and interfaith relations. The 1997 Runnymede Report defines Islamophobia as "dread, hatred, and hostility towards Islam and Muslims perpetuated by a series of closed views that imply and attribute negative and derogatory stereotypes and beliefs to Muslims." Violating the basic principles of human rights civil liberties, and religious freedom, Islamophobic acts take many different forms. In some cases, mosques, Islamic centers, and Muslim properties are attacked and desecrated. In the workplace, schools, and housing, it takes the form of suspicion, staring, hazing, mockery, rejection, stigmatizing and outright discrimination. In public places, it occurs as indirect discrimination, hate speech, and denial of access to goods and services. This collection of essays takes a multidisciplinary approach to Islamophobia, bringing together the expertise and experience of Muslim, American, and European scholars. Analysis is combined with policy recommendations. Contributors discuss and evaluate good practices already in place and offer new methods for dealing with discrimination, hatred, and racism.

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 176.With the search for extra-solar planets in full gear, it has become essential to gain a more detailed understanding of the evolution of the other earth-like planets in our own solar system. Space missions to Venus, including the Soviet Veneras, Pioneer Venus, and Magellan, provided a wealth of information about this planet' enigmatic surface and atmosphere, but left many fundamental questions about its origin and evolution unanswered.This book discusses how the study of Venus will aid our understanding of terrestrial and extra-solar planet evolution, with particular reference to surface and interior processes, atmospheric circulation, chemistry, and aeronomy. Incorporating results from the recent European Venus Express mission, Exploring Venus as a Terrestrial Planet examines the open questions and relates them to Earth and other terrestrial planets. The goal is to stimulate thinking about those broader issues as the new Venus data arrive.