Islam and the myth of confrontation : religion and politics in the Middle East / Fred Halliday.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Halliday, Fred

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Islam and state.

Relations.

Middle East--Politics and government--1979-.

Middle East.

Politics and government.

Middle East--Relations.

Middle East--Religion.

Religion.

Islam and state--Middle East.

Islam and politics--Middle East.

Islam and politics.

Islamic countries--Politics and government.

Islamic countries.

Islamic countries--Relations.

Middle East Region.

Physical Description:

xv, 255 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

New edition.

Other Title:

Islam & the myth of confrontation

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : I.B. Tauris ; New York : In the U.S. and Canada distributed by Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Summary:

Spiralling violence in the Middle East, the ever-present echoes of Jihadist extremism and President George Bush's identification of an 'axis of evil' have all raised the spectre of a future dominated by the conflict between 'Islam' and 'the West'. From theories such as Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilizations to the anti-Western rhetoric of many Muslim militants themselves, this image of confrontation has come to be widely accepted. At the same time, the many issues afflicting the Middle East itself are widely seen as reflecting the influence of Islam on the politics and society of this region. Fred Halliday sets out to reject these interpretations in this classic work, revised to encompass the crucially important events of recent months. Considering the sources of Islamic militancy and analyzing the confrontational rhetoric of both Islamic and anti-Muslim demagogues, he provides an alternative, critical but cautious, reassessment. The Middle East, he argues, can be treated neither as a distinct nor as a unified region, but must be seen as a set of disparate societies, facing and reacting to the problems of economic development and political change.

Contents:

Part 1 Interpreting the Middle East

1 The Middle East and International Politics 11

2 The Iranian Revolution in Comparative Perspective 42

3 The Gulf War, 1990-91 76

Part 2 Myths of Confrontation

4 Islam and the West: 'Threat of Islam' or 'Threat to Islam'? 107

5 Human Rights and the Islamic Middle East: Universalism and Relativism 133

6 Anti-Muslimism and Contemporary Politics: One Ideology or Many? 160

7 Conclusion: 'Orientalism' and its Critics 195.

Notes:

First published: 1996.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 218-248) and index.

ISBN:

1860648681

OCLC:

50054991