The Politics of Islamic Reassertion [Paperback]

The Iranian Revolution has catalysed the preconceptions holding sway in the Western World about the character of Islam and its politics, based as they are on a mixture of imagined cultural superiority and a latent fear of a resurgence similar to the Arab conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries of the long Ottoman domination of Eastern Europe.

This book constitutes a counterweight to such monolithic perceptions of Islam. It surveys the nature of opinion and of government in the larger Muslim regions of the world, and the position of Muslims in states where they are not the dominant population. Each contributor expresses his own assessment of the regional data, and the editors concluding chapter draws together the threads of a work which will form an important contribution to international understanding and a first breach in the Green Curtain dividing East and West.

First published in 1981.

Preface.  1. Introduction: The Myth of the MonolithMohammed Ayoob  Part 1. The Arab Heartland  2. Saudi Arabia Ronald R. MacIntyre  3. Egypt, Syria and Iraq Robert Springborg  Part 2. The Arab Periphery  4. North Africa K. R. Singh  Part 3. Non-Arab West Asia  5. Turkey T. B. Millar 6. Iran Kambiz Afrachteh 7. Afghanistan Beverley M. Male 8. Pakistan William L. Richter Part 4. Southeast Asia  9. Malaysia John Funston  10. IndonesiaHarold Crouch Part 5. The Minorities  11. The Philippines R. J. May 12. Thailand Astri Suhrke. 12 The Soviet Union Geoffrey Jukes. 14. Conclusion: The Discerniblelch