Islamism in the Modern World - A Historical Approach

About this book

Islamism in the Modern World is an accessible, student-oriented introduction to the debates surrounding the historic origins of contemporary Islamism. It explores controversies surrounding contemporary Islamists' indebtedness to various European and Islamic thinkers, as well as situating debates concerning the relationship between political Islam, violence, and democracy in a historical context. W. J. Berridge examines the continuities, discontinuities, and impacts of long-term social, economic, and political change on the nature of Islamism as an ideology. Readers are encouraged to subject the claims of current commentators to historical analysis, exploring the complexities of the relationship between Islamist and European thinkers—whether classical, Renaissance, or modern liberal, fascist, or Marxist. The book understands political Islam in the longue durée, comparing medieval, early modern, and modern Islamist thinkers, as well as discussing the compatibility of Islamism—and, indeed, Islam itself—with supposedly 'Western' values such as democracy, feminism, and human rights.