The Borders of Islam (Paperback)

Stig Jarle Hansen

ISBN 10: 1850659737 / ISBN 13: 9781850659730

Published by C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd, London, 2009

About this Item

Paperback. In his seminal work "The Clash of Civilisations", Harvard professor Samuel P. Huntington claimed that conflict between cultural blocs, or civilizations, will dominate the future. More controversially, he predicted that future conflicts will occur on the borders between Western and Islamic civilisations. The statements of Osama Bin-Laden seem to support his views: 'This battle is not between al-Qaeda and the US,' he said in October 2001. 'This is a battle of Muslims against the Global Crusaders. 'This specially commissioned set of essays sets out critically to examine the border zones of Islamic civilisation, be they geographical, cultural or virtual. The contributors explore the local dynamics in these zones to test whether or not they support or contradict Huntingdon's thesis of an emerging global confrontation between Islamic civilisation and its neighbours, be they Christian, Hindu, Buddhist or godless.Among the borders discussed are those where Muslims are the majority (Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Somalia,Pakistan, Turkey), those with very large Muslim minorities (Philippines, Nigeria, India) and those where new faultlines have been created, either through migration (France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain) or technology (the internet). A commonthread running through the book is whether the rise of international Salafi jihadism can be traced to countries on the faultline between Islam and the non-Islamic world. The contributors conclude by arguing that many of the border regions of Islamic civilisation are influenced by mechanisms far more complex than those highlighted in "The Clash of Civilisations", suggesting that poverty and institutional failure, both often the result of war, tend to heighten religious awareness and practice, but that the effects of these phenomena differ from those suggested by Huntington. Offers a set of essays that examines the border zones of Islamic civilisation, be they geographical, cultural or virtual. This book explores the local dynamics in these zones to test whether or not they support or contradict professor Samuel P Huntingdon's thesis of an emerging global confrontation between Islamic civilisation and its neighbours. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781850659730

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Borders of Islam (Paperback)
• Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd, London
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1850659737
• ISBN 13: 9781850659730
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

The Borders of Islam gives an insider’s view of the so-called “Islam’s bloody borders” through an examination of the countries that straddle two cultures/civilizations from across various regions. The book makes an enormous contribution to debates on “clash of civilizations” by critically examining various cases of war and conflict, which is one of the key elements of the thesis formulated by Samuel Huntington and popularized by the media. Hansen, Mesoy and Kardas take on Huntington’s main thesis with an aim to falsify it. The book stands out as one of the strongest counter-arguments to the main premises of the clash of civilizations thesis. It does so by arguing that the clash sometimes is constructed, as is the case of various internal and external conflicts taking place in and around Iraq, or it neglects the division within the Islamic civilization, as is the case with Lebanon where the Sunnis have a different agenda than the Shiite Muslims, or that the clash between M