Islam, Is and the Fragmented State: The Challenges of Political Islam in the Mena Region

This book provides a pioneering and original study of the regional effects of political Islam. It sets out the multifaceted interactions between Islam and politics in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, focussing in particular on the so-called Islamic State (IS) organization in its broad discussion of political Islam. Utilizing a trans-disciplinary perspective, the book interacts with social constructivism and complex realism theories to analyse the clash between the modern notion of the state and that of identity in the region.

Looking at issues such as the rise of IS and its attempts to establish a caliphate, the book offers three different, yet complementary, levels of analysis for its discussion. These being: Regional (dis)order, the erosion of state power and its boundaries, and the role of non-state actors in shaping the politics of the MENA region. Each of these levels are addressed in detail in turn in order to build a comprehensive picture of state and political Islam in the Arab core of the MENA region. What emerges is a comprehensive analysis of the interlinked relationships between political and Islamic elements of Arab polities and societies.

As such, this book will be of great interest to academics and policymakers focusing on matters relating to the study of Islam, Islam and politics, study of religion more broadly, and security studies and area studies, particularly in the MENA region.

Anoushiravan Ehteshami is Professor of International Relations in the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University. He is the Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah Chair in International Relations and Director of the HH Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah Programme in International Relations, Regional Politics and Security. He is, further, Director of the Institute for Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies (IMEIS) at Durham, one of the oldest and noted centres of excellence in Middle Eastern studies in Europe. He acts as Co-director (2016-2021) of the £3.9 million AHRC-funded Open Worlds Initiative entitled Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community.

Juline Beaujouan received her PhD from Durham University where she was awarded an al-Sabah doctoral fellowship and acted as a member of the AHRC-funded Open Worlds Initiative entitled Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community. She is now a member of the Political Settlements Research Programme (PSRP), based at the University of Edinburgh, where she researches trust-building between ethnical and religious communities in Iraq and Lebanon. Juline is the co-editor and contributor to the volume Syrian Crisis, Syrian Refugees - Voices from Jordan and Lebanon (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2020).

Amjed Rasheed is a Research Fellow in the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University, and a member of the AHRC-funded Open Worlds Initiative entitled Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community. He is also a senior researcher and a board member of Open Think Tank (OTT) in Iraqi Kurdistan. Amjed is the co-editor and contributor to the volume Syrian Crisis, Syrian Refugees - Voices from Jordan and Lebanon (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2020).