Introduction to Comparative Government, Update by Curtis, Michael (August 9, 2005) Paperback 5

by Mark A. Kishlansky

8vo. underlining in text

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Mark Alan Kishlansky (1948-2015) was a historian of seventeenth-century British politics. He was the Frank Baird, Jr. Professor of History at Harvard University.

He completed his undergraduate degree at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1970 and proceeded to graduate study under David Underdown at Brown University, receiving his M.A. in 1972 and his Ph. D. in 1977. From 1975 to 1991 he taught at the University of Chicago, successively as instructor and professor. From 1990 to 1991 he was a member of the Committee on Social Thought. He was a visiting professor at Northwestern University in 1983 and was the Mellon Visiting Professor in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the California Institute of Technology in 1990-1991. In 1991 he became a professor at Harvard University and from 1998 to 2001 served as Associate Dean of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. He was editor of the Journal of British Studies from 1984 to 1991 and editor-in-chief of History Compass from 2003 to 2009

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

An overview of the British institutions and politics. Very didactic, but the edition I read (1986) of course is outdated by now (there are more recent ones!)

[Benjamin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has at least one error: Bin Laden, al Qaeda, etc. are not Wahhabists.

Wahhabism is a fundamentalist version of Islam, and is also known as muwahhidun (unitarian) or Salafist (companions of the Prophet). It developed in Saudi Arabia mid 18th Century
and reached the Trucial States (future UAE) around 1800.
Saudi Arabia built Wahhabi mosques around the world in response to the 1979 Iranian (Shi’ite) revolution and increased Arab emigration. Saudi Arabia now supports 90% of the global costs of Islam, yet only contains 1% of Muslims.
Bin Laden, al Qaeda, etc. are actually takfiris. Takfir essentially means excommunication. Muslims who oppose the takfiris are not considered true believers, and can therefore be killed. Takfir emerged from Egypt, not Saudi Arabia, and most victims of takfiri violence are Muslims

Curtis, 2006, 511; Davidson, 2005, 24-5; Sageman, 2008, 39, 105; Wright, 2006, 34, 72, 170