Rethinking Islamism: The Ideology of the New Terror

by Meghnad Desai

Despite increasingly frantic calls - especially after the London bombings of July 7 2005 - for western leaders to 'understand Islam better', there is a still a critical distinction that needs to be made between 'Islam' as religion and 'Islamism' in the sense of militant mindset. As the author of this provocative new book sees it, it is not a more nuanced understanding of Islam that will help the western powers defeat the jihadi threat, but rather a proper understanding of Islamism: a political ideology which is quite distinct from religion. While Islamism may be draped in religious imagery and suffused by apocalyptic language, it nevertheless is similar in nature to secular ideologies of terror. And once, the author holds, this is properly appreciated, the ways to defeat it will become much better evident. Historically sophisticated and passionately argued, Rethinking Islamism makes a powerful case by a master theorist of political philosophy. It will be essential reading for students and policy-makers in the fields of politics, current affairs and religion.

Genres: Islam, Islamism

204 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Meghnad Desai is emeritus professor of economics, London School of Economics, where he was also founder and former director of the Global Governance Research Centre. He is a member of the House of Lords and chairman of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum.

Reviews

[Dr. Phoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting approach to the study of religious based terrorism (Theoterrorism). The work nevertheless, still borders upon the lamentably apologetic. The liberal bias of the author is evident and his writing is at times acerbic and laced with leftist rhetoric. Far too much time passed on international economics (The authors own field of predilection). Additionally, the author often drags India into the equation where it has little or no relevance in the discussion. Never the less there are some interesting insights. The most important is a comparative study between other forms of violent ideology and that of Islamism. There is an accusation of conflating Islam as a religion with Islamism as an ideology. We get that...however, it is naive, to say the least, not to also understand that there is a correlation between the perverse interpretations presented and the ideology. A rose is, after all a rose, thorns and all.