Religion and Politics in the Middle East: Identity, Ideology, Institutions, and Attitudes

by Robert D. Lee

This innovative book analyzes the interaction of politics and religion in the Middle East through a comparative study of four countries—Egypt, Israel, Turkey, and Iran. Author Robert D. Lee examines each country in terms of four areas in which state and religion necessarily interact: group identity, ideology, institutions, and political culture. He also considers twenty-five commonly encountered (but often contradictory) hypotheses asserting that religion is either an obstacle or an aid to political development, or that religion is largely irrelevant to the development process. The author concludes that politics shapes religion as much or more than religion shapes politics. The nature of religious organization and practice in the Middle East cannot be understood without reference to a national political context.

Genres: Middle East

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reads like an especially bad term paper. Very repetitive, poorly edited, sometimes even guilty of word usage I can't begin to explain. I did appreciate the concept: politics and religion play off of each other in very different ways.