Book Review: Middle East: Islam and International Relations
| Author | L. M. Kenny |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206602100342 |
| Date | 01 September 1966 |
| Published date | 01 September 1966 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
406
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Middle
East
ISLAM
AND
INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS.
Edited
by
J
Harris
Proctor.
1965.
(New York:
Frederick
A.
Praeger.
Toronto:
Burns
&
MacEachern.
viii,
2 2
1pp.
$9.00)
The
complex
and
controversial
question
of
the
influence
of
the
religion
of
Islam
ui
the realm
of
international
relations
is
examined
in
this
symposium
by
a
group
of
distinguished scholars. Although
they
have
not
agreed
on
the
extent
to
which
Islam
is a
factor
in
determin-
ing
the foreign
policy
of
Muslim
nations,
one comes
away
from
the
book
with the
impression,
shared
by
the
reviewer,
that
the role
of
Islam
in
this
area
is
largely
a
negative
one.
The
decisive
factors
in
the
fromulation
of
policy
with
respect
to
communism, as pointed
out
by
Dankworth
Rostow
in
his
essay
or
in
the
adoption
of
neutralism,
as
set
forth
by
Fayez
Savegh,
or
in
the
conduct of
affairs
by
the
newly
emergent African
states,
as
examined
by
Vernon
McKay
are
not
those
dictated
by
Islam,
but
by
national
interests.
However,
as
indicated
by
H.
A.
R.
Gibb
with respect
to
Arab
socialism,
political leaders
do
have
"to
link
their
policies
with
the
only
system
of
universal
ideas congenial to
the
minds
of
their
people,
that
is
Islam"
(p.
21).
This
is
especially
so
in
the
realm
of
internal
affairs,
to
which
those
writers
arguing
for
the
formative
role
of
Islam,
for
example
Bayard
Dodge
and
P J.
Vatikiotis,
devote
a
good
deal
of
space,
an
area
which
is
irrelevant
to
the
subject
of
the
book,
however.
Nevertheless,
Islam
may
be
used
as
an
instrument
of
foreign
policy
to achieve
national
ends
or
to
justify
certain
courses
of
action,
an
ex-
pedient
frequently
adopted
by
the
United
Arab
Republic.
Little
evidence
is
at
hand
to
support
Dodge's
contention
that
"the
conception of
Islam
(that
is,
the
Muslim
World) as
a
third
world
power
is-something
very
positive"
(p.
118).
To
assert
that
"the
Arab
Revolt-
(although)
opposed
to
the
holy
war,-was
nevertheless re-
lated
to
Islam,
since
the leader
of
the
Arabs
was Grand
Sharif
Husayn
of
Mecca,
a
descendant
of
the
Prophet
Muhammad
and
guardian
of
the
holy
Muslim
shrines"
(p.
104)
is
merely
to
show
the
hollowness
of
the
claim.
T.
Cuyler
Young,
in
the
final
essay
on
"Pan-Islamism
in
the
Modern
World,
argues
that
it
is
chiefly
religious
and
cultural
concerns
which
occupy
the
attention
of
those
interested
in
strengthen-
ing
the
world-wide
bonds
of
Islam.
University
of
Toronto
L.
M. KENNY
MODERN
IRAN.
By
Peter
Avery
1965.
(London:
Ernest
Benn.
Toronto:
General
Publishing.
xvi,
506pp.
$13.95)
All
students
of
Persian
history
will be
grateful
to
Mr. Avery
for
his study
of
the
emergence
of
modern
Iran.
His
book
contains
a
wealth
of
factual
material,
but
it is
probably
most
valuable
for
the
author's
understanding
of
the
way
Persians
think
and
act-an
understanding
based
on
long
acquaintance
with
and
residence
in
Iran.
The
insight
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