Book Review: Miwa Hirono, Civilizing Missions: International Religious Agencies in China (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, 262 pp., £58.00 hbk)
| Date | 01 September 2011 |
| Published date | 01 September 2011 |
| Author | Brett Bowden |
| DOI | 10.1177/03058298110400011223 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
224 Millennium: Journal of International Studies 40(1)
of students in government school (public) and 26 percent in private schools’ (p. 29).
These figures are significant, as they exhibit an unfavourable public attitude towards
madrassah enrolment. The third chapter presents the key argument of the book on the
putative links between religious educational centres and militancy. Fair enumerates the
works of Marc Sageman, Alan Krueger, Peter Bergen and Claude Berrebi, for example,
to counter the claim that ‘madrassahs are involved in the production of militants in
Pakistan and elsewhere’ (p. 67). This argument is based on the evidence gathered by
‘supply-side’ studies that include an examination of the background of known militants.
Fair concludes, using ‘supply-side’ findings, that ‘in general militants are not under-
educated or from madrassahs’ (p. 69). With this said, it would be naïve to think that
madrassahs play no role in promoting militancy or jihad – Fair’s research shows that
madrassah students may not be among the prominent international terrorists; however,
they do provide suicide attackers for the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. The con-
cluding chapters discuss the various reforms that have taken place since 9/11, such as
the role of Pakistan’s government in curbing militancy and the initiatives taken for
restricting madrassahs in promoting jihadi rhetoric. Thus, madrassahs may have cre-
ated an environment for furthering the causes of the jihadis on a regional and sectarian
basis, but Fair’s study does not find that they are the primary generators of international
terrorist acts.
One of the strengths of this book is the detailed quantitative data collected and ana-
lysed by Fair. The foreword provided by Hussein Haqqani, Pakistan’s Ambassador to
the United States, is informative in providing a historical background for a neophyte to
the discourse of madrassahs and their roots in Pakistan. In conclusion, Fair’s benchmark
study on Pakistani madrassahs has laid the groundwork for academics and students
interested in the study of Islamic religious institutes. This book is a valuable guide for
policy- and decision-makers – especially for understanding the structure of these
religious institutes.
Farah Jan
Farah Jan is a PhD candidate in Political Science, Rutgers University, USA.
Miwa Hirono, Civilizing Missions: International Religious Agencies in China (Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2008, 262 pp., £58.00 hbk).
Miwa Hirono’s book is the work of a highly accomplished scholar. Based on research for
a doctorate in International Relations, her book successfully reaches well beyond the
discipline. While theoretically grounded, it is also the result of significant archival
research and extensive on-site fieldwork at various locations in China, as well as in Hong
Kong and Japan. Hirono’s primary aim in the book is to compare the work of Christian
missionaries in China in the early 20th century with the more recent work done by inter-
national Christian non-governmental organisations in the same country. Ultimately, she
seeks to ‘critically assess the idea of the Christian “civilizing mission” over time’ – in a
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