Review: The Middle East: Friends in Need
| Published date | 01 December 1998 |
| Date | 01 December 1998 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209805300429 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
Reviews
quality
of
its
scholarship
and
analy-
That
diversity
is
well
illustrated
sis,
this volume
will
be
invaluable
in
this
book,
in
analyses
of
the
con-
not
only
to
students
and
academics,
servative
and
pro-Western
govern-
but
also
to policy-makers
and
busi-
ment
of
Saudi
Arabia
and
of
the
nessmen charged
with
pursuing
revolutionary
and
anti-Western
those interests
on behalf
of
their
governments
of
Iran
and
the
Sudan,
governments
or
their
corporations.
all
of
which
lay
claim
to being
Islamic.
That
same
diversity
is evi-
POLITICAL
ISLAM
dent
in
the
studies
of
opposition
Revolution,
radicalism or
reform?
movements:
the
Islamists
in
Algeria
Edited
by
John
L.
Esposito
are
pursuing
their
political
objec-
Boulder
CO:
Lynne
Rienner,
1997,
228
tives
by
means
of
a
bloody
insurrec-
pp, US$55.00
cloth,
US$19.95
paper
tion
which
has
cost
tens
of
thou-
sands
of
lives
whereas
their
counter-
Over the
last
twenty
years,
few
parts
in
Pakistan
have
been
operat-
Western
scholars
have
done
as
much
ing
peacefully
within
the
normal
as
John
Esposito to
explore,
analyse,
political
process
for
fifty
years.
The
and
explain
the
phenomenon
chapters
dealing
with
the
Arab-
known
as
political
Islam.
In
a
series
Israeli
peace
process
and
with
rela-
of
books
and
articles
notable
for
tions
among
Islamist
groups
are
their
outstanding
scholarship,
he
has
particularly
valuable
for
the
insights
been
at
pains
to
demonstrate
the
fal-
they
provide
into
the
intellectual
lacies
inherent
in
popular
Western
foundations
of
political
Islam.
images
which
portray
political
Islam
This
is
a
work
which
can be
rec-
as
either
a
monolithic
movement
or
ommended
to
specialists
and
gener-
as
one
primarily
characterized
by
alists
alike.
violence
or
terrorism.
Esposito
in his
introduction
to
his
most
recent
edit-
FRIENDS
IN
NEED
ed
work,
returns
to
this
theme:
'As
Burden
sharing
in
the
Persian
Gulf
this
collection
of
essays
demon-
War
strates,
political
Islam
takes
many
Edited
by
Andrew
Bennett,
Joseph
shapes
and
forms,
affecting
domestic
Lepgold,
and
Danny
Unger
as
well
as
international
affairs.
Islam-
New
York:
St
Martin's,
1997,
vi,
362
ic
activists
and
movements
are
as
pp,
US$55.00
diverse
as
the leadership,
govern-
ments,
and
local
religious,
political
One
of
the most
remarkable
and
socioeconomic
realities
of
the
achievements
of
twentieth
century
Muslim
world.'
American
diplomacy
was
the
coali
802
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Autumn
1998
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