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RR 2013/046 World Almanac of Islamism 2011 American Foreign Policy Council Rowman & Littlefield Lanham, MD 2011 895 pp. ISBN 978 1 4422 0713 4 (print); ISBN 978 1 4422 0715 8 (e-book) £59.95 $99
Available online at http://almanac.afpc.org
Keywords Islam, Politics
Review DOI 10.1108/09504121311300325
"Islamism" is a word which may be unfamiliar to many. It is used here "to describe movements, groups and individuals which harness religious values and ideals to serve a larger political agenda aimed at spreading or imposing Islamic law, either locally, regionally or internationally". It is worth lingering on this point for this is not a book on Islam as a purely religious or cultural phenomenon. There is now a much sharper political orientation to some varieties of Islam as the five Cataloguing-in-Publication headings make clear: Islam and world politics; World politics - 1989-; Radicalism - religious aspects; Islamic fundamentalism; and Religious awakening - Islam. And although the CIP entry classifies it at 297.272, there is a case for putting it at a number for radicalism in the Politics schedules. We are told that from Western Europe to Asia, from the Middle East to the Horn of Africa, societies are finding themselves under growing assault from radical Islamist forces. "In some countries [. . .] the challenge posed [. . .] is still limited and embryonic in nature. But in others, including Somalia and Pakistan, it poses a mortal danger to the future...