Call for Book Chapters: “Islam and Politics in the 21st Century”

This book will address different perspectives on the future of political Islam in light of its failure to develop a genuine political ideology that reflect their criticism of nation-state and its secular foundations. Articles will focus on conceptual debates and/or country-specific studies presenting single or comparative analyses of different experiences across the MENA region.

Political Islam has been the focus of academic debates on Middle East politics for several decades, particularly following the Arab uprisings. Islamists emerged as the most organized group and perhaps the sole alternative to the traditional ruling elite in the MENA region. Yet, their short-lived ruling experience in Egypt and contested authority in Tunisia and Libya gave rise to debates on the future of political Islam in the Middle East.

Following the wide public unrests across the region, debates over Islamists’ ruling experience revealed contested visions and uncertain perspectives about political Islam as a power of change. While unrests toppled four dictators and witnessed the consolidation of the Islamic opposition, the unsettled Islamic post-revolutionary rule and the authoritarian revival brought the failure of political Islam to the fore. Contrary to widespread belief that predicted the failure of political Islam in the 1990s, the region witnessed local Islamic resistance both on the political and societal levels. However, the Islamists’ inability to sustain their rule raises questions about the possibility of developing an alternative to the nation-state’s modern development discourse and reconsidering Islamists’ political discourse.

To this end, this book will encompass distinguished scholarly articles addressing different perspectives on the future of political Islam in light of its failure to develop a genuine political ideology that reflect their criticism of nation-state and its secular foundations. Articles would focus on conceptual debates and/or country-specific studies presenting single or comparative analyses of different experiences across the MENA region.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Nation State and Religion in the Middle East
  • Neocolonialism and local/national resistance
  • Political culture: repression and contested modernity
  • Mobilization and the reemergence of new imagined communities challenging the status quo and the traditional order
  • National boundaries vs. Identity boundaries
  • Alternatives for a nation-state?
• The Arab Spring: A Turning point in the struggle between Nation State-Islamists
  • Competing Intellectual/ideological visions
  • Marginalized communities and Public Sphere
  • Power Relations and Religious/Islamic actors
  • The Global Order and national politics
  • Arab Spring: a public unrest or conspiracy?
  • Sectarianism as a state policy
• Case studies on the leading political Islamist movements in the MENA region (i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Jordan, Ennahda in Tunisia, the Justice and Development Party/ National Vision movement in Turkey, Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Justice and Benevolence Party and the Justice and Development Party in Morocco and the Sunni Insurgency in Iraq in addition to radical Islamist groups like the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda).

Submission Procedure

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit an abstract by June 30, 2021 clearly explaining the research question and the core methodology of their proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by July 15, 2021 about the status of their proposals. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by November 30, 2021.  For editorial correspondence, please contact Dr. Ayfer Erdogan at ayfererdoan@yahoo.com and Dr. Shaimaa Magued at  shaimaamagued@feps.edu.eg

Important Data

Book Tittle: Islam and Politics in the 21^st Century: Competitive discourses and Future Uncertainties

Contact Email: ayfererdoan@yahoo.com

Contact Info: For editorial correspondence, please contact Dr. Ayfer Erdogan at ayfererdoan@yahoo.com and Dr. Shaimaa Magued at  shaimaamagued@feps.edu.eg