The Christian-Muslim Frontier: A Zone of Contact, Conflict or Co-operation

This book explores the complex social and political relationship of the frontier between Christianity and Islam, arguing that it should be understand as a zone of contact rather than a distinct line of confrontation.

Religion has always been used to build political organizations-from the multi-ethnic empires of the Byzanitines, Arabs, Ottomans, Austrians, and Russians to the present-day nation states. This book explores the complex social and political relationship of the frontier between Christianity and Islam, arguing that it should be understand as a zone of contact rather than a distinct line of confrontation.

The Christian-Muslim Frontier describes the historical formation of this zone, and its contemporary dimensions: geopolitical, psychological, economic, and security. Special attention is given to the concept of state-frontiers, to the effects of the uneven development of nation states and the contemporary interspersing of communities, which creates new functional frontiers. Further, the frontier is described as a mental construction, imagined by people in their search for social order, individual and collective security.
Apostolov demonstrates that it is the political and economic situation of the local people that determines whether these frontiers result in conflict or cooperation. Rather than imposing unilateral principles of good governance, and to ensure cooperation prevails in Christian-Muslim relations, he argues that world society needs to undertake multilateral efforts to build participatory political institutions that accommodate groups with different identities.

About the Author

Mario Apostolov currently works for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. He is also a visiting scholar at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, where he took his PhD.

Table of Contents

       Introduction

1. The Concept of the Christian-Muslim Frontier as a Zone of Contact
2. History of the Christian-Muslim Frontier
3. Modern Nation States and the Frontier
4. Interspersing Communities and the Postmodern Functional Frontier
5. Geopolitics of the Frontier
6. The Christian-Muslim Frontier as a Psychological Creation
7. International Security Dimension of the Frontier
8. The Economic Dimension of the Frontier

      Conclusion

Bibliographic Information

Title: The Christian-Muslim Frontier: A Zone of Contact, Conflict or Co-operation

Author (s): Mario Apostolov

Publisher: ‎ ‎ ‎ Routledge

Length: 206 pages

ISBN:‎ 978-0415302814

Pub. Date: September 25, 2003

The Christian-Muslim Frontier