"The volume edited by Mark Tessler addresses a set of critical issues confronting all social scientists whose field of inquiry is extra-American.... Tessler and his contributors succeed admirably in their goal." --American Historical Review

How should scholars construct knowledge about politics, economics, and international relations in major world regions? According to the contributors to this lively volume, the conflicting approaches of regional specialists and discipline-oriented social scientists must be combined to provide a firm foundation for studying the contemporary politics...

"It is difficult to imagine a more thoughtful, balanced, or comprehensive treatment of this extremely elusive and difficult subject." Digest of Middle East Studies

This second edition of a widely acclaimed collection of essays reports on how new media fax machines, satellite television, and the Internet and the new uses of older media cassettes, pulp fiction, the cinema, the telephone, and the press shape belief, authority, and community in the Muslim world. The chapters in this work, including new chapters dealing specifically with events after September 11, 2001, concern Indonesia,...

..". Will] have an impact on two important fields of scholarship: social movement theory and the study of Islamic activist movements." --John Voll, Georgetown University

This volume represents the first comprehensive attempt to incorporate the study of Islamic activism into social movement theory. It argues that the dynamics, processes, and organization of Islamic activism can be understood as important elements of contention that transcend the specificity of "Islam" as a system of meaning and identity and a basis for collective action. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, the...

Throughout the Middle East, Islamist charities and social welfare organizations play a major role in addressing the socioeconomic needs of Muslim societies, independently of the state. Through case studies of Islamic medical clinics in Egypt, the Islamic Center Charity Society in Jordan, and the Islah Women's Charitable Society in Yemen, Janine A. Clark examines the structure and dynamics of moderate Islamic institutions and their social and political impact. Questioning the widespread assumption that such organizations primarily serve the poorer classes, Clark argues that these...

These essays describe with unusual immediacy the unfolding obstacles to peace between Egypt and Israel, with a central focus on the Palestine issue. In one especially powerful chapter, the writings of an Arab woman from Nazareth eloquently testify to the difficulties of life for the Palestinians under Israeli rule. Other chapters treat Israeli policies in the West Bank and Gaza, the impact of Israeli politics on the peace issue, and the Palestinians' response to the occupation.

Mark Tessler's highly praised, comprehensive, and balanced history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the earliest times to the present--updated through the first years of the 21st century--provides a constructive framework for understanding recent developments and assessing the prospects for future peace. Drawing upon a wide array of documents and on research by Palestinians, Israelis, and others, Tessler assesses the conflict on both the Israelis' and the Palestinians' terms. New chapters in this expanded edition elucidate the Oslo peace process, including the reasons for its...

Some of the most pressing questions in the Middle East and North Africa today revolve around the proper place of Islamic institutions and authorities in governance and political affairs. Drawing on data from 42 surveys carried out in fifteen countries between 1988 and 2011, representing the opinions of more than 60,000 men and women, this study investigates the reasons that some individuals support a central role for Islam in government while others favor a separation of religion and politics. Utilizing his newly constructed Carnegie Middle East Governance and Islam Dataset, which has been...