The Islamic world has experienced extensive social changes in modern times the rise of new social classes, the formation of massive bureaucratic and military states, and the incorporation of its economies into the world capitalist structure. Yet despite these changes, a national consensus on even the most important principles of social organization the form of government, the status of women, national identity, and rule making has yet to emerge.
An ambitious comparative historical analysis of ideological production in the Islamic world from the mid-1800s to the present, Mansoor Moaddel's...

A common weakness of many current dominant theories of revolution, argues author Mansoor Moaddel, is their exclusion of the role of ideology. He examines the Iranian revolution, highlighting class politics and contention for power within the context of changing the ideological relation between the state and civil society.

Also available in paperback as "Modernist and Fundamentalist Debates in Islam"During the second half of the nineteenth century, a group of prominent Muslim theologians began to critically examine classical conceptions and methods of jurisprudence and devised a new approach to Islamic theology. This new approach was nothing short of an outright rebellion against Islamic orthodoxy, displaying an astonishing compatibility with nineteenth century Enlightenment-era thought. In the 20th century this modernist movement declined, to be replaced by another cultural episode, characterized by the...

The history of the Islamic movement in Jordan displays glaring contrasts with its counterparts in other Islamic countries like Egypt, Iran and Syria. In a marked departure from the frequent and bloody confrontations that have characterized the relationship between the state and Islamic opposition in these countries, the Jordanian Muslim Brothers have been nonviolent, and often defended the state vis-a-vis the challenges of radical ideologies. Following the democratization process by late King Hussein, the Muslim Brothers participated in the 1989 elections. To reconcile their belief in the...

Addressing values and politics in the Muslim world, this pioneering volume examines attitudes towards democracy and politics, self-expression and traditional values, convergence and divergence of values between the elite and the publics of Islamic and European countries, political and economic consequences of religious beliefs, perceptions of outsiders and xenophobia, family and health, all topics of interests to sociology, political science, history, and Middle Eastern and Islamic studies.

Addressing values and politics in the Muslim world, this pioneering volume examines attitudes towards democracy and politics, self-expression and traditional values, convergence and divergence of values between the elite and the publics of Islamic and European countries.

In Religious Fundamentalism in the Middle East, Moaddel and Karabenick analyze fundamentalist beliefs and attitudes across nations (Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia), faith (Christianity and Islam), and ethnicity (Azari-Turks, Kurds, and Persians among Iranians), using comparative survey data. For them, fundamentalism is not just a set of religious beliefs. It is rather a set of beliefs about and attitudes toward whatever religious beliefs one has. In this analysis, the authors show that fundamentalist beliefs and attitudes vary across national contexts and individual...

Although many have tried, the spontaneity of the Arab Spring uprisings and the unpredictability of its diverse geographical outcomes have resisted explanation. For social scientists, part of the challenge has been how to effectively measure and analyze the empirical data, while another obstacle has been a lack of attention to the worldviews, value orientations, and long-term concerns from the people of the Middle East and North Africa.
In order to meet these challenges head-on, Mansoor Moaddel and Michele J. Gelfand have assembled an international team of experts to explore and employ a...