Over the years, a significant discourse has emerged from a number of prominent Muslim thinkers who wish to reformulate Islamic theology and jurisprudence. This book talks about their work, on the themes of Islamic hermeneutics; Islam's relationship with mo

From the fall of the Ottoman Empire through the Arab Spring, this completely revised and updated edition of Mehran Kamrava's classic treatise on the making of the contemporary Middle East remains essential reading for students and general readers who want to gain a better understanding of this diverse region.

Since its revolution in 1979, Iran has been viewed as the bastion of radical Islam and a sponsor of terrorism. The focus on its volatile internal politics and its foreign relations has, according to Kamrava, distracted attention from more subtle transformations which have been taking place there in the intervening years. With the death of Ayatollah Khomeini a more relaxed political environment opened up in Iran, which encouraged intellectual and political debate between learned elites and religious reformers. What emerged from these interactions were three competing ideologies which Kamrava...

At a time when the forces of 'Islamic fundamentalism' appear to be the dominant face of Islam in the West, a significant discourse has emerged from a number of prominent Muslim thinkers who wish to reformulate some of the main premises of Islamic theology and jurisprudence. This book showcases the life, career and arguments of these thinkers.

Explaining the different ways in which globalising forces have shaped new dimensions to the political economy of the Persian Gulf states, this book evaluates the changes that have occurred, especially in light of the ongoing global economic crisis.

The phenomenal growth of the countries of the Persian Gulf over the last two decades has been made possible through the labour of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers of all stripes and backgrounds from all over the world. Migrant Labour in the Persian Gulf is a multi disciplinary examination of the causes and consequences of this process.

The last decade has witnessed an explosion of popular and scholarly attention focussed on nuclear issues around the globe and especially in the Middle East. The Nuclear Question in the Middle East combines thematic and theoretical discussions regarding nuclear weapons and nuclear energy with case studies from across the region.

The Arab Spring occurred within the context of the unraveling of the dominant 'ruling bargain' that emerged across the Middle East in the 1950s. This is being replaced by a new and in- choate system that redefines sources of author- ity and legitimacy through various devices (such as constitutions), experiences, and processes (mass protests, civil wars, and elections), by reassessing the roles, functions, and at times the structures of institutions (political parties and organisations, the armed forces, the executive); and by the initiative of key personalities and actors (agency). Across...

The 2011 Arab uprisings precipitated the relatively quick collapse of a number of Middle Eastern states once perceived as invincible. The Tunisian and Egyptian states succumbed to revolution-ary upheavals early on, followed by that of Qadhafi's Libya. Yemen's President Saleh was also eventually forced to give up power. A bloody civil war continues to rage in Syria. These uprisings highlighted weaknesses in the capacity and legitimacy of states across the Arab Middle East. This book provides a comprehensive study of state weakness - or of 'weak states' - across the Greater Middle East. No...