Political Islam In Central Asia

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Islam in Central Asia and the Caucasus Since the Fall of the Soviet Union

Author : Bayram Balci
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 019091727X
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (99 download)

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Book Synopsis Islam in Central Asia and the Caucasus Since the Fall of the Soviet Union by : Bayram Balci

Download or read book Islam in Central Asia and the Caucasus Since the Fall of the Soviet Union written by Bayram Balci and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2018-11-15 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, a major turning point in all former Soviet republics, Central Asian and Caucasian countries began to reflect on their history and identities. As a consequence of their opening up to the global exchange of ideas, various strains of Islam and trends in Islamic thought have nourished the Islamic revival that had already started in the context of glasnost and perestroika--from Turkey, Iran, the Arabian Peninsula, and from the Indian subcontinent; the four regions with strong ties to Central Asian and Caucasian Islam in the years before Soviet occupation. Bayram Balci seeks to analyse how these new Islamic influences have reached local societies and how they have interacted with pre-existing religious belief and practice. Combining exceptional erudition with rare first-hand research, Balci's book provides a sophisticated account of both the internal dynamics and external influences in the evolution of Islam in the region.

Chaos, Violence, Dynasty

Author : Eric McGlinchey
Publisher : University of Pittsburgh Pre
ISBN 13 : 0822977478
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (229 download)

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Book Synopsis Chaos, Violence, Dynasty by : Eric McGlinchey

Download or read book Chaos, Violence, Dynasty written by Eric McGlinchey and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2011-09-30 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the post-Soviet era, democracy has made little progress in Central Asia. In Chaos, Violence, Dynasty, Eric McGlinchey presents a compelling comparative study of the divergent political courses taken by Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan in the wake of Soviet rule. McGlinchey examines economics, religion, political legacies, foreign investment, and the ethnicity of these countries to evaluate the relative success of political structures in each nation. McGlinchey explains the impact of Soviet policy on the region, from Lenin to Gorbachev. Ruling from a distance, a minimally invasive system of patronage proved the most successful over time, but planted the seeds for current “neo-patrimonial” governments. The level of direct Soviet involvement during perestroika was the major determinant in the stability of ensuing governments. Soviet manipulations of the politics of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in the late 1980s solidified the role of elites, while in Kyrgyzstan the Soviets looked away as leadership crumbled during the ethnic riots of 1990. Today, Kyrgyzstan is the poorest and most politically unstable country in the region, thanks to a small, corrupt, and fractured political elite. In Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov maintains power through the brutal suppression of disaffected Muslims, who are nevertheless rising in numbers and influence. In Kazakhstan, a political machine fueled by oil wealth and patronage underlies the greatest economic equity in the region, and far less political violence. McGlinchey’s timely study calls for a more realistic and flexible view of the successful aspects of authoritarian systems in the region that will be needed if there is to be any potential benefit from foreign engagement with the nations of Central Asia, and similar political systems globally.

Political Islam in Central Asia

Author : Emmanuel Karagiannis
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 113523941X
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (352 download)

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Book Synopsis Political Islam in Central Asia by : Emmanuel Karagiannis

Download or read book Political Islam in Central Asia written by Emmanuel Karagiannis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-12-04 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The terrorist attacks in the United States on 9/11 and the U.S.-led military campaign against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan have intensified scrutiny of radical Islamic groups across Central Asia. This books offers one of the first comprehensive studies of the activities of one of the most feared - but least understood - inernational Islamist organizations in post-Soviet Central Asia: Hizb ut-Tahrir, that is The Party of Islamic Liberation. By utilizing social movement theory, the book analyses political Islam in Central Asia in general, and the phenomenon of Hizb ut-Tahrir in particular. It reveals the critical role of its ideology (based on a selective interpretation of Islamic theology and history) in the party’s recruiting success. Using primary sources, including the group’s publications and documents, official reports, alongside interviews with scholars, security experts, mullahs, journalists, diplomats, government officials and group members, it covers the rise of political Islam in the post-Soviet Central Asia, alongside the origins and current status of Hizb ut-Tahrir - its leadership, ideology, political methodology and party structure and its rise in the region from Kazakhstan to Russia and China. Although the organization has received less international examination partly because it has advocated a non-violent approach toward its goals, this book sketches its prospective future relationship to violence in this key region.

Islam, Society, and Politics in Central Asia

Author : Pauline Jones
Publisher : University of Pittsburgh Press
ISBN 13 : 0822981963
Total Pages : 392 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (229 download)

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Book Synopsis Islam, Society, and Politics in Central Asia by : Pauline Jones

Download or read book Islam, Society, and Politics in Central Asia written by Pauline Jones and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2017-06-23 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the 1990s, there was a general consensus that Central Asia was witnessing an Islamic revival after independence, and that this occurrence would follow similar events throughout the Islamic world in the prior two decades, which had negative effects on both social and political development. Twenty years later, we are still struggling to fully understand the transformation of Islam in a region that’s evolved through a complex and dynamic process, involving diversity in belief and practice, religious authority, and political intervention. This volume seeks to shed light on these crucial questions by bringing together an international group of scholars to offer a new perspective on Central Asian states and societies. The chapters provide analysis through four distinct categories: the everyday practice of Islam across local communities; state policies toward Islam, focusing on attempts to regulate public and private practice through cultural, legal, and political institutions and how these differ from Soviet policies; how religious actors influence communities in the practice of Islam, state policies towards the religion, and subsequent communal responses to state regulations; and how knowledge of and interaction with the larger Islamic world is shaping Central Asia’s current Islamic revival and state responses. The contributors, a multidisciplinary and international group of leading scholars, develop fresh insights that both corroborate and contradict findings from previous research, while also highlighting the problem of making any generalizations about Islam in individual states or the region. As such, this volume provides new and impactful analysis for scholars, students, and policy makers concerned with Central Asia.

Islam after Communism

Author : Adeeb Khalid
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520957865
Total Pages : 266 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (29 download)

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Book Synopsis Islam after Communism by : Adeeb Khalid

Download or read book Islam after Communism written by Adeeb Khalid and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2014-02-08 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do Muslims relate to Islam in societies that experienced seventy years of Soviet rule? How did the utopian Bolshevik project of remaking the world by extirpating religion from it affect Central Asia? Adeeb Khalid combines insights from the study of both Islam and Soviet history to answer these questions. Arguing that the sustained Soviet assault on Islam destroyed patterns of Islamic learning and thoroughly de-Islamized public life, Khalid demonstrates that Islam became synonymous with tradition and was subordinated to powerful ethnonational identities that crystallized during the Soviet period. He shows how this legacy endures today and how, for the vast majority of the population, a return to Islam means the recovery of traditions destroyed under Communism. Islam after Communism reasons that the fear of a rampant radical Islam that dominates both Western thought and many of Central Asia’s governments should be tempered with an understanding of the politics of antiterrorism, which allows governments to justify their own authoritarian policies by casting all opposition as extremist. Placing the Central Asian experience in the broad comparative perspective of the history of modern Islam, Khalid argues against essentialist views of Islam and Muslims and provides a nuanced and well-informed discussion of the forces at work in this crucial region.

Political Islam and Democracy in Central Asia

Author : Ajam Kalonov
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000902137
Total Pages : 165 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Political Islam and Democracy in Central Asia by : Ajam Kalonov

Download or read book Political Islam and Democracy in Central Asia written by Ajam Kalonov and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-06-30 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political Islam and Democracy in Central Asia is a study of moderation of political Islam in Central Asia. It analyses the only Islamic political party that was ever allowed to participate in elections in Central Asia and contributes to the debate on the radicalization or moderation of Islamic political parties. The book examines the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), which has been the only legal Islamic party in post-Soviet Central Asia until 2015 and has been recognizing by many observers as moderate. Studying the ideological change of the party, which happened after its inclusion into political process, the book identifies their moderation as either tactical or ideological. The author examines and describes the main factors that led the IRPT toward moderation, with a focus on the inclusion-moderation hypothesis, which concludes that inclusion can lead to moderation. Based on extensive analytical data, the author provides reasons for the moderation of the Tajik Islamists. It also challenges the ideological moderation of the Tajik Islamists by examining their attitudes towards the conventions of the modern democratic political system. A detailed analysis of moderate Islamism and its controversial challenges for the modern world, this book will be of interest to researchers in the fields of Political Science, electoral politics, Islamic studies and Area Studies, with particular reference to Central Asia.

Politicizing Islam in Central Asia

Author : Kathleen Collins
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0197685080
Total Pages : 585 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (976 download)

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Book Synopsis Politicizing Islam in Central Asia by : Kathleen Collins

Download or read book Politicizing Islam in Central Asia written by Kathleen Collins and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-06-06 with total page 585 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sweeping history of Islamism in Central Asia from the Russian Revolution to the present through Soviet-era archival documents, oral histories, and a trove of interviews and focus groups. Few observers anticipated a surge of Islamism in Central Asia, after seventy years of forced communist atheism. Muslims do not inevitably support Islamism, a modern political ideology of Islam. Yet, Islamism became the dominant form of political opposition in post-Soviet Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. In Politicizing Islam in Central Asia, Kathleen Collins explores the causes, dynamics, and variation in Islamist movements-first within the USSR, and then in the post-Soviet states of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Drawing upon extensive ethnographic and historical research on Islamist mobilization, she explains the strategies and relative success of each Central Asian Islamist movement. Collins argues that in each case, state repression of Islam, by Soviet and post-Soviet regimes, together with the diffusion of religious ideologies, motivated Islamist mobilization. Sweeping in scope, this book traces the dynamics of Central Asian Islamist movements from the Soviet era through the Tajik civil war, the Afghan jihad against the US, and the foreign fighter movement joining the Syrian jihad.

Jihad

Author : Ahmed Rashid
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0142002607
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (42 download)

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Book Synopsis Jihad by : Ahmed Rashid

Download or read book Jihad written by Ahmed Rashid and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2002-12-31 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential examination of the roots of fundamentalist rage in Central Asia, from the acclaimed author of Taliban and Descent into Chaos. Ahmed Rashid, whose masterful account of Afghanistan's Taliban regime became required reading after September 11, turns his legendary skills as an investigative journalist to five adjacent Central Asian Republics—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan—where religious repression, political corruption, and extreme poverty have created a fertile climate for militant Islam. Based on groundbreaking research and numerous interviews, Rashid explains the roots of fundamentalist rage in Central Asia, describes the goals and activities of its militant organizations, including Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, and suggests ways of neutralizing the threat and bringing stability to the troubled region. A timely and pertinent work, Jihad is essential reading for anyone who seeks to gain a better understanding of a region we overlook at our peril.

Securitization of Islam: A Vicious Circle

Author : Kathrin Lenz-Raymann
Publisher : transcript Verlag
ISBN 13 : 3839429048
Total Pages : 325 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (394 download)

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Book Synopsis Securitization of Islam: A Vicious Circle by : Kathrin Lenz-Raymann

Download or read book Securitization of Islam: A Vicious Circle written by Kathrin Lenz-Raymann and published by transcript Verlag. This book was released on 2014-12-31 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Diverse Islamic groups have triggered a »revival of Islam« in Central Asia in the last decades. As a result, there has been a general securitization of Islam by the governments: not only do they combat the terrorist Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan but also outlaw popular groups such as the Gülen movement. However, strong repression of religion might lead to radicalization. Kathrin Lenz-Raymann tests this hypothesis with an agent-based computer simulation and enriches her study with interviews with international experts, leaders of political Islam and representatives of folk Islam. She concludes that ensuring religious rights is essential for national security.

Muslims of Central Asia

Author : Galina M. Yemelianova
Publisher : New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys
ISBN 13 : 9781474416320
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (163 download)

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Book Synopsis Muslims of Central Asia by : Galina M. Yemelianova

Download or read book Muslims of Central Asia written by Galina M. Yemelianova and published by New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first history-based integrated overview of Islam and Muslims in present-day Central Asia Between the tenth and sixteenth centuries Central Asia was one of the most prestigious cultural areas of the entire Muslim world, playing a pivotal role in the Silk Road trade. Throughout that history, and up to the present, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Turkmen and other Muslim peoples of Central Asia have developed their own unique understanding and practice of Islam which has shaped their national identity and particular social and political evolution. These special characteristics of Central Asian Islam ensured its survival during seventy years of Soviet atheist rule, while in the post-Soviet period Islam has been integrated into nation-building projects in constitutionally secular Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. This absorbing history is traced in this fascinating study which shows how, from the seventh century to the present day, the region's people have negotiated their distinctively Central Asian Islamic identity in the face of enduring external Islamic and non-Islamic dominations, ethnic nationalisms and, more recently, global transnational Islamic influences. Key Features - The first integrated account of the Muslims of the present-day states of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan - Synthesises up-to-date research with existing Western, Russian and Central Asian scholarship on Islam and Muslims in Central Asia - Employs a Central Asia-centric approach focusing on the region as a geographically and culturally self-sustained entity, with strong links to Russia, the Middle East, South Asia, Iran, Turkey and China - Includes numerous photographs taken during field-work in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Galina M. Yemelianova has researched and taught for over thirty years on various aspects of Middle Eastern and Eurasian history and contemporary Muslim politics. Among her books are Russia and Islam: A Historical Survey (2002), Islam in post-Soviet Russia (2003) and Radical Islam in the former Soviet Union (2010).

Islam After Communism

Author : Adeeb Khalid
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520282159
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (22 download)

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Book Synopsis Islam After Communism by : Adeeb Khalid

Download or read book Islam After Communism written by Adeeb Khalid and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2014-02-08 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adeeb Khalid combines insights from the study of both Islam and Soviet history in this sophisticated analysis of the ways that Muslim societies in Central Asia have been transformed by the Soviet presence in the region. Arguing that the utopian Bolshevik project of remaking the world featured a sustained assault on Islam that destroyed patterns of Islamic learning and thoroughly de-Islamized public life, Khalid demonstrates that Islam became synonymous with tradition and was subordinated to powerful ethnonational identities that crystallized during the Soviet period. He shows how this legacy endures today and how, for the vast majority of the population, a return to Islam means the recovery of traditions destroyed under Communism.

Islamic Central Asia

Author : Scott Cameron Levi
Publisher : Indiana University Press
ISBN 13 : 0253353858
Total Pages : 338 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (533 download)

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Book Synopsis Islamic Central Asia by : Scott Cameron Levi

Download or read book Islamic Central Asia written by Scott Cameron Levi and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An anthology of primary documents for the study of Central Asian history. It illustrates important aspects of the social, political, and economic history of Islamic Central Asia. It covers the period from the 7th-century Arab conquests to the 19th-century Russian colonial era and provides insights into the history and significance of the region.

The Resurgence of Central Asia

Author : Ahmed Rashid
Publisher : New York Review of Books
ISBN 13 : 1681370883
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (813 download)

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Book Synopsis The Resurgence of Central Asia by : Ahmed Rashid

Download or read book The Resurgence of Central Asia written by Ahmed Rashid and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2017-08-29 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A seminal introduction to the rise of Central Asia, covering Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan The Resurgence of Central Asia is Ahmed Rashid’s seminal study of the states that emerged in the aftermath of the breakup of the Soviet Union: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. All have Muslim majorities and ancient histories but are otherwise very different. Rashid’s book, now with a new introduction by the author examining some of the crucial political developments since its first publication in 1994, provides entrée to this little-known but geopolitically important region. Rashid gives a history of each country, including its incorporation into Tsarist Russia, to the present day, provides basic socioeconomic information, and explains the diverse political situations. He focuses primarily on the underlying issues confronting these societies: the legacy of Soviet rule, ethnic tensions, the position of women, the future of Islam, the question of nuclear proliferation, and the fundamental choices over economic strategy, political system, and external orientation that lie ahead.

Islam and Politics in Central Asia

Author : Mehrdad Haghayeghi
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780333694374
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (943 download)

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Book Synopsis Islam and Politics in Central Asia by : Mehrdad Haghayeghi

Download or read book Islam and Politics in Central Asia written by Mehrdad Haghayeghi and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The assumption that the Central Asian states would, on independence, fall under the sway of fanatical Muslim clergy subject to the dictates of neighbouring Iran has so far proved less than accurate. In fact, there has been a far greater religious diversity in the region than was first anticipated. This apparent misconception as to the monolithic nature of Islam in Central Asia has been largely due to the scarcity of information under the closed Soviet system, and the peripheral status of the region of the geo-political calculations of the West. Mehrdad Haghayeghi's book offers a more sophisticated understanding of the dynamics of Islam in these loosely interrelated republics. Islam will certainly play a role in as much as it provides an alternative to a largely discredited communist model, but the many secular trends nurtured under Soviet rule, as well as those now presented by Turkey and China, will be just as significant.

Muslims in Central Asia

Author : Jo-Ann Gross
Publisher : Duke University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780822311904
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (119 download)

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Book Synopsis Muslims in Central Asia by : Jo-Ann Gross

Download or read book Muslims in Central Asia written by Jo-Ann Gross and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central Asia is distinctive in its role as a frontier region in which a unique diversity of cultural, religious, and political traditions exist. This collection of essays by expert scholars in a range of disciplines focuses on the formation of ethnic, religious, and national identities in Muslim societies of Central Asia, thus furthering our general understanding of the history and culture of this significant region. This study includes several geopolitical regions--Chinese Central Asia, Soviet Central Asia, Afghanistan, Transoxiana and Khurasan--and covers historical periods from the fifteenth century to the present. Drawing on scholarship in anthropology, religion, history, literature, and language studies, Muslims in Central Asia argues for an interdisciplinary, inter-regional dialog in the development of new approaches to understanding the Muslim societies in Central Asia. The authors creatively examine the social construction of identities as expressed through literature, Islamic discourse, historical texts, ethnic labels, and genealogies, and explore how such identities are formed, changed, and adopted through time. Contributors. Hamid Algar, Muriel Atkin, Walter Feldman, Dru C. Gladney, Edward J. Lazzerini, Beatrice Forbes Manz, Christopher Murphy, Oliver Roy, Isenbike Togan

Being Muslim in Central Asia

Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004357246
Total Pages : 341 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (43 download)

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Book Synopsis Being Muslim in Central Asia by :

Download or read book Being Muslim in Central Asia written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-01-03 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the changing place of Islam in contemporary Central Asia, understanding religion as a “societal shaper” – a roadmap for navigating quickly evolving social and cultural values. Islam can take on multiple colors and identities, from a purely transcendental faith in God to a cauldron of ideological ferment for political ideology, via diverse culture-, community-, and history-based phenomena. The volumes discusses what it means to be a Muslim in today’s Central Asia by looking at both historical and sociological features, investigates the relationship between Islam, politics and the state, the changing role of Islam in terms of societal values, and the issue of female attire as a public debate. Contributors include: Aurélie Biard, Tim Epkenhans, Nurgul Esenamanova, Azamat Junisbai, Barbara Junisbai, Marlene Laruelle, Marintha Miles, Emil Nasritdinov, Shahnoza Nozimova, Yaacov Ro'i, Wendell Schwab, Manja Stephan-Emmrich, Rano Turaeva, Alon Wainer, Alexander Wolters, Galina M. Yemelianova, Baurzhan Zhussupov

Radical Islam in Central Asia

Author : Vitaliĭ Vi͡acheslavovich Naumkin
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 9780742529304
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (293 download)

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Book Synopsis Radical Islam in Central Asia by : Vitaliĭ Vi͡acheslavovich Naumkin

Download or read book Radical Islam in Central Asia written by Vitaliĭ Vi͡acheslavovich Naumkin and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2005 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This original study by distinguished scholar Vitaly V. Naumkin offers an authoritative analysis of the key militant Islamic organizations in Central Asia. Long veiled in secrecy, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Hizb at-Tahrir al-Islami, and the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan are illuminated here for the first time. Drawing on his extensive fieldwork and an unprecedented array of Central Asian primary sources, the author thoroughly compares their doctrines, power bases, and political practices. The book also explores the history of political Islam in Central Asia and explains the concurrent roots of Islamic militancy from the early disputes between Salafis and traditionalists, through the period of Islamic revival in the late 1980s when radical groups first emerged, and up to their growing strength today. Naumkin analyzes the human dimension in Central Asian Islam through the lives of the most significant theologians, mullahs, underground preachers, and teachers in the region, evaluating their role in the spread of Islamic radicalism. Providing fresh insight into the balance between peaceful and militant means of struggle for power used by Islamic movements, the author considers into the possibility of dialogue with the Islamists and the outcome of the 'Tajik experiment' that brought former Islamic radicals into the government. All those interested in the development of political Islam will find this study an invaluable resource.