Islamic fundamentalism - Youssef M Choueiri

Islamic fundamentalism is a vague and current catch-phrase - this book seeks to place the term in context.;Islamic fundamentalism arises from the conflict and confrontation between the values and ideology of the Moslem world and both western capitalist and eastern socialist countries. In viewing Islamic fundamentalism as a reactive challenge to modern civilizations and political structures, the author analyzes how and why Islamic values have become such a potent contemporary political force.;Islam was classically a movement of conquest and expansion, but under pressure from external values, it has become today defensive, introverted and deeply conservative seeking to exclude, violently if need be, all western influence.;The book first deals with the earliest direct encounter between Islamic movements and the western military and economic challenge, and considers the rise of Islam as a political force in Turkey, India, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Iran at both popular and reformist levels. The way in which local imported political structures and social systems have attempted to constrain and crush Islamic fundamentalism is also covered.