Islam, Islamist Movements and Democracy in the Middle East: Challenges, Opportunities and Responses

These are times of unprecedented political churning in West Asia and North Africa. The fall of authoritarian regimes in Tunisia, Egypt Libya and Yemen and the continuing political movements in many other countries are manifestations of the significance of transformation of the regions politics. The traditional debate on the linkage between Islam and democracy needs to be critiqued in and tempered with considerations of this transformatory character of the politics of the region. This book addresses some of the salient aspects of these transformations thus cumulatively providing a fairly comprehensive treatment of the intersections of Islam, democracy and political movements in the region. The ideological gender and political dimensions of the Islamic movements receive attention in the volume. This volume in its historical and political analysis would serve to throw light on some of the significant domains of the political contestation and churning in middle east.