Islamisms: Navigations between the Nation-State and the Caliphate

Moves beyond viewing Islamism within the security/terrorism narrative by viewing Islamisms as various forms of postcolonial resistance to Westphalian models of governance, authority, and territorialisations. Islamist movements are in various ways denationalising key elements of the nation-state, including nation-state sovereignty, national solidarities, and legitimate violence. Islamist movements are constructing alternative geographies that are transforming the territoriality of the nation-state.

Examining a wide range of Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brothers, Hamas, Hizbullah, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group (IS), the author advocates that in many instances an imperial framework, rather than the assumed nation-state model, is a more appropriate tool in analysing the motivations and strategies of Islamist movements, contending that the nation-state is just one paradigm for analysis. The book demonstrates the case for both nation-state and religious/historic understandings of political geographies to be considered simultaneously with regard to Islamism(s).

This book is multidisciplinary, and will be relevant to students and scholars of religious studies, Islamic theology, history, politics of memory, post-colonial perspectives, sociology, political geography, and political anthropology. It will also interest policymakers wishing to broaden their understanding of political Islam.