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'The Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power' represents a globally comparative study of the varying ways in which states incorporate religion and religious outreach into their external relations. Each chapter demonstrates how the history, religious culture, and geopolitical orientation of a particular country determines its capacity for using religion as part of a soft power strategy while simultaneously dictating the nature and shape of its religious outreach activities, its intended audiences, and likelihood of success or impact.

"This book is an accessible and comprehensive account of political Islam in the contemporary world. Providing a broad introduction to all major aspects of the interface of Islam and politics, it combines an accessible style with sufficient depth for the academic classroom. Drawing on insights from comparative politics and Islamic studies, this book explains the complex interaction between Islam, society, the state, and processes of globalization. Preserving the previous editions' strong focus on key concepts from Islamic history as they relate to contemporary political Islam, this new edition includes coverage of important developments and updated country overviews from the Middle East, Central and South Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe and North America"--

This radical book argues that translocal forces are leading the emergence of a wider Muslim public sphere. It will be invaluable for researchers in international relations, Islamic studies, cultural studies, sociology, religion and politics.

Meaning and international relations: some thoughts / Andrew Williams -- Surfing the Zeitgeist / Christopher Coker -- The delocalisation of meaning / Zaki Laïdi -- Meaning and social transformations: ideology in a post-ideological age / Gerard Delanty -- Eurosomnia: Europe's 'spiritual vitality' and the debate on the European idea / Stefan Elbe -- Whose meaning(s)?!: a feminist perspective on the crisis of meaning in international relations / Annick T.R. Wibben -- The search for meaning in global conjunctions: from ethnographic truth to ethnopolitical agency / Tarja Väyrynen -- When meaning travels: Muslim translocality and the politics of 'authenticity' / Peter Mandaville -- Messianic moments and the religious (re)turn in international relations / Andrea den Boer -- Reliving the Boxer Uprising, or, The restricted meaning of civilisation / Stephen Chan -- On the danger of premature conclusion(s) / Peter Mandaville

This innovative volume brings together specialists in international relations to tackle a set of difficult questions about what it means to live in a globalized world where the purpose and direction of world politics are no longer clear-cut. What emerges from these essays is a very clear sense that while we may be living in an era that lacks a single, universal purpose, ours is still a world replete with meaning. The authors in this volume stress the need for a pluralistic conception of meaning in a globalized world and demonstrate how increased communication and interaction in transnational s.

An interview between Peter G. Mandaville & Bobby S. Sayyid concerning Sayyid's A Fundamental Fear: Eurocentrism & the Emergence of Islamism (1997) is presented. The issues of whether Islam has retained its singularity despite its polysemic nature, the possibility of establishing an alternative to anti-Orientalist discourse that attempts to deconstruct Islam, & whether Islam works within a deconstructionist framework are discussed. Rather than advocate the creation of a non-Western modernity, it is contended that Islam should emphasize identifying the elements that constitute a good society within particular historical & cultural contexts. Although the political writings of Imam Khomeini are perceived as the paragon of Islamic political logic, it is emphasized that other political possibilities are available within Islam. Even though the possibility of implementing Khomeini's non-Western political order is questioned, Islamic & non-Islamic political orders are compared to illustrate the characteristics of a non-Western political system. The conditions under which discourse between the Western & Islamic worlds can eventually take place are stipulated. A strategy for reducing the extent of Eurocentrism in Western political discourse is also offered. J. W. Parker