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A review essay on books by (1) Naguib Ayubi, El Islam Politico: Teorias, Tradiciones y Rupturas ([Political Islam: Theories, Traditions and Ruptures] Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra, 1991); (2) Rachid Benzine, Les nouveaux penseurs de l'Islam ([The New Thinkers of Islam] Paris, Albin Michel, 2004); & (3) Gilles Kepel, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam (Boston: Harvard U Press, 2002).

Religious concern is f'ly found in the works of Tocqueville, who saw in religion an essential basis for new societies & felt that a society threatened by disbelief could not prosper. In the midst of a world which leans toward disbelief, the only possible voice favoring religion seems to be the one followed in the US. Religion can exercise indirect power over politics by emphasizing tradition & maintaining respect for order. For Tocqueville therefore, religion is not only 'a particular kind of hope'; it is more than mere sentiment. Tr from IPSA by J. A.Broussard.

Argues that following September 11, 2001, the US declaration of war on terrorism, & the US bombardment of Afghanistan, the nations of Southeast Asia underwent a fundamental political-religious power shift. It is contended that in the predominantly Muslim nations of Brunei, Malaysia, & Indonesia, political leadership & political parties espousing Islamic diversity & religious moderation in politics gained power over fundamentalists. Leaders of these nations & others have demonstrated this power shift in their reserved & calculated responses to US & United Nations retaliations to terrorism. National politics & international relationships in Southeast Asia indicate a growing pan-Islamic perspective & character, one that is moderated by a sense of Muslim's rapid diversification. D. Bajo