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Sociologically speaking, Islam is what Muslims do. From this premise, the book elaborates a sociology of Islam in three major chapters. They show Islam has operated as a cluster of practical orientations ("lifeworlds") that established it as a presence in three fields of social life: global networks, public philosophies, and participatory ethics. The book argues that all three are poorly understood in recent literature, which tends to focus on one specific problem or another, and then in isolation from global and historical contexts. The book argues that the larger preoccupations of ordinary Muslims--how to imagine a global society; how to guide life in the manner of a total philosophy; and how to relate to the world of daily struggles in forums and social movements--are neither unique to the present period nor to religious life. But the career of a particular religion offers a focused empirical lens through which we may offer meaningful propositions about the more general form of these concerns

This original and impressively researched book explores the concept of anarchy-"unimposed order"-as the most humane and stable form of order in a chaotic world. Mohammed A. Bamyeh traces the historical foundations of anarchy and convincingly presents it as an alternative to both tyranny and democracy. He shows how anarchy is the best manifestation of civic order, of a healthy civil society, and of humanity's noblest attributes. A cogent and compelling critique of the modern state, this provocative book clarifies how anarchy may be both a guide for rational social order and a science of humanity.

An intervention into current debates about globalization, nationalism, imperialism, and culture, this book offers a cogent critique of much of what is being said about globalization, by both the Right and the Left. In doing so, it charts the complex processes of globalization, drawing out their historical and philosophical roots and outlining the connections between cultural, political, and economic life that globalization has made, historically and in our day

"The current Arab revolutions seem to foster a new form of patriotism that combines a sense of grand historical mission with pluralistic and liberal realism. The defining propositions of this new patriotism, which seem largely expressed from below rather than by intellectuals or leaders, seem to be the following: 1. existing lines of division in society are more artificial than previously thought; 2. such divisions serve the interests of ruling elites most; 3. collective national purpose is coterminous with a realistic, and secular, conception of difference in society; 4. national purpose is part of regional purpose; 5. grand historical purpose is most evident when carried out empirically by the `little people,' who have learned from their modern experience to distrust being represented on the historical stage by leader-savior characters or by dictatorial parties." (author's abstract)

Die anhaltenden Demonstrationen in der arabischen Welt haben die Region bereits heute grundlegend verändert, wenn auch die weiteren Entwicklungen derzeit noch nicht absehbar sind. Der Autor diskutiert Chancen und Risiken der demokratischen Bewegung in Ägypten. Er vermittelt zunächst einen unmittelbaren Eindruck der Proteste in Kairo. Die ägyptische Revolution, die am 25. Januar 2011 begann, besaß weder Anführer, noch war sie organisiert. Sie ereignete sich in einem großen Land, das für seinen beinah komatösen politischen Ruhezustand bekannt, eine endlose, ungebrochene Abfolge autoritärer Regierungen und einen beträchtlichen repressiven Apparat mit über zwei Millionen Angestellten. Obwohl das Regime weiter kämpfte, brach die staatliche Verwaltung de facto so gut wie zusammen. Der Autor arbeitet Grundelemente der Ereignisses zum Verständnis der ägyptischen Revolution heraus. Dazu gehören: die Macht der Peripherie; Spontaneität als Kunst der Bewegung; zivile Achtung und Würde als bewusster ethischer Kontrast zur staatlichen Barbarei; die Priorität von politischen Forderungen vor allen anderen (ökonomische Forderungen eingeschlossen); und die Ignoranz und Abgehobenheit der autokratischen Herrscher. (ICA2)