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In this paper, we consider anthropology's long and, at times, problematic engagement with the study of Islam and Muslim societies. Specifically, we reflect critically on ongoing anthropological debates about the relationship between Islam and politics and suggest new terms of analysis. Although we pay attention to the state and formal politics, involving various social actors and organizations, we are also interested in everyday politics and micropolitics, arenas where anthropology proves especially adept. It is at the intersection of these multiple levels and where the field of politics is constituted in practice that we situate the analytical focus of the anthropology of Islam and politics in this Special Issue of theJournal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.RésuméLes auteurs s'intéressent ici à la longue, et parfois problématique histoire, de l'étude de l'islam et des sociétés musulmanes par l'anthropologie. L'accent est mis plus précisément sur une réflexion critique relative aux débats anthropologiques actuels sur les liens entre islam et politique, et sur l'exploration de nouveaux termes d'analyse. Tout en prêtant de l'attention à l'État et aux institutions politiques, impliquant différents acteurs sociaux et organisations, nous nous intéressons également à la politique au quotidien et à la micropolitique, domaines dans lesquels l'anthropologie s'avère particulièrement compétente. C'est à l'intersection de ces multiples niveaux, et là où le champ du politique est constitué dans la pratique, que nous situons le point focal de l'analyse anthropologique de l'islam et du politique dans ce numéro spécial duJournal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.

In Nigeria, numerous journalists and scientists associate renewed religious, ethnic or economic conflicts with the return to the civil administration of 1999. The veiled war in the Niger delta, recurrence of the urban riots, the politico-religious confrontations in the northern states and on the plateau, as well as electoral violence, seem to indicate a decline of territorial control by the federal state, of increasing competition between competing juridical systems (federal law vs. Islamic law), of non-legal privatization of national police forces, and the rise of vigilant militia in the Niger delta, regularly defying federal armed forces. A comparison between the elections of 1999 and those of 2007 will be indicative, the first ones considered largely transparent, while the last elections were marked by innumerous irregularities, conflicts and several hundreds of deaths. An introduction on this issues theme of Nigeria under the reign of Obasanjo, who brought back democracy to the country, but did not change the nature of the existing conflicts. In certain cases (the delta area, and the plateau state), those were exacerbated because of the part played by newly elected officials, who are the governors and council presidents of local governments. Adapted from the source document.