This concise and important book deals with the dimensional change in internationalconflicts and security pertaining to the power of ideas: Do ideas and/or political ideologies threaten the security of regimes and states in ways thatdiffer from those conventionally attributed to the mere balance of militarypower? By studying the role of religious or transnational ideology in...Read More

This edited volume consists of ten case studies framed by an introductionwritten by the two editors and a postscript written by Larry Diamond, a leadingscholar of democracy studies today. The Introduction, which places thevolume within the tradition of political sociology and political science, relatesexplicitly to the study of contentious politics and social movements.In doing so,...Read More

Islam was at the origin of schools, during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, as every Moslem had to know how to read the Koran. In different regions, namely Spain, public schools were free, and education went beyond the teaching of the Scriptures. Propagating ideas read or heard was equivalent to an aptitude certificate. This approach...Read More

Islamic women’s activism may appear a contradiction in terms to many Western audiences accustomed to presentations of Islam as counterproductive to the promotion of women’s empowerment and the situation of women more generally. Yet in the Arab world (and beyond) many different groups and individuals – as scholars, as charity and welfare providers, and as...Read More