Many states in the Islamic Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia that had previously experienced some measure of secularism turned to Islam in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. In so doing, they have changed the political landscape of their nations and the entire region, also significantly influencing international politics. The Islamist Turn outlines, explains, and demonstrates this change. And, on all three counts, the book fills an important gap in our collective knowledge by developing a typology of Islamist turns based on the institutional aspect of the change; offering an ideational explanation of the turns with an emphasis on the political ideologies and strategies of rulers; and studying the cases of Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, and Iran as exemplary of the Islamist turns in the region.
Chapter 1: Introduction:Islamist Turns, Ideational Perspective, and Comparative Analysis.- Chapter 2: Varieties of Islamism in MENASA Politics.- Chapter 3: The World-Historical Context of Islamisms.- Chapter 4: From Kemalist Modernism to the Turkish Islamic Synthesis and Turco-Islamism.- Chapter 5: The Egyptian Conundrum: Shades of Modernism and Islamism.- Chapter 6: Transforming the Idea of Pakistan from Nation Building into Defence of Islam.- Chapter 7: Iran: Breaking with Pahlavi Modernism and Shi i Orthodoxy.- Chapter 8: Conclusion: Revisiting Islamism and Comparative Politics.
Adnan Türegün is an adjunct research Professor of Sociology at Carleton University, Canada. He uses comparative methodology in his work and emphasizes the role of ideas in social outcomes. His areas of interest include Islamicization, state Islam relations over the longue durée, and autocratic rule.
