Humanities & Social Sciences
June 2023
Your Search Results(showing 33)
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Humanities & Social SciencesMay 2025The Caucasus Emirate
Ideology, identity, and insurgency in Russia’s North Caucasus
by Mark Youngman
Insurgency has plagued the North Caucasus since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Between 2007 and 2015, rebels waged their struggle under the banner of the Caucasus Emirate (Imarat Kavkaz, IK). This book systematically examines the IK's ideology to explain what the group claimed to be fighting for and against and how it sought to mobilise people behind its cause. It reveals a group with a weakly developed political programme, which aligned itself with global jihadism but consistently prioritised local concerns. It demonstrates the priority rebel leaders afforded to shaping local identities, but also their failure to forge a unified movement or revitalise armed struggle. Re-evaluating the IK's ideology helps us better understand the past and future of armed struggle in the North Caucasus.
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Humanities & Social SciencesJuly 2025Urbicide in Syria
A postcolonial understanding of civil war
by Gabriel Garroum Pla
This book provides an exhaustive analysis of the relationship between violence, urban space, and political subjectivity in Syria. It does so through an exploration of how urbicide, the violent destruction and alteration of the urban fabric, becomes a tool for the regime's governmental and sovereign exercise of power, decisively redefining state-society dynamics and cementing political loyalty in Syria. Adopting a critical and postcolonial perspective, and through the cases of Damascus and Aleppo, the volume presents a unique perspective on the civil war by examining socio-material changes in everyday political spaces and processes, from mundane destruction to urban development and reconstruction efforts, and how these are experienced by local communities. Featuring rich data collection through interviews, archival research, and aesthetic sources, the book ultimately foregrounds Syrians' political agency and creativity despite ruination.
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Humanities & Social SciencesJuly 2025International Relations in a multipolar Middle East
by Francesco Belcastro, Edward Wastnidge
This volume explores the international relations of today's Middle East, a region that has become increasingly multi-polar. The tumult following the Arab Uprisings has expanded the arenas competed over by regional powers, global actors and non-state players. The United States, once seemingly intent on a hegemonic 'Pax Americana' has stepped back, leaving powers such as Russia, China, India and the EU, with opportunities to increase their reach and expand their influence. Meanwhile, regional rivalries and alliances have continued to shape conflict and cooperation in the Middle East. As global politics moves towards a new, multipolar era, this volume sheds important light on how this transition will impact on the region. Comprised of two macro sections that offer theoretical reflections and empirical case studies, this volume is essential reading for scholars of the politics and international relations of the Middle East.
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Humanities & Social SciencesReligious Encounters and Social Dynamics in Burkina Faso (Rencontres religieuses et dynamiques sociales au Burkina Faso)
by Alice Degorce / O. Ludovic Kibora / Katrin Langewische
Burkina Faso’s religious landscape, where traditional, Islamic and Christian religions intersect, is part of a social and historical context spread over several centuries marked by a diversity that has been studied by researchers for a long time. As the security situation deteriorates in recent years in the Sahel region, the religious question is increasingly being redefined and placed at the forefront of the Burkinabe socio-political scene. This collective work offers readers a synthesis of the knowledge accumulated by researchers over the past decades on the different religions and the social dynamics associated with them to shed light on the management of the country’s religious diversity and coexistence without masking the new tensions and conflicts being experienced. The first part of the book thoroughly explores the religious movements and currents present in the country to underline the centrality of religion in understanding social change in its polity. In the second part, the interactions between religions are analyzed across current transversal themes and questions, such as education, demography, politics, the role of faith-based NGOs, the historicity of the notion of jihad or the use of new information and communication technologies to show the connections within the construction of knowledge and political contexts. The contributions acutely show that recent socio-political dynamics in Burkina Faso are undoubtedly redefining religious boundaries and exposing the limitations of a historically and socially rooted contexts of diversity, yet the question remains on how to draw on this diversity and religious coexistence to confront new emerging tensions and conflicts.
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Humanities & Social SciencesJanuary 2015Getting Jesus Right
How Muslims get Jesus and Islam Wrong
by Dr Craig Evans, Dr James Beverley
IS IT POSSIBLE THAT MUSLIMS ARE WRONG ABOUT JESUS AND VARIOUS TENETS OF ISLAM? Is the famous Muslim writer Reza Aslan mistaken in his portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth and apologetic for Islam? Professor James Beverley and Professor Craig Evans take an in-depth look at subjects at the core of the Muslim-Christian divide: the reliability of the New Testament Gospels and the Qur’an, and what we can really know about Jesus and the prophet Muhammad. Importantly, they also examine the implications of traditional Islamic faith on the status of women, jihad and terrorism.
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Global warmingI want to live.
by James Kilcullen
Global warming has reached its peak; the area between the tropics of Cancer and Capriciorn is so hot it can no longer support human or animal life. People are dying or moving north and south to cooler climates, which have closed their borders as they cannot cope with increased populations. Violence is widespread. James Laffoy,earth scientist, has failed to persuade the powers to take drastic action before it's too late. He retreats to his late father's uninhabited island off the west coast of ireland and, over a number of years, with a small number of like minded people, prepares for the worst. Can they survive in a world that's closing down rapidly?
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Political ideologiesOctober 2021Rechtspopulismus und Dschihad (Right-wing Populism and Jihad)
Nautilus Flugschrift
by Marc Thörner
Similarities of western right-wing populists to radical Islamists are not merely coincidental – they share the same origin. “Neocolonialists!” – “Islamic Terrorists!”, these are the accusations with which the old and new right in the west and Islamists all over the world refer to each other. Apparently, right-wing populists and jihadists are sworn enemies. But if you take a look at the writings and authors that both movements refer to, you will find the same sources: Ernst Jünger, Martin Heidegger, Alexis Carrel. All three of them serve as reference not only for the New Right but also for the pioneers of radical Islam. Marc Thörner points out the common origin of these thoughts and their different but still related manifestations today: Both movements condemn secularism, liberalism and homosexuality, both commit to traditional social structures and values like religion, order and obedience, self-sacrifice and martyrdom, both fight individualism and rationalism. In Syria, radical Islamists and the political right already act like allies. Will they continue their mutual hostility in Europe or will they soon congregate here as well? For his research, Marc Thörner spoke to Alexander Gauland of German far right party AfD and travelled to the frontlines of Syrian civil war; he interviewed leading representatives of the Assad Regime, talked to Iranian writers, met Lebanese fascists and followers of Hisbollah as well as historians and Arabists in Europe.
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Peace studies & conflict resolutionJuly 2002Islamic Extremists
How Do They Mobilize Support?
by Judy Barsalou
What are the factors, including the roles played by educational systems and the media, that give rise to political violence and terrorism in Pakistan, Egypt, and the occupied Palestinian territories? How do jihadi (holy war) groups in Indonesia and Pakistan use Islam to mobilize support? What strategies have Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad employed to attract, retain, and deploy recruits in the West Bank, Gaza, Egypt, and Lebanon, and what motivates their behavior? Written by Judy Barsalou, director of the Institute’s Grant Program, this report summarizes presentations and discussion at a Current Issues Briefing at the Institute on April 17 that featured three current grantees of the Institute: Mustapha Kamal Pasha (American University), Jessica Stern (Harvard University), and Muhammad Muslih (Long Island University). The event presented findings from their grant-funded research projects.
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2017Basculer dans l'enfer
by Jocelyne Mallet-Parent
Two young people from two good families, Élise and Tarik, are at the heart of an attack on the Montréal subway. Far away, another teenager, Jamil, finds himself caught in the net of Islamic jihad. Crafting this story as a thriller, Jocelyne Mallet-Parent makes us think about what compels young people to join such a cause, risk their lives, and cause their families distress. To learn more about this publisher, click here: http://bit.ly/2nQ46js
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December 2017REFUGEES & TERROR
A Case Study of Germany
by Jyotirmoy Banerjee
Germany faces an existential crisis. The leading country of the European Union welcomed the avalanche of refugees from West Asia and North Africa. A record number of asylum seekers exceeding one million descended upon the richest country in Europe last year. The key country at the heart of Europe today is split on the issue. The rapid rise of the right-wing parties and movements there has polarised the society, which is symbolic of similar split across Europe. This study delves into the details of the dynamics that is still unfolding. It focuses on the problems that Germany is facing from the refugee crisis and related terrorism. It discusses the opinions of prominent publicists and political leaders on the dilemma. It brings to focus the tools, both hard and soft, that Berlin is using to manage the massive problem that threatens to tear German society apart. Besides, it compares the experience of India whenever appropriate. The volume also attempts to lay bare the factors that are responsible for influencing the youth to opt for terrorist ideology.
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June 2015Getting Jesus Right: How Muslims Get Jesus and Islam Wrong
by Beverley, James A
IS IT POSSIBLE THAT MUSLIMS ARE WRONG ABOUT JESUS AND VARIOUS TENETS OF ISLAM? Is the famous Muslim writer Reza Aslan mistaken in his portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth and apologetic for Islam? Professor James Beverley and Professor Craig Evans take an in-depth look at subjects at the core of the Muslim-Christian divide: the reliability of the New Testament Gospels and the Qur’an, and what we can really know about Jesus and the prophet Muhammad. Importantly, they also examine the implications of traditional Islamic faith on the status of women, jihad and terrorism.
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Mrs. Ramsay's Knee
by Idris Anderson
Volume 12 in the Swenson Poetry Award Series, Mrs. Ramsay's Knee offers fresh and elegant poems by Idris Anderson, many of them ekphrastic considerations of visual works of art. Among her subjects are paintings by Rembrandt, Rousseau, Pollock, and Chagall, yet she equally explores a set of news photos from the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Idris Anderson's voice is both compassionate and calm, yet she brings a vivid imaginative world to light, illuminating art and life alike. The poet has little interest in ideology, but great concern for lived experience in all its richness. This poetry is as full of feeling as intelligence, drawing the reader ever closer to that intimacy with the human condition that brings true understanding. In selecting her work to win the Swenson Poetry Award for 2008, Harold Bloom wrote, "The grave, measured poetic voice won me instantly."
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Peace studies & conflict resolutionJune 2012
What Is Boko Haram?
by Andrew Walker
The group Jama’atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda’Awati Wal Jihad, known the world over as Boko Haram, is an extremist Islamic sect in Nigeria that has created havoc across the north of the country and in the capital, Abuja. Its violent attacks on government offices, the United Nations, and churches threaten to destabilize the country. A range of conflicting narratives has grown up around Boko Haram, and the group’s origins, motivations, and future plans remain a matter of debate. This report addresses the questions stemming from these narratives and suggests how the group can be contained. The report is based on the author’s extensive research and reporting on Boko Haram. In March 2011, he conducted an interview with a senior member of the group in the city of Maiduguri, Nigeria, the center of Boko Haram’s area of influence. The report also draws on interviews with Nigerian journalists who have covered the group (and who asked to remain anonymous in this report) and on information provided to the author by other researchers working on Boko Haram.
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Espionage & spy thrillerMossad Agent Cobra
An Espionage & Terrorism Thriller
by Dov Nardimon
Nisim Kobarsky, a high ranking Mossad agent named "Cobra", finishes a long and nerve-racking period of service in Syria. He is sent on an apparently low-key,low risk mission: he assumes the identity of Pedro Tariki, an Argentinean of Syrian origin and studies biology at the Sorbonne in Paris. His mission is to follow the roots of the revolutionary Muslim movements, which have flourished under the intellectual liberalism that France has always cherished. Cobra exceeds all expectations thanks to a friendship he develops with Sergey Ismailov, a Muslim, Tajikistan-born, Soviet officer, who proves to be an excellent source of intelligence. Even Cobra's French sweetheart, Denise is unaware of his true identity. Then the predator becomes the prey as the tables turn. A hostage of the Islamic revolution in Iran, Ismailov concocts a diabolical scheme in which the unsuspecting Cobra is involved. Should he succeed, Israel would face a national disaster. Mossad agent Cobra is the story of a head-on collision between two lone wolves, both captives of their principles and both highly trained professionals. The plot takes the reader across the globe, from the crumbling Soviet Republic, through Tehran, to Paris, Syria, Buenos Aires and Israel. Global Jihad serves as the inspiration for this fictional scenario that is chillingly probable.
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FictionOctober 2014The Syrian
by Cathy Sultan
Other books in the series (All rights are available): Damascus Street (2018) An Ambassador to Syria (2021) In the Cauldron of Lebanon, he "disappeared." Now he's coming after her. "Nadia, I think your husband is still alive!" The Syrian is a powerful contemporary novel of passion and betrayal, set against the brutal and bewildering outbreak of the Israeli-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, 2006. Nadia, a woman who has waited thirteen years for a husband who was "disappeared," finally decides to declare him dead so she can marry an American physician, Andrew Sullivan. On the eve of her engagement party, her best friend Sonia, a well-connected war correspondent, rings to tell her that her husband may still be alive in a Syrian prison. Out to get Andrew for herself, Sonia draws in the powerful head of the Syrian secret police to help her in her Byzantine manipulations. Thus begins a series of dangerous plot twists that become increasingly bloody as Nadia attempts to rescue her husband, and the border conflict with Israel escalates.
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Historical fictionJune 2012The Unicorn Conspiracy
by Quentin Cope
The Unicorn Conspiracy It is the early autumn of 1973; the setting for a story of International politics, high finance and personal revenge, triggered by events that took place on the Oman’s high plateau at Jebel Akhtar during a cold January in 1959. Leading to a scenario that could turn out to be the beginnings of World War Three, the action moves quickly through Africa, the Middle East and Europe. One man is tasked to prevent what some would later look back upon as a possible Armageddon. A bitter, exiled religious leader, gaining an increasing Islamic following by the day, has the power to release the might of a cold war Soviet Union on a financially crippled Europe. America is retreating back in to its shell and divorcing itself from any military responsibilities to a recently formed and generally distrusted European Community. Maxwell Armstrong, a man desperately needing to extract himself from the clutches of the British SIS, is the only person who has the ability to communicate with the exiled religious Imam in a determined attempt to call off an inevitable Jihad to be proclaimed against the west. The clock is ticking, but standing firmly in his path are the powerful, ruthless and manipulative members of a secret organization calling itself 'Unicorn'. Seemingly betrayed at every turn, the ruthless British agent desperately attempts to stay one step ahead of the murderous, clandestine society, but will he be in time? This is a thriller to the very bitter end with Maxwell Armstrong following a trail of death, torture and mass destruction: a determined man forced to call upon primitive instincts to survive.
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Biography & True StoriesApril 2015A Beirut Heart
One Woman's War
by Cathy Sultan
Other nonfiction stories by Cathy Sultan (All rights are available): Tragedy in South Lebanon: The Israeli-Hezbollah War of 2006 Israeli and Palestinian Voices: A Dialogue with Both Sides This disturbing and yet beautiful memoir, written by a courageous housewife, places us inside something we seldom think about—domestic survival during civil war. A Beirut Heart imposes upon the reader a haunting metaphor about how the tragic destruction of a great city can be paralleled in the psyche of even the most resilient of its inhabitants. As a young woman Cathy Sultan dreamed of living in a foreign land. She realized that dream in 1969 when she moved with her Lebanese husband and two infant children from the United States to Beirut—a city known for its welcoming residents, breathtaking landscape and cosmopolitan culture. Sultan quickly grew to adore Beirut despite its seedy side, and came to think of it as her dysfunctional lover. Even after the onset of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975 her feelings were slow to change. Using cooking as a tranquilizer, Sultan worked tirelessly to provide a home environment that was comforting to her family and inviting to friends. Even as bullets pierced her own kitchen and bombs destroyed the ancient city and the lives of loved ones, she and her family refused to be driven from their home and their humanity. A Beirut Heart: One Woman's War is the riveting story of how a wife and mother struggled to maintain order and normality amid the unspeakable cruelty of civil war.
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Thriller / suspenseOctober 2013Beirut File
by Dale A. Dye
When his wife disappears on a deep, dark intelligence mission, gunner Shake Davis is desperate to find her. His quest to find Chan leads the retired Tier One Special Operator through the tragic Boston Marathon bombing and back to Beirut, Lebanon, where Shake served on active duty as part of the Multi-National Peacekeeping Force in the early 1980s. Shake Davis returns in the popular "File" series of novels by Dale A. Dye, author of "Laos File," "Peleliu File," and “Chosin File.”
