Explore the vast range of titles available.

Ali Mirsepassi's book presents a powerful challenge to the dominant media and scholarly construction of radical Islamist politics, and their anti-Western ideology, as a purely Islamic phenomenon derived from insular, traditional and monolithic religious 'foundations'. It argues that the discourse of political Islam has strong connections to important and disturbing currents in Western philosophy and modern Western intellectual trends. The work demonstrates this by establishing links between important contemporary Iranian intellectuals and the central influence of Martin Heidegger's philosophy. We are also introduced to new democratic narratives of modernity linked to diverse intellectual trends in the West and in non-Western societies, notably in India, where the ideas of John Dewey have influenced important democratic social movements. As the first book to make such connections, it promises to be an important contribution to the field and will do much to overturn some pervasive assumptions about the dichotomy between East and West.

Since the middle of the nineteenth century, Iranian intellectuals have been preoccupied by issues of political and social reform, Iran's relation with the modern West, and autocracy, or arbitrary rule. Drawing from a close reading of a broad array of primary sources, this book offers a thematic account of the Iranian intelligentsia from the Constitutional movement of 1905 to the post-1979 revolution. Ali Gheissari shows how in Iran, as in many other countries, intellectuals have been the prime mediators between the forces of tradition and modernity and have contributed significantly to the formation of the modern Iranian self image. His analysis of intellectuals' response to a number of fundamental questions, such as nationalism, identity, and the relation between Islam and modern politics, sheds new light on the factors that led to the Iranian Revolution—the twentieth century's first major departure from Western political ideals—and helps explain the complexities surrounding the reception of Western ideologies in the Middle East.

From the cleric-led Iranian revolution to the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, many people have been surprised by what they see as the modern reemergence of an antimodern phenomenon. This book helps account for the increasingly visible public role of traditionally educated Muslim religious scholars (the `ulama) across contemporary Muslim societies. Muhammad Qasim Zaman describes the transformations the centuries-old culture and tradition of the `ulama have undergone in the modern era--transformations that underlie the new religious and political activism of these scholars. In doing so, it provides a new foundation for the comparative study of Islam, politics, and religious change in the contemporary world. While focusing primarily on Pakistan, Zaman takes a broad approach that considers the Taliban and the `ulama of Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, and the southern Philippines. He shows how their religious and political discourses have evolved in often unexpected but mutually reinforcing ways to redefine and enlarge the roles the `ulama play in society. Their discourses are informed by a longstanding religious tradition, of which they see themselves as the custodians. But these discourses are equally shaped by--and contribute in significant ways to--contemporary debates in the Muslim public sphere. This book offers the first sustained comparative perspective on the `ulama and their increasingly crucial religious and political activism. It shows how issues of religious authority are debated in contemporary Islam, how Islamic law and tradition are continuously negotiated in a rapidly changing world, and how the `ulama both react to and shape larger Islamic social trends. Introducing previously unexamined facets of religious and political thought in modern Islam, it clarifies the complex processes of religious change unfolding in the contemporary Muslim world and goes a long way toward explaining their vast social and political ramifications.

It is estimated that almost 244 million people have migrated around the world for a variety of complex reasons. For some, (tertiary) education has been the primary motivating factor. Countries that experience a brain drain as a result of migration may suffer a population and cultural loss. Iran is believed to suffer from such a brain drain in their skilled-labour market, otherwise known in many areas as education immigration. This study was undertaken to explore why Iranian students emigrate to Malaysia and what are the most common causes of migration growth that have accompanied this trend. A descriptive analytical research method, cross-sectional in nature, was applied. A sample of 250 Iranian post-graduate and undergraduate students—who were studying in Malaysia—was selected randomly to participate in this study. A self-administered questionnaire was adapted to collect data, which was tested for validity and reliability based on the research scholars’ advice and calculating Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α = 0.90). ‘SPSS’ v. 19.0 was used to analyse the data. The significance level was set at 0.05. In total, 219 questionnaires were completed. The majority of students (73.5%) were male, and most of them (62.1%) belonged to the age group of 25–30 years. Nearly 65% of the students had been living in Malaysia for 3 years or more. Low tuition fees and living costs (68%), exceptional educational technologies at Malaysian universities (54.3%), the existence of international companies in Malaysia (65.3%), easy entry to Malaysian universities (70.3%), high rankings of Malaysian universities in the world (58%) and greater freedom in social interaction for respondents compared to Iran (49.3%) were the most compelling reasons for these students’ emigration to Malaysia. Further analysis revealed that Iranian students’ intention to emigrate to Malaysia was significantly correlated with socio-political factors and religious concerns in Iran, reasonable tuition fees in Malaysia and access to advanced technologies and international cooperation in Malaysia. Other contributing factors included the simple process of obtaining an entry visa and subsequent resident visa or work permits for Malaysia and the high rankings of Malaysian universities among international institutions (P value < 0.001). Concern over the issue of immigration continues to mount confounding and challenging legislators, politicians, community leaders, policy-makers and academics to develop solutions to overcome it. In the case of Iran, authorities are required to focus on the big picture of the immigration process and should explore the extent of the challenges Iranian students face. They need to secure the employment of graduates produced by educational institutions to ensure their country does not continue to experience brain drain. A more unified effort is required to stop the brain drain by establishing high-tech, affordable and accessible universities in Iran and offering more freedom in the areas of politics, social and religious activities.

In the decade before World War I, a wave of democratic revolutions swept the globe, consuming more than a quarter of the world's population. Revolution transformed Russia, Iran, the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, Mexico, and China. In each case, a pro-­democracy movement unseated a long-standing autocracy with startling speed. The nascent democratic regime held elections, convened parliament, and allowed freedom of the press and freedom of association. But the new governments failed in many instances to uphold the rights and freedoms that they proclaimed. Coups d'état soon undermined the democratic experiments. How do we account for these unexpected democracies, and for their rapid extinction? In Democracy Denied, Charles Kurzman proposes that the collective agent most directly responsible for democratization was the emerging class of modern intellectuals, a group that had gained a global identity and a near-messianic sense of mission following the Dreyfus Affair of 1898. Each chapter of Democracy Denied focuses on a single angle of this story, covering all six cases by examining newspaper accounts, memoirs, and government reports. This thoroughly interdisciplinary treatment of the early-twentieth-century upheavals promises to reshape debates about the social origins of democracy, the causes of democratic collapse, the political roles of intellectuals, and the international flow of ideas.

Kamrava discusses Shiism's role in Iranian polity. Iran's Islamic revolution has resulted in profound theoretical and theological consequences for Shiite political thought. This unfolding discourse revolves around two principal themes: the question of religion and reform, and religion and social and political freedom.

The \"Fourth Generation\" of Iranian intellectuals has a vital role to play in strengthening civil society and fostering democratization.

L'expérience d'un régime théocratique depuis 1979 conduit un grand nombre d'intellectuels iraniens à réfléchir sur la compatibilité de l'islam et de la démocratie et à dégager le politique de l'emprise du religieux. L'Iran est donc, de ce point de vue, très différent des autres pays arabo-islamiques : à Téhéran l'islamisme radical et violemment anti-occidental ne fait guère recette, alors qu'il trouve un écho croissant dans les autres pays. La contestation du pouvoir des mollahs prend la forme d'une aspiration au pluralisme et à la démocratie. Ce mouvement s'appuie sur un réseau de journaux et d'élus. Reproduced by permission of Bibliothèque de Sciences Po

Discusses the condition and prospects for political and religious intellectuals, focusing on the production, distribution, and consumption of political theologies, religion and secular critiques of the theocratic establishment, and movements for reform; 6 articles. Contents: Iran's tortuous path toward \"Islamic liberalism\", by Ahmad Ashraf, Ali Banuazizi; Sacral defense of secularism: the political theologies of Soroush, Shabestari, and Kadivar, by Mahmoud Sadri; The varieties of religious reforms: public intelligentsia in Iran, by Ahmad Sadri; The revival of the student movement in post-revolutionary Iran, by Mehrdad Mashayekhi; Religious intellectuals, the \"woman question,\" and the struggle for the creation of a democratic public sphere in Iran, by Farideh Farhi; Critics within: Islamic scholars' protests against the Islamic state in Iran, by Charles Kurzman.