Overview

Global jihadism has been on policy agendas for more than two decades. Since the 9/11 attacks, both transnational jihadi entities such as Al-Qaeda and national or regional militant groups have attracted a great deal of media and scholarly attention. In recent years, policy agendas have increasingly come to include a focus on countering militant jihadi ideologies. Despite this, studies of global jihadism that take the impact of ideas seriously are at a relatively early stage and have yet to fully capture the richness of their social contexts and intellectual universes. Departing from the security studies approaches that have characterised much writing about jihadi groups, this volume aims to engage policy-makers and specialists alike by bridging existing disciplines and areas of study to create a framework for beginning to understand jihadi movements through the study of their ideologies, intellectual histories, political engagements and geographies. The contributors to the volume come from a range of academic disciplines (including history, anthropology, political science, religious studies and area studies), as well as from the worlds of diplomacy and policy research. In addition to studies of globalised contexts and ideologies, the volume also includes detailed studies of jihadi currents of thought and responses to them in Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, India, Pakistan, Egypt, South-East Asia and Europe.

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9781849041300

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Reviews

'A truly valuable contribution to the understanding of Jihadi discourse and rationale, bringing into light new analysis and interpretation of these movements, in a legitimate and largely successful attempt to de-exoticizeA them.'--Professor Jean-Pierre Filiu, Sciences Po, Paris, author, The Apocalypse in Islam

'A truly valuable contribution to the understanding of Jihadi discourse and rationale, bringing into light new analysis and interpretation of these movements, in a legitimate and largely successful attempt to de-exoticizeA them.' - Professor Jean-Pierre Filiu, Sciences Po, Paris, author, The Arab Revolution 'Jeevan Deol and Zaheer Kazmi have brought together an extremely impressive team of contributors to write one of the best available books on jihadi ideology. This is essential reading for any serious student of al-Qaida and the jihadi movement.' - Thomas Hegghammer, Director of Terrorism studies, Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI). 'This is a complex text that aims at understanding transnational jihadist networks through the study of their ideologies, intellectual histories, political engagements and geographic contexts. It includes richly detailed case studies of local militant groups in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, India, North Africa, South-East Asia and the UK. A breath of fresh air in a subject area dominated by narrow and simplistic commentaries, which take the ideological narratives of jihadist factions at face value.' - Fawaz A. Gerges, Professor of International Relations and Director of the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics, and author of The Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda (2011).

'If you want to understand the origins, ideological and political worldviews of what is popularly referred to as transnational jihadism, then Jeevan Deol and Zaheer Kazmi's Contextualising Jihadi Thought is the book to read. A masterful and accessible global perspective that will be welcomed by academic experts, policymakers and students alike.' - John L. Esposito, University Professor, Georgetown University and author of The Future of Islam 'This is a complex text that aims at understanding transnational jihadist networks through the study of their ideologies, intellectual histories, political engagements and geographic contexts. It includes richly detailed case studies of local militant groups in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, India, North Africa, South-East Asia and the UK. A breath of fresh air in a subject area dominated by narrow and simplistic commentaries, which take the ideological narratives of jihadist factions at face value.' - Fawaz A. Gerges, Professor of International Relations and Director of the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics, and author of The Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda (2011). 'Jeevan Deol and Zaheer Kazmi have brought together an extremely impressive team of contributors to write one of the best available books on jihadi ideology. This is essential reading for any serious student of al-Qaida and the jihadi movement.' - Thomas Hegghammer, Director of Terrorism studies, Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) 'A truly valuable contribution to the understanding of jihadi discourse and rationale, bringing into light new analysis and interpretation of these movements, in a legitimate and largely successful attempt to de-exoticise them'. - Professor Jean-Pierre Filiu, Sciences Po, Paris, author, The Arab Revolution

Author Information

Jeevan Deol is an Affiliated Lecturer of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies in the University of Cambridge. Zaheer Kazmi is a Senior Associate Member of St Antony's College, University of Oxford. He was formerly a Senior Research Analyst at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He holds a PhD in international political theory from the University of Cambridge

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