Though the media frequently cover tensions surrounding radical Muslim communities within Western countries, coverage and understanding of similar tensions within Muslim nations themselves are far more limited. This study of the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy analyzes developments in Islamic beliefs, political activism, society and law in twelve Islamic countries since the 1970s. Dynamism in Islamic Activism is a penetrating, timely study that helps citizens and policy makers look beyond simplistic, stereotypical understandings of Islamic societies.

Foreword /Charles Tilly.-Introduction: Islamic Activism and Social Movement Theory/ Quintan Wiktorowicz. - 1. From Marginalization to Massacres: A Political Process Explanation of GIA Violence in Algeria / Mohammed M. Hafez. - 2. Violence as Contention in the Egyptian Islamic Movement Mohammed / M. Hafez and Quintan Wiktorowicz. - 3. Repertoires of Contention in Contemporary Bahrain / Fred H. Lawson. - 4. Hamas as Social Movement / Glenn E. Robinson. - 5. The Networked World of Islamist Social Movements / Diane Singerman. - 6. Islamist Women in Yemen: Informal Nodes of Activism / Janine A. Clark. - 7. Collective Action with and without Islam: Mobilizing the Bazaar in Iran/ Benjamin Smith. - 8. The Islah Party in Yemen: Political Opportunities and Coalition Building in a Transitional Polity / Jillian Schwedler. -9. Interests, Ideas, and Islamist Outreach in Egypt / Carrie Rosefsky Wickham. - 10. Making Conversation Permissible: Islamism and Reform in Saudi Arabia/ Gwenn Okruhlik. - 11. Opportunity Spaces, Identity, and Islamic Meaning in Turkey / M. Hakan Yavuz. - Conclusion: Social Movement Theory and Islamic Studies / Charles Kurzman

This concise but enormously valuable work lays down the nature, logic and dynamic of the Islamic movement in the context of Iman and Jihad.

This volume focuses on Islamic thinking, activism, and politics in both the West and the Middle East.

Shows how the laws governing civil society are used to regulate Islamic activism in Jordan.

When revolutionary hero Gamal Abdel Nasser dismantled and suppressed Egypt's largest social movement organization during the 1950s, few could have imagined that the Muslim Brotherhood would not only reemerge, but could one day compete for the presidency in the nation's first ever democratic election. While there is no shortage of analyses of the Muslim Brotherhood's recent political successes and failures, no study has investigated the organization's triumphant return from the dustbin of history. Answering the Call examines the means by which the Muslim Brotherhood was reconstituted during Anwar al-Sadat's presidency. Through analysis of structural, ideological, and social developments during this period in the history of the Islamic movement, a more accurate picture of the so-called "Islamic resurgence" develops-one that represents the rebirth of an old idea in a new setting. The Muslim Brotherhood's success in rebuilding its organization rested in large part on its ability to attract a new generation of Islamic activists that had come to transform Egypt's colleges and universities into a hub for religious contention against the state. Led by groups such as al-Gama'ah al-Islamiyyah (The Islamic Society), the student movement exhibited a dynamic and vibrant culture of activism that found inspiration in a multitude of intellectual and organizational sources, of which the Muslim Brotherhood was only one. By the close of the 1970s, however, internal divisions over ideology and strategy led to the rise of factionalism within the student movement. A majority of student leaders opted to expand the scope of their activist mission by joining the Muslim Brotherhood, rejuvenating the struggling organization, and launching a new phase in its history. Answering the Call is an original study of the history of this dynamic and vibrant period of modern Egyptian history, giving readers a fresh understanding of one of Egypt's most pivotal eras.