Module description
This module introduces students to key debates about the nature and characteristics of “political Islam”. The module assumes no prior knowledge of Islam or political Islam; it is designed to be accessible to those who have not studied these themes before whilst also allowing those with some prior knowledge to further develop their thinking on the topic. While grounded in a political science approach, it draws on a variety of other disciplines (including history, anthropology, sociology, religious studies and international relations) to provide a diverse set of analytical tools for making sense of this complex and multifaceted phenomenon. The course is structured around a set of themes which are central to understanding the relationship between Islam and contemporary politics. The choice of themes takes in debates about the role of Islam in regard to the state, political ideology, popular political activism, and political violence. At the same time, the chosen themes also account for the ways in which Islam may be implicated in politics as it plays out in other dimensions of social life, including gender relations, the market and identity construction. Along the way, the course will examine key Islamist movements and currents, and students will be invited to engage directly with works authored by influential Islamist thinkers of recent decades. The course concludes by considering possible future trajectories of political Islam, at a moment in history which has seen some influential social scientists insisting that Islamism is essentially a spent project even as a self-declared Islamic State came to rule territory spanning Syria and Iraq. The module rejects simplistic readings of political Islam, instead seeking to open up critical questions about the diverse, complex and shifting ways in which Islam may intersect with politics in today’s world.
Using comparative contextual analysis this course explores the nature and characteristics of political Islam, with particular reference to the contemporary Middle East. Specifically, the module is designed to:
- help students obtain a critical awareness of diverse approaches to the study of the relationship between Islam and politics
- provide students with the ability to critically differentiate between variant ideological currents of Islamist thought and to situate them within contemporary intellectual debates and political contexts
- provide in-depth historical analysis of key Sunni and Shi’i Islamist movements
- situate these case studies within broader scholarly debates over jihad, takfir, revolution, international terrorism, Western interventionism, political participation and democratization
- examine and explore the relationship between Islamist ideology and the state in comparative perspective, analysing state building failures and challenges to the state by Islamist movements
- provide students with the intellectual tools to address the theoretical discourse pertinent to academic debates concerning Islamism, violence and political power
- continue to develop the student’s analytical, research and writing capacities
- give students the opportunity to develop oral skills through class participation, group work and presentations
Assessment details
500 Word Formative Essay (unassessed), 2,500 Word Summative Essay (90%) & Class Participation (10%)
Educational aims & objectives
Using comparative contextual analysis this course explores the nature and characteristics of political Islam, with particular reference to the contemporary Middle East. Specifically, the module is designed to:
- help students obtain a critical awareness of diverse approaches to the study of the relationship between Islam and politics
- provide students with the ability to critically differentiate between variant ideological currents of Islamist thought and to situate them within contemporary intellectual debates and political contexts
- provide in-depth historical analysis of key Sunni and Shi'i Islamist movements
- situate these case studies within broader scholarly debates over jihad, takfir, revolution, international terrorism, Western interventionism, political participation and democratization
- examine and explore the relationship between Islamist ideology and the state in comparative perspective, analysing state building failures and challenges to the state by Islamist movements
- provide students with the intellectual tools to address the theoretical discourse pertinent to academic debates concerning Islamism, violence and political power
- continue to develop the student's analytical, research and writing capacities
- give students the opportunity to develop oral skills through class participation, group work and presentations
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to demonstrate transferable intellectual and practicable skills appropriate to a level 6 module and in particular will be able to:
- critically assess the major scholarly debates concerning contemporary political Islam in its militant and non-militant forms
- apply rigorous theory to comparative case studies of political Islam
- develop a capacity to ask relevant, substantive and probing questions of political Islam in relation to the state, regional politics, and Western policy and interventionism
- develop and strengthen a range of relevant skills – including empirical and normative research abilities, the capacity to engage critically with primary sources, and analytical and written skills – through the discussion and presentation of original work
- demonstrate a capacity to form opinions through comparative analysis and discourse analysis regarding Islamism