Islam in International Relations: Islamism (Spring 2008)
Underwood College
Horace Jeffery Hodges
Course Description: As the title suggests, the course will attempt to understand the rise of Islamism in our time by tracing its development through reading primary and secondary sources. Students are expected to be familiar with Samuel P. Huntington’s article on the clash of civilizations, which argues that civilizations clash because they are based upon religions appealing to different fundamental values. This approach enables us to see two aspects to Islamism’s rise, as actor and as reactor.
Weekly Assignments: I have listed below the sources that I have located so far, but it will be expanded. Some of these will be required reading, and we will discuss these texts thoroughly, as in a seminar. However, most of these articles will be provided as resources for a paper to be written for the class. Student are expected to expand the list to fit their own research.
Classtime Work: Reading, analysis, and discussion of selected articles from the list below. Students are expected to read each assignment before class and come prepared for discussion. We will have regular student presentations to facilitate discussion.
Graded Work: Thesis paper of about 15 paragraphs, with formal thesis statement and sound sources. Two drafts to be written, each graded, with course grade depending on improvement.
Week Assignment
1. 3/5 Introduction
3/7 Mneimneh/Makiya, "Manual for a 'Raid'" & Internet Research
2. 3/12 Handout: Thesis Statement, Introductory, Middle, Concluding Paragraphs
3/14 Presentations: Islamism. Also: Decisions on Research Directions
3. 3/19 Presentations:
3/21 Presentations:
4. 3/26 Presentations:
3/28 Presentations:
5. 4/2 Presentations:
4/4 Presentations:
6. 4/9 Presentations:
4/11 Presentations:
7. 4/16 Presentations:
4/18 Presentations:
8. 4/23 Midterm Week: Thesis Statement Due
4/25 Presentations:
9. 4/30 Presentations:
5/2 Presentations:
10. 5/7 Presentations:
5/9 Presentations:
11. 5/14 Presentations:
5/16 Presentations:
12. 5/21 Presentations:
5/23 Presentations:
13. 5/28 Essays Due: First Draft
5/30 Presentations:
14. 6/4 Presentations:
6/6 Holiday
15. 6/11 Presentations:
6/13 Presentations:
16. 6/18 Presentations:
6/20 Essay Due: Final Draft
NOTE: The following items are sometimes linked to Wikipedia sites, but the link is no endorsement of Wikipedia as a reliable source, and it should not be cited as a source in papers. Wikpedia is merely a useful resource, used for preliminary research but not to be trusted and always to be checked.
Islamist Orientations
Al-Qaeda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda
Deobandi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deobandi
Islamism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamism
Islamofascism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamofascism
Muslim Brotherhood http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood
Salafism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafi
Wahhabism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi
Personalities
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_al-Din_al-Afghani
Mohamed Atta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Atta
Abdullah Yusuf Azzam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_Yusuf_Azzam
Hassan al-Banna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_al-Banna
Ruhollah Musawi Khomeini http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayatollah_Khomeini
Abul Ala Maududi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abul_Ala_Maududi
Sayyid Qutb http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyid_Qutb
Ibn Taymiyyah http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Taymiyyah
Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_ibn_Abd-al-Wahhab
Websites (Professional)
Combating Terrorism Center (West Point) http://www.ctc.usma.edu/default.asp
Global Security Organization http://www.globalsecurity.org/
Long War Journal (Bill Roggio) http://www.longwarjournal.org/
MEMRI Islamist Website Monitor Project http://www.memriiwmp.org/
Online Magazine (Michael Yon) http://michaelyon-online.com/
Political Islam Online http://www.politicalislam.org/
Threats Watch (Bill Roggio et al.) http://threatswatch.org/
Websites (Nonprofessional)
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Blogs
Belmont Club (Richard Fernandez) http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/
Counterterrorism Blog (Andrew Cochran et al.) http://counterterrorismblog.org/
Global Guerrillas (John Robb) http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/
Middle East Journal (Michael Totten) http://www.michaeltotten.com/
Bibliography
Aboul-Enein - Khalidi - Revitalizing Qutb http://ctc.usma.edu/publications/pdf/Khalidi-Qutb.pdf
Aboul-Enein and Zohur - Islamic Rulings on Warfare http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ssi/islam_warfare.pdf
Berman - The Philosopher of Islamic Terror http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01E7D91731F930A15750C0A9659C8B63
Berman - Who's Afraid of Tariq Ramadan? http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20070604&s=berman060407
Cook - Paradigmatic Jihadi Movements http://ctc.usma.edu/publications/pdf/CTC-Paradigmatic_Jihadi_Movements-10_06.pdf
Crone - Islam and Religious Freedom http://www.omnibus.uni-freiburg.de/~mr5/dot2007/vortrag_crone_final.doc
Eikmeier - Qutbism - Islamic Fascism http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/07spring/eikmeier.pdf
Felter - Cracks in Foundation - Leadership Schisms http://ctc.usma.edu/aq/pdf/Harmony_3_Schism.pdf
Felter and Fishman - Al Qa'ida's Foreign Fighters in Iraq http://www.ctc.usma.edu/harmony/pdf/CTCForeignFighter.19.Dec07.pdf
Fine - Contrasting Secular and Religious Terrorism http://www.meforum.org/article/1826
Fishman - Fourth Generation Governance http://www.ctc.usma.edu/pdf/ISI--Fourth_Gen4.pdf
Fishman - Al-Qa'ida's Imaginary Emir http://www.ctc.usma.edu/pdf/ISI--al-baghdadi%20fictitious2.pdf
Freeman - Democracy, Al Qaeda, Terrorism http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a789156218~db=all~order=page
Hafez - Rationalty Culture Suicide Bombers http://mywebsite.register.com/db4/00365/suicidebombersiniraq.com/_download/rationalty_culture_suicide_bombers.pdf
Hamid - (Fradkin-Haqqani-Brown - Current Trends Islamist Ideology) - Development Jihadi Mind http://www.futureofmuslimworld.com/research/ctID.9/ctrend.asp
Huntington - Clash of Civilizations http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19930601faessay5188/samuel-p-huntington/the-clash-of-civilizations.html
Ibn Taimiyyah - Jihad http://abdurrahman.org/jihad/ibntaimiyyahjihad.html
Kydd and Walter - Strategies of Terrorism http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/international_security/v031/31.1kydd.html
Jasser - Americanism vs. Islamism: A Personal Perspective http://www.fpri.org/enotes/200801.jasser.americanismislamism.html
Kowalski - Geographical Spatial Imaginings of Islamist Extremism http://etd.uwaterloo.ca/etd/jdkowals2005.pdf
LaRossa - The Anchor of a Movement: Religious Ideology in Islamism http://www.allianceforunderstanding.org/literary/former%20articles/commentary/religiousideology.htm
Lia - Al Qaida Strategist Abu Mu'sab al Suri http://www.mil.no/multimedia/archive/00076/_The_Al-Qaida_strate_76568a.pdf
Lilla - Politics of God http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/magazine/19Religion-t.html?_r=1&ex=1188273600&en=e84ed0ef107e84f7&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin
Magouirk-Atran-Sageman - Connecting Terrorist Networks http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a789156026~db=all~order=page
McCants - Problems with the Arabic Name Game http://ctc.usma.edu/publications/pdf/Problems%20with%20the%20Arabic%20Name%20Game.pdf
McGregor: Jihad and the Rifle Alone http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/JCS/Fall03/mcgregor.pdf
Mneimneh and Makiya - Manual for a 'Raid' http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=15106
Najdi - Management of Savagery http://ctc.usma.edu/publications/naji.asp
Pavlin - Ibn Taymiyya, Taqi al-Din (1263-1328) http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H039.htm
Ranstorp - Virtual Sanctuary of Al Qaeda http://www.forsvarshogskolan.se/upload/Utbildning/Dokument/Publikationer/ISS/Virtual%20Al%20Qaeda%20-%20Ranstorp.pdf
Sageman - Understanding Terror Networks http://www.fpri.org/enotes/20041101.middleeast.sageman.understandingterrornetworks.html
Wahhab - Book of Tawheed http://islamicweb.com/beliefs/creed/abdulwahab/
Ward - Osama's Wake- 2nd Generation Al Qaeda http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cpc-pubs/ward2.pdf
Wiktorowicz - Anatomy Salafi Movement http://informaworld.com/index/742005956.pdf
Wiktorowicz - Genealogy of Radical Islam http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a725270654~db=all