Amelie Blom, Laetitia Bucaille, and Luis Martinez (eds). The Enigma of Islamist Violence.

PositionBOOKS IN BRIEF, Spring 2008 - Book review

Amelie Blom, Laetitia Bucaille, and Luis Martinez (eds). The Enigma of Islamist Violence. Translated by John Atherton, Ros Schwartz, and William Snow. NY: Columbia University Press, 2007, 202 pages. Hardcover $50.00.

The debates surrounding Islamist terrorism since September 11, 2001, have been disappointing. The Enigma of Islamist Violence transcends culturalist understanding and underdevelopment explanations by looking at the conditions in which that violence emerges. Those conditions are the reasons for suicide bombings. "Islam becomes an explanation of anything and everything, from misogyny to poverty, from the lack of democracy to terrorism" (xiv). The five case studies focus primarily on the political and historical context and distance themselves from propaganda. Blom and Bucaille explain how the repertoires of violence have changed but a worldwide war of religion has not replaced local struggle. Nor has the umma replaced nation. Suicide bombing is almost non-existent in two Islamic countries like Algeria and Yemen, but is used by non-Islamist Kurdish groups. It is important to realize that suicide bombings are perceived as "military operations" or "fedayeen actions" in those countries.

Hamadi Redissi and Jan-Erik Lane in their first chapter question if Islam provides a theory of...

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