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HEZBOLLAH
₨ 2,295Almost forty years after its foundation, Hezbollah remains an enigma. Is it an Islamist terrorist group dedicated to destroying Israel or the first Arab national resistance ever to have defeated Tel Aviv?s troops? Should we look at it as a patriotic and respectable party or a fascist network at the centre of Lebanese political life? Hezbollah intrigues all the more for the difficulty involved in studying it. Its weakening, if not demise, has been announced many times since its inception in the early 1980s. But the fact is that Hezbollah has never stopped growing in power, on the national stage as well as in a regional context. This book has three purposes. It first gives a clear definition of Hezbollah, presenting a thorough history of the party, describing its established internal structure, and the scope of its social and political action. It then explains the evolution of the party?s mobilisation. Finally, it illustrates another path, political but mainly identity-related ? that of the Shiite community, today the main constituent of Lebanese society. This rigorous and richly documented study, drawing on primary sources and hundreds of interviews with members, executives and officials of the party, unveils new aspects of this organisation, of the ?Hezbollah phenomenon? and of Lebanese politics at the turn of the twenty-first century.
ISBN: 9781911723448
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle: MOBILISATION AND POWER
Author: AURELIE DAHER -
THE ACCIDENTAL GUERRILLA
₨ 5,202This landmark book a Washington Post bestseller transformed the theory and practice of counterinsurgency.
Colouring his account with gripping battlefield experience from the highlands of Southeast Asia, the mountains of the Afghanistan Pakistan border, and the dusty towns of the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, David Kilcullen argues that neither counterterrorism nor traditional counterinsurgency is the appropriate framework to fight the enemy we now face. Traditional counterinsurgency is more effective than counterterrorism when it comes to entities like Al-Qaeda, but, as Kilcullen contends, our current focus is far too narrow, concentrating on only one geographical region and one state.
Today’s wars present a very different situation: stateless insurgents and terrorists operating across a large number of countries and only loosely affiliated with each other. Western armies have done a poor job of applying different tactics to different situations, continually misidentifying insurgents with limited aims and legitimate grievances as part of a coordinated worldwide network. The Accidental Guerrilla identifies the problem and suggests workable solutions.
This highly readable and closely argued book is essential for all those thinking about and fighting wars today.
ISBN: 9781849047111
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle: FIGHTING SMALL WARS IN THE MIDST OF A BIG ONE
Author: DAVID KILCULLEN -
GUJARAT UNDER MODI
₨ 7,745In 2012 Narendra Modi became the first Hindu nationalist politician thrice elected to lead a state of the Indian Union, his stewardship as Chief Minister of Gujarat being the longest in that state?s history. Modi and his BJP supporters explained his achievement by pointing to economic growth under his leadership, yet detractors point out that Modi has been more business-friendly than market-friendly?to the benefit of large industrial corporations, and at the cost of great social polarisation. In 2002, an anti-Muslim pogrom of unparalleled ferocity occurred in Gujarat, leading to the biggest number of Muslim deaths since Partition. The state?s Hindu majority immediately rallied around Modi. No serious riot has occurred in Gujarat since, but polarisation was key to Modi?s strategy there, and he has deployed that strategy again and again since he became Prime Minister of India in 2014. For Modi has cultivated a communal image. A marketing genius, his messaging combines the politics of Hindutva with economic modernisation, to the clear appreciation of Gujarat?s middle class. Christophe Jaffrelot?s revealing book shows how Modi?s Gujarat served as the laboratory of Modi?s India, not only in terms of Hindu majoritarianism and national populism, but also of caste and class politics.
ISBN: 9781849044295
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle: LABORATORY OF TODAY’S INDIA
Author: CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT -
THE PAKISTAN PARADOX
₨ 5,795Pakistan was born as the creation of elite Urdu-speaking Muslims who sought to govern a state that would maintain their dominance. After rallying non-Urdu speaking leaders around him, Jinnah imposed a unitary definition of the new nation state that obliterated linguistic diversity. This centralisation – ‘justified’ by the Indian threat – fostered centrifugal forces that resulted in Bengali secessionism in 1971 and Baloch, as well as Mohajir, separatisms today.
Concentration of power in the hands of the establishment remained the norm, and while authoritarianism peaked under military rule, democracy failed to usher in reform, and the rule of law remained fragile at best under Zulfikar Bhutto and later Nawaz Sharif. While Jinnah and Ayub Khan regarded religion as a cultural marker, since their time the Islamists have gradually prevailed. They benefited from the support of General Zia, while others, including sectarian groups, cashed in on their struggle against the establishment to woo the disenfranchised.
Today, Pakistan faces existential challenges ranging from ethnic strife to Islamism, two sources of instability which hark back to elite domination. But the resilience of the country and its people, the resolve of the judiciary and hints of reform in the army may open a new and more stable chapter in its history.
ISBN: 9781849043298
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle: INSTABILITY AND RESILIENCE
Author: CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT -
ISLAM IN CENTRAL ASIA AND THE CAUCASUS SINCE THE FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION
₨ 18,018With the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, a major turning point in all former Soviet republics, Central Asian and Caucasian countries began to reflect on their history and identities. As a consequence of their opening up to the global exchange of ideas, various strains of Islam and trends in Islamic thought have nourished the Islamic revival that had already started in the context of glasnost and perestroika?from Turkey, Iran, the Arabian Peninsula, and from the Indian subcontinent; the four regions with strong ties to Central Asian and Caucasian Islam in the years before Soviet occupation.
Bayram Balci seeks to analyse how these new Islamic influences have reached local societies and how they have interacted with pre-existing religious belief and practice. Combining exceptional erudition with rare first-hand research, Balci?s book provides a sophisticated account of both the internal dynamics and external influences in the evolution of Islam in the region.
ISBN: 9781849049689
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle:
Author: BAYRAM BALCI -
THE CALIPHATE AT WAR
₨ 10,010
ISBN: 9781849046435
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle: THE IDEOLOGICAL, ORGANISATIONAL AND MILITARY INNOVATIONS OF ISLAMIC STATE
Author: AHMED S. HASHIM -
THE AFGHAN WAY OF WAR
₨ 6,804
ISBN: 9781849043762
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle: CULTURE AND PRAGMATISM: A CRITICAL HISTORY
Author: ROB JOHNSON -
HINDU RULERS, MUSLIM SUBJECTS
₨ 995If there is a hotbed of religious politics in the world today, it is the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Disputed between India and Pakistan, it contains a large majority of Muslims who are subject to the laws of a predominantly Hindu and increasingly “Hinduised” India. How did religion become so inextricably enmeshed in defining and expressing the protest of Kashmir’s Muslims against Hindu rule? Mridu Rai argues that the origins of the present conflict lie in the 100-year period preceding the creation of India and Pakistan, when Kashmir was ruled by Hindu Dogra kinds under the aegis of the British, a collusion which shaped a decisively Hindu sovereignty over a subject Muslim populace. This sovereignty was characterized by an unprecedented degree of control by rulers intent on establishing and legitimizing their authority. The region’s Muslims, unlike its Hindus, were left out of the power-sharing arrangements not simply because of their religion but because, as Muslims, they became irrelevant to the legitimizing devices installed by the Hindu Dogras and the British. Hence the protest of Kashmiri Muslims represents a defence not so much of Islam as of their rights by a community defined specifically as Muslims by a Hindu ruling hierarchy. This explains both the development of a Kashmiri Muslim consciousness and the emergence of a political movement which remains in thrall to a religiosity thrust upon it for the past 150 years. Focusing on authority, sovereignty, legitimacy and community rights, the author explains how Kashmir’s modern Muslim identity came into being.
ISBN: 1850657017
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle: ISLAM, RIGHTS AND THE HISTORY OF KASHMIR
Author: MRIDU RAI -
FAITH, UNITY, DISCIPLINE
₨ 4,595Established in the wake of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-8 by the Australian army officer Major-General Walter Cawthorne, then Deputy Chief of Staff in the Pakistan Army, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for years remained an under-developed and obscure agency. In 1979, the organisation’s growing importance was felt during the Soviet war in Afghanistan , as it worked hand in glove with the CIA to support the mujahideen resistance, but its activities received little coverage in news media.Since that time, the ISI has projected its influence across the region – in 1988 its involvement in Indian Kashmir came under increasing scrutiny, and by 1995 its mentoring of what became the Afghan Taliban was well attested. But it was the organisation’s alleged links with Al Qaeda and the discovery of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, at the heart of Pakistan’s military zone, that really threw it under the spotlight. These controversies and many more have dogged the ISI, including its role in Pakistan’s testing of a nuclear weapon in 1998 and its links with A.Q. Khan.Offering fresh insights into the ISI as a domestic and international actor based on intimate knowledge of its inner workings and key individuals, this startlingly original book uncovers the hitherto shady world of Pakistan’s secret service.
Author: HEIN G. KIESSLING
ISBN: 9781805260349
ISBN: 9781805260349
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle: THE INTER-SERVICE-INTELLIGENCE (ISI) OF PAKISTAN
Author: HEIN G. KIESSLING -
HEART TANTRUMS AND BRAIN TUMOURS
₨ 4,495When Aisha Sarwari moved to America as a young woman, she set out to create her own identity and story. Born in Uganda, she had never lived in South Asia, yet struggled to reconcile the cultural expectation to be a ‘good Muslim girl’ with her desire for equality and acceptance.
After she met Yasser, a Pakistani law student, they returned to their ancestral country and married. Little did they know that a brain tumour would become a near-lethal third wheel in their relationship. The cancer gnawed at Yasser’s personality, provoking aggressive outbursts. Was the illness still the explanation for his violence, or had it become an excuse? Aisha began to see their marriage within a bigger picture of an oppressive society, and of the tug between feminist principles and personal happiness.
Between Africa, America and Pakistan, Heart Tantrums and Brain Tumours is a unique story of identity and belonging, misogyny and motherhood, patriarchy and partnership. Its searing honesty and political passion reveal one woman’s battle to redefine the rules by fighting for, and sometimes with, the man she loves.
Author: Aisha Sarwari
ISBN: 9781787388932
ISBN: 9781787388932
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle: A TALE OF MISOGYNY, MARRIAGE AND MUSLIM FEMINISM
Author: AISHA SARWARI -
PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE
₨ 5,045Eight years after annexing Crimea, Russia embarked on a full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022. For Vladimir Putin, this was a legacy-defining mission?to restore Russia’s sphere of influence and undo Ukraine’s surprisingly resilient democratic experiment. Yet Putin’s aspirations were swiftly eviscerated, as the conflict degenerated into a bloody war of attrition and the Russian economy faced crippling sanctions. How can we make sense of his decision to invade?
This book argues that Putin’s policy of global counter-revolution is driven not by systemic factors, such as preventing NATO expansion, but domestic ones: the desire to unite Russians around common principles and consolidate his personal brand of authoritarianism. This objective has inspired military interventions in Crimea, Donbas and Syria, and now all-out war against Kyiv.
Samuel Ramani explores why Putin opted for regime change in Ukraine, rather than a smaller-scale intervention in Donbas, and considers the impact on his own regime’s legitimacy. How has Russia’s long-term political and foreign policy trajectory shifted? And how will the international response reshape the world order?Author: SAMUEL RAMANI
ISBN: 9781787388512
ISBN: 9781787388512
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle: RUSSIA’S CAMPAIGN FOR GLOBAL COUNTER-REVOLUTION
Author: SAMUEL RAMANI -
UGLY FOODOVERLOOKED & UNDERCOOKED
₨ 10,010
ISBN: 9781849046862
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle: OVERLOOKED & UNDERCOOKED
Author: RICHARD HORSEY -
INSIDE THE GLOBAL JIHAD
₨ 6,787
ISBN: 1850658617
Publisher: HURST & COMPANY
Subtitle: HOW I INFILTRATED AL QAEDA AND WAS ABANDONED BY WESTERN INTELLIGENCE
Author: OMAR NASIRI -
REVOLUTION UNENDING
₨ 2,254The ongoing violence in Iraq has forced Afghanistan off the front pages. Some staunch supporters of Bush foreign policy even point to the “great success” in Afghanistan. But, as this vital and disturbing work asserts, this is a story still being written, and the ending is far from certain. Professor Dorronsoro (of the Sorbonne) has traveled and researched extensively in Afghanistan since 1988, and his book is not balanced; he seems to have an anti-American bias, and he often recklessly accuses the U.S. of “hegemony,” “imperialism,” and “war crimes.” Nevertheless, he knows his subject, and he provides a necessary examination of Afghanistan’s recent past, present, and future possibilities. He offers a convincing explanation for both the Soviet invasion and failures, and his account of the rise of the Taliban and their connections to Pakistan is particularly interesting. Despite the elections last year, Dorronsoro views the current “national” government as a virtual creation of foreign governments and international organizations. The challenge is to somehow create a national identity that can transcend ethnic and class differences.
ISBN: 1850657033
Publisher: HURST & COMPANY
Subtitle: AFGHANISTAN 1979 TO THE PRESENT
Author: GILLES DORRONSO -
THE INFIDEL WITHIN
₨ 5,986
ISBN: 9781850656852
Publisher: HURST & COMPANY
Subtitle: MUSLIMS IN BRITAIN SINCE 1800
Author: HUMAYUN ANSARI -
LANGUAGES OF BELONGING
₨ 995Despite its centrality to the political life of India and Pakistan, the few reliable works of history that have appeared on Kashmir insist ahistorically on the existence of a unique Kashmir cultural identity. This text questions the notion of any transcendent cultural uniqueness and “Kashmiriyat”.
ISBN: 1850657009
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle: ISLAM, REGIONAL IDENTITY, AND THE MAKING OF KASHMIR
Author: CHITRALEKHA ZUT -
IN THE SHADOW OF ‘JUST WARS’
₨ 994During the planning stages of military intervention in Iraq, humanitarian organizations were offered U.S. government funds to join the Coalition and operate under the umbrella of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Nongovernmental organizations had previously been asked to join in “just wars” in Kosovo, East Timor, Sierra Leone, and Afghanistan, wars initiated by Western powers against oppressive regimes or armed groups. Many aid organizations cooperated eagerly.
Few Afghans regret the eclipse of the Taliban, or Sierra Leoneans the stabilization of their country after British military intervention in 2000. However, the incidental victims of these triumphs, those on the “wrong” side, are soon forgotten. Humanitarian organizations are duty-bound to save these people, although in so doing they must remain independent of the warring parties and not support the “struggle against evil” or any other political agenda.
Then there are places where the pretense of providing assistance allows donor governments to disguise their support for local political powers. Millions in North Korea, Angola, and Sudan have starved to death because of the diversion and unequal distribution of huge quantities of food aid. There are also those whose sacrifice is politically irrelevant in the wider picture of international relations—the victims of brutal wars in Algeria, Chechnya, and Liberia, for instance, where what little international aid is available is subsumed by the adversaries’ desire to wage total war, to exterminate entire populations.
In this book, international experts and members of Médecins Sans Frontières analyze the way these issues have crystallized over the five years spanning the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. They make the case for a renewed commitment to an old ideal: a humanitarianism that defies a politics of expendable lives.
ISBN: 1850657378
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle: VIOLENCE, POLITICS AND HUMANITARIAN ACTION
Author: FABRICE WEISSMA -
ISLAM AND THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY
₨ 16,016In this important book, Clarence-Smith provides the first general survey of the Islamic debate on slavery. Sweeping away entrenched myths, he hopes to stimulate more research on the neglected topic. He draws on examples from the ‘abode of Islam’, from the Philippines to Senegal and from the Caucasus to South Africa, paying particular attention for the period from the late eighteenth century to the present. Once slavery had disappeared, it was the Sufi mystics who did most to integrate former slaves socially and religiously, avoiding the deep social divisions that have plagued Western society in the aftermath of abolition.
ISBN: 9781787383388
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle:
Author: WILLIAM GERVASE CLARENCE-SMITH -
CRITICAL MUSLIM 33: RELICS
₨ 6,003The sacred and the revered, the divine and the musealised, relics have long been integral to Islamic practice. Wahhabisation has cast a modernist spectre over celebrated traditions such as the visiting of shrines and pilgrimages to the birthplaces of beloved religious figures, yet these rituals continue to thrive. In this issue of Critical Muslim, we look at footprints ascribed to the Prophet Muhammad, to Adam and to Jesus. We pay our respects to Sufi saints, who may or may not be Islamicised versions of the Buddha, and we ask whether tradition is nothing more than a relic of times gone by.
About Critical Muslim: A quarterly publication of ideas and issues showcasing groundbreaking thinking on Islam and what it means to be a Muslim in a rapidly changing, interconnected world. Each edition centers on a discrete theme, and contributions include reportage, academic analysis, cultural commentary, photography, poetry, and book reviews.
ISBN: 9781787383326
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle:
Author: ZIAUDDIN SARDAR -
SALMAN’S LEGACY
₨ 14,014King Salman of Saudi Arabia began his rule in 2015 confronted with a series of unprecedented challenges. The dilemmas he has faced are new and significant, from leadership shuffles and falling oil prices to regional and international upheaval. ‘Salman’s Legacy’ interrogates this era and assesses its multiple social, political, regional and international challenges. Whether Salman’s policies have saved the kingdom from serious upheaval is yet to be seen, but no doubt a new kingdom is emerging.
This book offers historical and contemporary insights into the various problems that persist in haunting the Saudi state. Madawi Al-Rasheed brings together well-established historians and social scientists with deep knowledge of Saudi Arabia–its history, culture and contemporary politics–to reflect on Salman’s kingdom. They trace both policy continuities and recent ruptures that have perplexed observers of Saudi Arabia. This lucid and nuanced analysis invites serious reflection on the Saudi leadership’s capacity to withstand the recent challenges, especially those that came with the Arab uprisings. At stake is the future of a country that remains vital to regional stability, international security, and the global economy.
ISBN: 9781787383319
Publisher: LONDON
Subtitle: THE DILEMMAS OF A NEW ERA IN SAUDI ARABIA
Author: MADAWI AL RASHEED