by Mushirul Hasan (1997)
This book is about the 'destiny of India's Muslims', more than 110 million of them. It covers, in the early chapters, the origins of Muslim separatism under the British, the making of the partition of India and its meaning for a host of Muslim communities, families and individuals. Chapter 5 examines the establishment of the 'Nehruvian consensus' in the 1940s and 1950s with its secular vision for India's future, and Chapter 6 attempts to delineate secular identities and the Muslim organisations that ran counter to this process. Chapter 7 illustrates the role of Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia as the bearers of the 'beacon lights' of modern and secular understandings of the Muslim future in India. The following chapter examines the breakup of the Nehruvian consensus from the 1960s through to the 1990s, looking in particular at the reasons for the growth of communal activity and the retreat of both Muslims and Hindus into communal political camps. The final section of the book surveys the state of India's Muslims in the period after 6 December 1992, when the Babri Masjid was demolished. The argument is that Muslim religious and political leaders have failed. There still exists a secular platform, if somewhat narrowed; secular Indian Muslim intellectuals must stand up and be counted on that platform, and take a lead. The author speaks with a moderate and secular voice, and his distinctive contribution needs to be widely heard both inside and outside India.
Shireen T. Hunter
Traces the shared history of Russia and Islam in expanding compass; from the Tatar civilization within the Russian heartland, to the conquered territories of the Caucasus and Central Asia, to the larger geopolitical and security context of contemporary Russia on the civilizational divide. The study stresses political and geopolitical relationships.
Jeff Shesol
In the years before World War II, Franklin Roosevelt's fiercest, most unyielding opponent was neither a foreign power nor "fear itself." It was the U.S. Supreme Court. Beginning in 1935, in a series of devastating decisions, the Supreme Court's conservative majority left much of FDR's agenda in ruins. The pillars of the New Deal fell in short succession. It was not just the New Deal, but democracy itself, that stood on trial. In February 1937, Roosevelt struck back with an audacious plan to expand the Court to fifteen justices -- and to "pack" the new seats with liberals who shared his belief in a "living" Constitution. The ensuing fight was a firestorm that engulfed the White House, the Court, Congress, and the nation. The final verdict was a shock. It dealt FDR the biggest setback of his political life, split the Democratic party, and set the stage for a future era of Republican dominance. Yet the battle also transformed America's political and constitutional landscape, hastening the nation's march into the modern world. - Jacket flap.
Tanya Reinhart
As the mortar sets on the first sections of Israel's security fence, international scrutiny has brought the legality of the barrier before The Hague. In this updated edition of a popular seller, Israeli scholar Tanya Reinhart extends her critique to the most recent chapter of this decades-old conflict, exploring the history of the contested region and casting the barrier-which the World Bank has estimated might isolate 250,000 Palestinians and annex 10 percent of West Bank land-as a stark symbol of the conflict itself. In Israel/Palestine, Reinhart traces the development of the Security Barrier, and Israel's new doctrine of "disengagement," launched in response to a looming Palestinian-majority population. Examining the official record of recent diplomacy, including U.S--brokered accords, and talks at Camp David, Oslo and Taba, Reinhart explores the fundamental power imbalances between the negotiating parties, and identifies Israel's strategy of creating facts on the ground to define and complicate the terms of any future settlement. In this indispensable primer, Reinhart's searing insight illuminates the current conflict and suggests a path toward change. Tanya Reinhart is a professor of linguistics and cultural studies at Tel Aviv University and at the University of Utrecht. She is most well known academically for her contribution to theoretical linguistics. In 1994, following the Oslo agreements, which she viewed as a painful deception of the Palestinian people and the ratification of a sophisticated Apartheid regime, she turned to political writing. She has had a regular critical column in Israel's largest daily, Yediot Aharonot, and her writings have appeared in print around the world.
Vali Nasr
Considers the ways in which struggles between the Shia and Sunni in the Middle East will affect the region's future, offering insight into the power conflicts between Iran and Saudi Arabia for political and spiritual leadership of the Muslim world.