Dr K E Schulze, E600

For MA/MSc History of International Relations, MSc Theory and History of International Relations, LSE-Columbia University Double Degree in International and World History and LSE-PKU Double Degree in MSc International Affairs.

This course has six objectives:

i. To examine the evolution of political Islam as a set of ideas.
ii. To compare and contrast different models of Islamic State.
iii. To explore the strategies used by Islamist movements to Islamise a state as well as state strategies to prevent this.
iv. To explore the phenomena of transnational Islamism and international jihadism.
v. To analyse and evaluate the relationship between Islam and the West.
vi. To familiarise the student with a some of the primary sources (in translation) and the historiographical controversies.

This course looks at the evolution of Islamist philosophy and movements from the late nineteenth century until the present day. It focuses on ideas as well as intellectual, religious and political leaders. The key areas covered are: the fundamentals of Sunni and Shi'a thought; modernist Islam - al-Afghani, Mohamed Abduh and Rashid Rida; Islamic Puritanism - the Wahhabis, the Sanussiya, and the Mahdiyya; Models of Islamic State - Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Malaysia and Sudan; Islamist Movements - Muslim Brotherhood, Hizb'allah, Hamas, the Islamic Salvation Front, Darul Islam, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Abu Sayyaf; transnational Islam and international jihadism - Jama'at Islamiyya and al-Qaeda; Islam and the West.

A three-hour written examination in the ST (75%), a 2,500 word essay (20%) and a presentation (5%).

The course is taught by a weekly two-hour seminar.

Each student is required to write three 2,500 word essays, and a one-hour timed essay. These should be submitted to the Departmental Office no later than 12pm on the due date.

Mansoor Moaddel and Kamran Talattof (eds.), Contemporary Debates in Islam ( St.Martin’s Press, 1999); Ahmed Rashid, Taliban: The Story of the Afghan Warlords (Pan Books, 2000); Gabriel Warburg, Islam, Sectarianism and Politics in Sudan since the Mahdiyya (Hurst, 2003); Sayyid Qutb, Milestones, (American Trust Publications, 1990); Gilles Keppel, The Roots of Radical Islam (Saqi, 2005) new version of Gilles Kepel, Muslim Extremism in Egypt: the prophet and pharaoh (1985); Oliver Roy, Globalised Islam: The Search for a New Umma (Hurst, 2004); Richard Bonney, Jihad: From Qur’an to bin Laden (Palgrave, 2004).