áThis book offers a framework for understanding the interaction between the academic disciplines 'observing' contemporary political Islam and the individuals and communities being 'observed' practising it. Volpi investigates how different disciplinary approaches in the social sciences explain and understand their 'Islamic' subject matter, revealing how political Islam is a phenomenon that each academic discipline analyses using its own dominant paradigms. He offers a multidisciplinary account of political Islam based on the insights provided by postorientalism, international studies, sociology of religion, democratisation studies, multiculturalism studies, security studies, and globalisation studies. His book outlines the areas of convergence and the synergies between these approaches and highlights the gaps and misunderstanding that still exist between parallel narratives on Islamism.

á'Has the potential of becoming a very significant contribution to the study of political Islam.' - Dr Francesco Cavatorta, Dublin City University

Contents: 1. Introduction: 'We Have Facts and Data'! 2. Historical Perspectives: Civilization and Empire, Now and Then 3. Democratisation Studies in the Face of Islamisation and Authoritarianism 4. Constructing a Muslim World in International Studies 5. Security Studies in the Post-9/11 Era: Rethinking the 'ism' in Islamism and Terrorism 6. Privatising Modernity and Publicising Religiosity: Reorienting the Sociology of Religion 7. Liberal Multiculturalism in the Face of Islamic Activism, East and West 8. Globalisation and Transnational Islam: The View from Everywhere 9. Conclusion: Syncretism in Political Islam and in the Social Sciences

áFrederic Volpi is Lecturer in International Relations at the University of St Andrews and the author of Islam and Democracy.