Unmodern Men in the Modern World

Radical Islam, Terrorism, and the War on Modernity

Michael J Mazarr author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:13th Aug '07

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Unmodern Men in the Modern World cover

This provocative text examines radical Islamists in the context of globalization and past revolutionaries.

In this provocative text examining radical Islamists, the author looks at formerly held views on the 'enemy' in the war on terror, and suggests new ways of looking at the extremists in comparison to revolutionaries from such countries as Russia, Germany, and other well known radicals.A sense of malaise and uncertainty surrounds the so-called war on terror. This volume offers a bold rethinking of the central challenge in that conflict: the rise of radical Islamism. Mazarr argues that this movement represents the latest in a series of anti-modern political and philosophical rebellions: in its causes, the shape of its ideology, and its social consequences, the movement shares much in common with German fascism, Russian revolutionary doctrines, and Japanese imperialist nationalism. The book builds a model of how anti-modern movements arise and suggests broader truths about the changing character of world politics and the psychological basis of national security in a globalized world. It concludes with a critique of the war on terror as currently pursued and a wide-ranging proposal for a strikingly different approach to the challenge of this latest challenge to modernity.

"Michael Mazarr’s Unmodern Men in the Modern World represents a valuable integration of the scholarship on the political and intellectual origins of anti-modernist extremist movements in Germany, Russia and Japan of the twentieth century with that regarding the origins and nature of radical Islamism in recent decades. Mazarr has read widely and thought clearly. Even for readers who dissent from Mazarr’s policy prescriptions, Unmodern Men contains insights of value for policy makers, scholars, analysts, students and interested citizens. It is also evidence of a welcome and important phenomenon, namely the closing of a gap between the world of serious scholarship in the humanities and social sciences and that of policy debate in Washington, DC." Jeffrey Herf, author of Reactionary Modernism: Technology, Culture and Politics in Weimar and the Third Reich, and Professor of History, University of Maryland, College Park
"Michael Mazarr provides a penetrating insight into the nature of jihadism by showing how it is the latest in a long line of extreme reactions to modernization. He separates valid lessons of history from invalid ones in assessing how liberal democracies can best respond. In so doing, he persuasively demonstrates how the ‘war on terror’ in its current form is misdirected and counterproductive." Paul R. Pillar, Visiting Professor, Security Studies Program, Georgetown University
"This book tackles the big issues underlying the war on terrorism. It rightly sees the ideological core of the global jihadi movement as a critique of modernity--of American and European versions of the nation-state--and a contest over the future of global politics. Insightful, clear and controversial, this is a thesis that will be much discussed." Mark Juergensmeyer, Director, Arfalea Center for Global & International Studies, University of California-Santa Barbara. Author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence
"[Unmodern Men in the Modern World] is one of the best diagnoses of the resentment by Islamist forces toward modernity, which has led them to utilize terrorism to retaliate against the effects of modernity on traditional life in their respective societies." The Washington Times, Joshua Sinai, Analysis Corp.
"Radical Islam is the latest in a line of anti-modern movements including Russian socialism, Japanese militarism and - inevitably - Nazi Germany, all of whom rejected Western liberal democracy. This is a well-argued and elegant essay, which makes the incredibly valuable point that Islamist movements are not nearly so exotic or unfathomable as they are usually portrayed." Peter Hart, The Globe and Mail
"The book is grand in its scope and Mazarr is to be commended for taking on the herculean task of trying to make sense of radical Islamism, an immensely complex movement. Of particular value are the insights into the sociopsychological effects of modernization on human beings confronted with such dislocating alien forces. Perspectives on Politics, Assaf Moghadam, United States Military Academy

ISBN: 9780521881753

Dimensions: 235mm x 156mm x 20mm

Weight: 620g

306 pages