Now available from Telos Press Publishing: The Perils of Nonviolent Islamism, by Elham Manea. Order the paperback edition today in our online store and save 20% off the list price. Also available now in Kindle ebook format at Amazon.com. In today’s episode of the Telos Press Podcast, posted below, David Pan and Russell Berman talk with Elham Manea about her new book.
The Perils of Nonviolent Islamism
by Elham Manea
With a Foreword by Russell A. Berman
Elham Manea’s The Perils of Nonviolent Islamism describes the ways in which nonviolent forms of Islamist fundamentalism in European democracies lay the groundwork for Islamist terrorism. Through a persuasive mixture of autobiography, explanatory frameworks, case studies, personal interviews, and careful readings of source material, Manea details how Islamist groups have exploited the openness of democracies and multiculturalist attitudes in order to create closed Islamist communities. These groups today are transforming Islam in the West into a unified fundamentalist religion that ultimately promotes attitudes that lead to violence. Combining keen social theoretical analysis with critical self-reflection, Manea’s interrogation of Islamism sounds the alarm on a crisis that can no longer be ignored.
Elham Manea on the Telos Press Podcast
On the latest episode of the Telos Press Podcast, David Pan and Russell Berman talk with Elham Manea about The Perils of Nonviolent Islamism. Their discussion covers a range of topics, including the roots of Islamism, the relationship of Islam and Islamism, the ways in which Islamists spread their ideology in the West, how to address Islamism as a problem within liberal democratic societies, and the parallels between Islamism and cancel culture. Listen:
Praise for Elham Manea’s The Perils of Nonviolent Islamism
“Elham Manea has written the book that had to be written on political Islam. This book sharpens our understanding, both theoretically and empirically, broadens our horizons, and provides a stirring wake-up call to policymakers on what is really at stake in this conflict. . . . This is one of few books that, in our polarized environment, has the potential to capture the attention of both idealistic human rights activists and seasoned public officials..”
—Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Research Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University
“Elham Manea’s book is an ardent warning against the power-conscious and strategically effective activities of the nonviolent Islamists, who increasingly dominate Islam-related state politics and public dialogue in Western Europe. Manea, herself a practicing Muslim, shows how jihadist violence and nonviolent Islamist indoctrination are related. She is particularly critical of those who willingly betray Western values in the name of ‘respect for religion’ instead of opposing Islamism’s totalitarian political ideology and its religious claims. Her well-informed appeal deserves the widest possible readership..”
—Matthias Küntzel, author of Jihad and Jew-Hatred: Islamism, Nazism, and the Roots of 9/11
About the Author
Elham Manea is a writer, an activist, and a Privatdozentin (equivalent to associate professor) at the University of Zurich, where she specializes on the Middle East, women under Muslim Laws, and Islamism. She works at the Political Science Institute at the University of Zurich and as an independent consultant for government and international agencies. Her recent English-language publications include The Arab State and Women’s Rights: The Trap of Authoritarian Governance (Routledge, 2011) and Women and Shari’a Law: The Impact of Legal Pluralism in the UK (I.B. Tauris, 2016).
ISBN 978-0-914386-82-7 (paperback) • 978-0-914386-83-4 (ebook)
Pub. Date: February 1, 2021
