The recent Arab uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East have attracted scholarly attention as popular movements with novel transnational and religious dimensions. What became known as the Arab Spring can be read as part of a broader politics of normative defiance of predominant political and economic orders. From religious conflicts and indigenous sovereign claims to mobilizations of refugees and migrants in camps and urban settings, it may be possible to speak of contemporary insurrectional politics as social movements that emanate from normative positions which pose significant challenges to systemic orders. The purpose of this book is: to identify the material shifts giving rise to insurrectional politics; to reflect on key arenas of insurrection; to map/chart the impact of insurrectional movements on institutions and relations of political governance at national and global levels; and to explore analytics that will advance theorization of insurrectional politics. This volume generates new knowledge on systemic institutional transformations spanning the national and global, by bringing together scholars whose work combines theoretical inquiry with empirical analysis of contemporary insurrectional politics. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Globalizations.

Stories about institutions and regimes that have failed us are echoing worldwide. This book critically engages the multiple uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) following the self-immolation of Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi in December 2010. It brings together authors who critically analyse the unstoppable force unleashed in the streets of Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Libya and Yemen.

This book analyses the roots and trajectory of the recent revolts in the context of the global transformations that have redefined the politics of movement and revolution. For example, some authors engage extensively with the strategies embraced by the younger generation of activists. Others argue that the power of these revolutions lies in the people s creative orientations including their collaborations. While much of the mobilization efforts in these different parts of the world happen through word of mouth, radio, cartoons, placards, and SMS services; sites such as Facebook helped people meet each other with a click, carrying their claims through stories, songs, poetry and art of protest across international borders quickly enabling them to rapidly bring authoritarian regimes to the brink of collapse and make a qualitatively different expression of uprisings.

All authors in this volume address the question of the stakes in these revolts, as through them, spectacular and everyday violence can be challenged, and alternative social projects can emerge. Neither a footnote to the West's history, nor an appendix to neoliberal capitalist global projects, people are actively drawing on their power to disrupt domination and oppression, creatively responding to global problems and calling for democratic institutions with viable ecologies.

This book was published as a special issue of "Globalizations.""

Stories about institutions and regimes that have failed us are echoing worldwide. This book critically engages the multiple uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) following the self-immolation of Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi in December 2010. It brings together authors who critically analyse the unstoppable force unleashed in the streets of Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Libya and Yemen. This book analyses the roots and trajectory of the recent revolts in the context of the global transformations that have redefined the politics of movement and revolution. For example, some authors engage extensively with the strategies embraced by the younger generation of activists. Others argue that the power of these revolutions lies in the people's creative orientations including their collaborations. While much of the mobilization efforts in these different parts of the world happen through word of mouth, radio, cartoons, placards, and SMS services; sites such as Facebook helped people meet each other with a click, carrying their claims through stories, songs, poetry and art of protest across international borders quickly enabling them to rapidly bring authoritarian regimes to the brink of collapse and make a qualitatively different expression of uprisings. All authors in this volume address the question of the stakes in these revolts, as through them, spectacular and everyday violence can be challenged, and alternative social projects can emerge. Neither a footnote to the West's history, nor an appendix to neoliberal capitalist global projects, people are actively drawing on their power to disrupt domination and oppression, creatively responding to global problems and calling for democratic institutions with viable ecologies. This book was published as a special issue of Globalizations.

The recent Arab uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East have attracted scholarly attention as popular movements with novel transnational and religious dimensions. What became known as the Arab Spring can be read as part of a broader politics of normative defiance of predominant political and economic orders. From religious conflicts and indigenous sovereign claims to mobilizations of refugees and migrants in camps and urban settings, it may be possible to speak of contemporary insurrectional politics as social movements that emanate from normative positions which pose significant challenges to systemic orders. The purpose of this book is: to identify the material shifts giving rise to insurrectional politics; to reflect on key arenas of insurrection; to map/chart the impact of insurrectional movements on institutions and relations of political governance at national and global levels; and to explore analytics that will advance theorization of insurrectional politics. This volume generates new knowledge on systemic institutional transformations spanning the national and global, by bringing together scholars whose work combines theoretical inquiry with empirical analysis of contemporary insurrectional politics. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Globalizations.

Tensions between the West and the Islamic world have reached an all-time high, fueled by caricatures and misunderstandings on both sides. In contrast, as Nevzat Soguk shows, actual histories reveal profound connections across Islamic and Western civilizations. Moving beyond the usual focus on Wahhabi fundamentalism, Soguk highlights the often-overlooked non-Arab forms of Islam in Turkey and in Indonesia, which holds the world's largest population of Muslims. He argues that Westerners tend to see only an extremist form of Islam, which obscures the political and cultural pluralism supported within majority-Islamic countries around the world. This book taps into the nexus of tension born of the fear and terror engendered by Wahabi movements on one hand and the promise of a tolerant, pluralist Islamic religiosity in Turkey and Indonesia on the other. It examines the multiple historical political and religious legacies in Turkey and Indonesia in light of the rapid globalization they are experiencing. By focusing on these two countries, the author fills a significant void on the diverse role Islam is poised to play in shaping regional and global political futures. Original, timely, and humane, this book will be essential reading for all those concerned about repairing Western-Islamic relations.

Tensions between the West and the Islamic world have reached an all-time high, fueled by caricatures and misunderstandings on both sides. In contrast, as Nevzat Soguk shows, actual histories reveal profound connections across Islamic and Western civilizations. Moving beyond the usual focus on Wahhabi fundamentalism, Soguk highlights the often-overlooked non-Arab forms of Islam in Turkey and in Indonesia, which holds the world's largest population of Muslims. He argues that Westerners tend to see only an extremist form of Islam, which obscures the political and cultural pluralism supported within majority-Islamic countries around the world. This book taps into the nexus of tension born of the fear and terror engendered by Wahabi movements on one hand and the promise of a tolerant, pluralist Islamic religiosity in Turkey and Indonesia on the other. It examines the multiple historical political and religious legacies in Turkey and Indonesia in light of the rapid globalization they are experiencing. By focusing on these two countries, the author fills a significant void on the diverse role Islam is poised to play in shaping regional and global political futures. Original, timely, and humane, this book will be essential reading for all those concerned about repairing Western-Islamic relations.

Deliberately eschewing disciplinary and temporal boundaries, this volume makes a major contribution to the de-traditionalization of political thinking within the discourses of international relations. Collecting the works of twenty-five theorists, this Ashgate Research Companion engages some of the most pressing aspects of political thinking in world politics today. The authors explore theoretical constitutions, critiques, and affirmations of uniquely modern forms of power, past and present. Among the themes and dynamics examined are textual appropriation and representation, materiality and capital formation, geopolitical dimensions of ecological crises, connections between representations of violence and securitization, subjectivity and genderization, counter-globalization politics, constructivism, biopolitics, post-colonial politics and theory, as well as the political prospects of emerging civic and cosmopolitan orders in a time of national, religious, and secular polarization. Radically different in their approaches, the authors critically assess the discourses of IR as interpretive frames that are indebted to the historical formation of concepts, and to particular negotiations of power that inform the main methodological practices usually granted primacy in the field. Students as well as seasoned scholars seeking to challenge accepted theoretical frameworks will find in these chapters fresh insights into contemporary world-political problems and new resources for their critical interrogation.

The final set of the Central Currents in Globalization series starts off with two volumes that focus on the politics of globalization from 'above' and 'below'. The first volume considers the idea of global political governance, including the impact of globalization on the nation-state and the role of multilateral regimes such as the United Nations. The second volume looks at globalizing political developments at ground level, including the notion of a 'global civil society' and the rise of the 'anti-globalization' movement. The final two volumes in the series review the various social theories and philosophies of globalization - including cosmopolitanism and human rights - along with the political critiques of globalization as homogenizing, marginalizing and/or exploitative force. Volume One: Global Political Governance (with Nevzat Soguk, RMIT University, Australia) Volume Two: Global Social Movements and Global Civil Society (with Paul van Seters, University of Tilburg, The Netherlands) Volume Three: Social Theories of the Global (with James H. Mittelman, American University, Washington D.C.) Volume Four: Political Philosophies of the Global