Eric Walberg | Akateeminen Kirjakauppa

The Arab Spring is really an Islamic one and the logical result of a century and a half of imperialist intrigues to incorporate the Middle East and Central Asia into the imperial project. How did this come about? What are the chances of the Muslim world asserting an independent position in the face of American empire and the rising non-imperial world bloc? This book views Islam as a way of life as opposed to western post-Enlightenment secularism where the separation of church and state shunts religion off to the periphery of modern life. It reviews and critiques the long historical rivalry between Islam and Christianity/ Judaism that has resulted in a distorted understanding of Islam in the West, and also how Islam views the West. All the monotheisms have a linear concept of time/ history, which in the case of Christianity/ Judaism led logically to capitalism, Marx and the communist apocalypse. The Islamic project contains its own socioeconomic solution which prevented the rise of capitalism/ imperialism, making it the loser in technology race of 19th-20th cc.
Walberg provides an overview of imperialism and colonialism in the Muslim world, recapping his thesis in Postmodern Imperialism (Chinese edition to be released by Nankei University Press), of the historical movement in the first "great Games" (ex-Ottoman Levant and Raj/ Afghanistan/ Iran under British empire) through the second and third (colour revolutions vs revival of Islamic vision of Caliphate to replace imperialism). The Islamic reform traditions from the 19th century on (deriving from Al-Afghani, Qutb) incorporating the Islamic critique of the West is addressed as well as the Sunni/ Shia, mainstream/ Sufi/ Salafi divisions. The 20th century experience of Islamic states (Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran) will be reviewed, as well as the current dynamics of the Muslim world (Saudi, Iran, Qatar, Turkey, and now Egypt/ Tunisia/ Libya). Finally, Walberg considers the effects of developments in the Muslim world on western political events, which are increasingly inspired by the Middle East, including the BDS movement.