The New Political Islam: Human Rights, Democracy and Justice.

• Author: Siimer, Fatma
• Position: Book review

By Emmanuel Karagiannis

Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018, 258 pages, $65.00, ISBN: 9780812249729

After September 11, Islamophobic approaches in society have become more widespread, and have been observed to appear more regularly. However, Western intellectuals have worked to maintain objectivity in their studies, which may contribute to eradicating this unfair perception. The New Political Islam, a study that introduces and models such an approach to a certain extent, is predicated upon the basic idea that Islamists have localized and transferred certain global norms into their societies today, and therefore function as 'glocalizers:' the author considers that following such developments as September 11, the social media revolution and the Arab Spring, norms such as human rights, democracy, and justice have become glocalized,' which are thought to be adopted from the global lexicon and contingencies of the local environments where they are being implemented.

The book is composed of three main parts, along with an Introduction and Conclusion. In each part, Karagiannis addresses a concept adopted by the Political Islamists as glocalizers,' along with the group that supports the concept.

In the Introduction, Karagiannis describes the phenomenon of glocalization. In Part I, he introduces and explains the master frame of the concept of human rights. In the first chapter, "The Activism of European Converts," he reveals that Islamist activists utilize the master frame of human rights with a view to receiving support and disseminating their messages. Karagiannis analyses Hizb-ut-Tahrir as an example of this process in chapter two.

Expounding upon the content and significance of democracy in Part two, the author explains the relationship between Islam and democracy from the point of view of the Islamist philosophers. Karagiannis asserts that the master frame of democracy is utilized by Turkey's Justice and Development Party Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, and Tunisia's al-Nahda Party with a view to gaining legitimacy and finding supporters. The second chapter of Part II analyses electoral Salafism in Egypt and Tunisia and how it functions in this sense.

In Part three, Karagiannis clarifies the concept of justice, and the approach of Islam toward it. He then analyses the mission assumed by the Shiite militant groups in terms of glocalization by adapting the master frame of justice given in the first chapter. The last chapter provides...