C9529 - ISLAM AND GLOBAL POLITICS

Learning outcomes

This course enables students to critically engage with a range of theoretical and epistemological approaches to the study of Islam and politics from local to global contexts, situating their analysis within academic debates and policy discussions. It develops students’ ability to analyze how Islam interacts with the state, political ideologies, popular activism, and political violence, and to understand how these dynamics shape—and are shaped by—local, regional, and global processes. Students will trace the historical and contemporary trajectories of political Islam, including periods of expansion, institutionalization, and repression across North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Western diasporas. The course also guides students in examining how political Islam manifests differently under authoritarian, hybrid, and democratic regimes, and how these contexts influence mobilization strategies, institutional participation, and transnational engagement. Through primary sources, qualitative methods, and comparative analysis, students will acquire the skills to analyze interactions between Islamist movements, political regimes, state institutions, and transnational networks, and to evaluate how international, regional, and domestic forces shape organizational forms and global linkages. Finally, the course equips students to critically navigate the methodological challenges of researching politically sensitive and securitized topics.

Course contents

The course examines the main theoretical approaches to the study of political Islam and explores the evolution of Islamist movements across different political and geographical contexts.

It analyzes the relationships between Islamism, political institutions, collective mobilization, political violence, and transnational networks, with particular attention to the effects of securitization, digital transformations, and geopolitical dynamics.

Drawing on case studies from North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Muslim diasporas in Europe and North America, the course investigates the major transformations of contemporary Islamism, including the crisis of Islamist parties, post-Islamist trajectories, and emerging forms of political activism.

The course covers the following topics:

• Theoretical and epistemological approaches to the study of political Islam;
• Research methodologies for the study of sensitive and securitized topics;
• The historical development of political Islam;
• Islamist movements under authoritarian, hybrid, and democratic regimes;
• Political participation and the institutionalization of Islamist parties;
• Islamic movements and political processes;
• Radicalization, political violence, and counterterrorism policies;
• Gender and Islamic feminisms;
• Islamist diasporas and transnational activism;
• Geopolitics, international relations, and governance in the Muslim world.

Readings/Bibliography

Some general reference texts used for the course will be:

• Cesari, J. (2014). The awakening of Muslim democracy: Religion, modernity, and the state. Cambridge University Press.
  
• Esposito, J. L., & Shahin, E. E. D. (Eds.). (2016). The Oxford handbook of Islam and politics. Oxford University Press.
• Euben, R. L., & Zaman, M. Q. (2011). Princeton Readings in Islamist Thought: Texts and Contexts from al-Banna to Bin Laden. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009.
• Mandaville, P. Global Political Islam. Routledge, 2010.
• Roy, O. (2004). Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah. Columbia University Press.

• Wickham, C. (2013). The Muslim Brotherhood: Evolution of an Islamist Movement Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Additional academic articles and teaching materials will be assigned throughout the course and made available on Virtuale. 

Teaching methods

The course is delivered over 40 hours and combines lectures with seminar-based, interactive sessions. It emphasizes active student participation through presentations, discussions, and engagement with the assigned readings. Students are expected to complete the required readings in advance of each class.

Assessment methods

Attending students

Assessment is based on the following components:

• Group presentation and active participation (20%): analysis and presentation of a case study, with assessment of participation in class discussions.
• Midterm examination (30%): open-ended questions covering the course content.
• Final research essay (50%): a research paper of approximately 2,500 words based on the academic literature and critical analysis.

Non-attending students

Non-attending students are required to submit two research essays of approximately 2,500 words each on topics related to the course.

Essay prompts will be published before each examination session. The submitted essays will be discussed during an oral examination, on the basis of which the final grade will be awarded.

Teaching tools

Additional materials, assigned readings, and primary sources will be uploaded on Virtuale.

Office hours

See the website of Ester Sigillò