Research output
Complete citation
Poljarevic, Emin. Review of The Symbolic Scenarios of Islamism: A Study in Islamic Political Thought, by Andrea Mura. ReOrient 2, no. 2 (2017): 208–210. https://doi.org/10.13169/reorient.2.2.0208.
Status
Published (2017)
Publication type
Scholarly book review
Overview
This review evaluates Andrea Mura’s analysis of Islamism as a field of symbolic and political articulation rather than a single, fixed ideology. The book traces how competing Islamist projects organise concepts such as the umma, the state, sovereignty, and political action into distinct scenarios. The review considers the value of this approach for explaining internal diversity and historical change within Islamic political thought. It also asks how far a strongly theoretical account can illuminate the institutional settings, social constituencies, and strategic choices through which Islamist ideas acquire political force. By treating Islamism as contested and relational, the book resists essentialist classification. The review’s contribution is to clarify the analytical gains—and possible limits—of reading political movements through their symbolic structures and competing constructions of collective identity.
Research question or central concern
Does the concept of symbolic scenarios adequately explain the diversity, transformation, and political force of Islamist thought?
Main argument, approach, and contribution
The review assesses Mura’s conceptual framework against the historical and political complexity of Islamist movements. It values the rejection of a unitary definition of Islamism while emphasising the need to connect symbolic structures to institutions, actors, and political practice.
Keywords
Islamism; Islamic political thought; symbolic scenarios; umma; sovereignty; political movements; discourse; collective identity
Emin Poljarević 