ΚΕΝΤΡΟ ΜΕΣΟΓΕΙΑΚΩΝ, ΜΕΣΑΝΑΤΟΛΙΚΩΝ & ΙΣΛΑΜΙΚΩΝ ΣΠΟΥΔΩΝ

In Iran in World Politics, Arshin Adib-Moghaddam proposes new ways to study Iran in a critical perspective. The book aims to present different possible theories that interpret Iran's image in world politics. Adib-Moghaddam's approach is to analyse instances of Iran's political image since the revolution.

"Terror and Consent" is an interesting book and is written in a narrative way which distinguishes it from any common essay on international affairs. It maintains clarity throughout its analysis and allows the average reader to look inside the depth of terror mechanisms.

"Al Qaeda is a political movement with a demonstrated military ability which has sought to bypass the state while co-opting its attributes and channeling its resources. It has, after concluding that the Arab state system is dying and incapable of defending the people's interests, claimed the right to defend Arab States against their external enemies and most of all the USA. Forging itself as a vanguard, it has separated two tactical fights: the domestic war against failed states, and the international war against the "far enemy".

Aaron David Miller, former US Middle East advisor and negotiator, wrote a historical analysis of American diplomacy in the Arab-Israeli peace process. Miller sets out to record the history of negotiations based on his personal involvement. His book contains a variety of anecdotes and portraits of the leading personas. Each of the four parts is dedicated to the fate of the American promise of achieving peace in the "much too promised land".

The current Darfur crisis in Sudan erupted in 2003. The south-western region of Darfur has become infamous for the civil strife that has been ensuing for the past six years, mainly centered around conflicts between rebel groups, government forces and paramilitary organizations, some of which (including "Jonahed") led genocides against thousands of people. Violent conflicts have resulted in the uprooting of much of the civilian population and forced expulsions from their homes. However, it seems that the roots of today's declining political situation can be found in the specific historical past O'Fahey aims to reproduce.

"Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame". Akbar Ahmed, a Muslim Islamic scholar teaching in the American University, quotes the words of Benjamin Franklin in a thoughtful narration aimed to describe how the U.S. foreign policy and the War on Terror has led the West and Islam to the brink of collision.

A diachronic investigation of Islamic philosophy and its greatest thinkers, the influence of Greek philosophy upon it and its reciprocal relationship with Islam are some of the main themes Campanini discusses in his book 'An introduction to Islamic Philosophy'.

A series of French and foreign scholars and researchers have embarked on an effort to approach a phenomenon that has increased in ìpopularityî since 9/11 in western media, academic communities and thinkñtanks; however, it still remains widely ambiguous. Analyses which focus on extremist movements in the Muslim world quite often use the term ìSalafismî along with ìJihadismî, ìWahhabismî and ìextremist Islamî. This kind of mixing of theological, militant and political terms obscures more than it reveals while confusing the reader and intensifying his or hers already troubled perception of the phenomenon under discussion. This work - the first one to approach the Salafist phenomenon under a global prism - sheds light on the course of salafism from its cradle in the Arabian Peninsula to its apparition in the Parisian suburbs, passing by the Middle Eastern world and particularly Morocco.

Under different circumstances Abu Musíab al-Suri could have been an established academic as he is characterized by strict methodological adherence, intellectual arrogance, inclination to self-citation, strained relations with colleagues and thirst for recognition. Nevertheless, the current international situation renders his candidacy for a university chair out of question. Hence, he rightfully occupies a position in the unofficial intelligencia of militant jihadi Islamism and he holds the undisputed chairmanship in the ëdepartment of strategics. However, more than that and besides his intellectualism, he is an ëadeptí heir of the tradition of field guerrilla warfare theoreticians. If unconventional warfare is doomed to irrelevance in the face of superior technology, organization and intelligence of the modern armies, Suri appears to give it a new breath.

'Memory is not only a filter; it has also a regrettable way of reflecting the needs of the present''. In this comparative political treatise, Zeev Sternhell seeks to challenge longstanding myths surrounding the founding of modern Israel. His stance on this demythologizing work is partially connected to the post-Zionist intellectual movement, which challenges the prevailing truisms of Zionist historiography, trying at the same time to put them in a historical context and explain them. As an advocate of this new approach, the writer moves away from the conceptual and widely accepted "myths" that view Zionism as a socialist-democratic movement of national liberation.