'Vingt Ans Apres...' An Assessment of Modern Islamist Movements

Abstract

From 21-24 June 2000, a group of international scholars met in Paris to discuss modern Islamist movements in a conference under the (translated) heading: 'Twenty Years After...'. The idea was to review and assess the 20 years of the studies of Islamist movements, taking the Iranian Revolution of 1979 as a hypothetical point of reference. These movements, collectively known as 'Political Islam', have been used synonymously with terms as varied as 'fundamentalism', 'alternative modernities', 'Islamic revivalism', and so on. It has been perceived as a 'threat', a force opposing Western culture in the 'clash of civilizations'. The more militant groups, with their calls for 'jihad', are often - and erroneously - considered representative of Political Islam as a whole.