SHIREEN T. HUNTER, The Future of Islam and the West: Clash of Civilizations or Peaceful Coexistence (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1998). Pp. 210. $55.00 cloth, $17.95 paper. BASSAM TIBI, The Challenge of Fundamentalism: Political Islam and the New World Disorder (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998). Pp. 262. $29.95 cloth.

Abstract

Shireen T. Hunter and Bassam Tibi have both written thoughtful and useful books about the current Islamic political phenomenon, which complement and do not duplicate each other. Hunter presents a realistic, readable, and analytical argument showing, among other things, that the foreign policies of Islamic states are only to a small degree influenced by Islam and are much more determined by considerations of foreign and domestic interest, however Islamic the government may claim to be. She also demonstrates that there has been little unity in the foreign policies of Muslim countries. For both of these reasons, she states that Samuel Huntington's idea of a coming clash of civilizations, centering on the West versus Islam, is not based on reality and is extremely unlikely to come to pass. (Tibi's book is also concerned with disproving Huntington's argument with effective counter-arguments.)