Review essay: Possibilities of Positive Social Action in the Middle East - A Re-Reading of the History of Social Policy in the Region

Abstract

Review: 1) JANINE A. CLARK, Islam, Charity and Activism. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004. 256 pp. ISBN–13: 978–0–2532–1626–7. 2) RIADEL EL GHONEMY, Affluence and Poverty in the Middle East. London: Routledge, 1998. 324 pp. ISBN–13: 978–0–4151–0033–6. 3) CLEMENT HENRY AND ROBERT SPRINGBORG, Globalization and the Politics of Development in the Middle East. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 280 pp. ISBN–13: 978–0–5216–2312–4. 4) STEPHEN P. HEYNEMAN (ed.), Islam and Social Policy. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2004. 218 pp. ISBN–13: 978–0–8265–1447–9. 5) MASSOUD KARSHENAS AND VALENTINE M. MOGHADAM (eds), Social Policy in the Middle East: Economic, Political and Gender Dynamics. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2006. 288 pp. ISBN–13: 978–1–4039–4165–7. 6) SHAHRA RAZAVI AND SHIREEN HASSIM (eds), Gender and Social Policy in a Global Context. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2006. 355 pp. ISBN–13: 978–1–4039–9630–5. 7) MAHMOUD SADRI AND AHMED SADRI (eds), Reason, Freedom and Democracy in Islam, Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 256 pp. ISBN–13: 978–0–1951–5820–5. 8) BEHDAD SOHRAB AND FARHAD NOMANI, Islam and the Everyday World. Abingdon: Routledge, 2006. 240 pp. ISBN–13: 978–0–4153–6823–0. 9) QUINTAN WIKTOROWICZ (ed.), Islamic Activism: A Social Movement Theory Approach. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003. 320 pp. ISBN–13: 978–0–2532–1621–2.