Published between 1906 and 1930, Molla Nasreddin was a satirical Azeri periodical edited by Jalil Mammadguluzadeh and named after the legendary Sufi wise man-cum-fool of the Middle Ages (who reputedly
How has Christianity engaged with democracy? In this authoritative new treatment of a sometimes troubled relationship, Donald Norwood reflects on the way that democracy has become, especially under th
More than 5,000 film festivals take place globally and many of these have only been established in the last two decades. International Film Festivals collects the leading scholarship on this increasin
Fashion reveals not only who we are, but whom we aspire to be. From 1775 to 1925, artists in Europe were especially attuned to the gaps between appearance and reality, participating in and often criti
Saudi Arabia, with its US alliance and abundance of oil dollars, has a very different economic story to that of Iran, which despite enormous natural gas reserves, has been hit hard by economic, trade,
For almost 200 years, the city of Birmingham has been a key location for the training of clergy. From 1828 Anglican clergy studied at the Queen's College and in 1881 the Methodist Church developed the
The television broadcasting culture of Pakistan was changed dramatically in 2002. The President, General Pervez Musharraf, introduced a policy of liberalisation that enabled controversial issues such
In the English language World War I has largely been analysed and understood through the lens of the Western Front. This book addresses this imbalance by examining the war in Eastern and Central Europ
French rule over Syria and Lebanon was premised on a vision of a special French protectorate established through centuries of cultural activity: archaeological, educational and charitable. Initial Fre
Recent decades have seen the art gallery become an increasingly important exhibition space for the moving image. This book sees leading scholars bring contemporary perspectives to the contexts, practi
Wahhabism is often described as one of the most conservative branches of Islam and its fundamentalist approach seen as fuelling jihadist extremism. But what is the theological basis of Wahhabism? How
State sponsorship of terrorism is a complex and important topic in today's international affairs – and especially pertinent in the regional politics of the Middle East and South Asia, where Pakistan h
Fabled for more than 3,000 years as fierce warrior-nomads and cameleers dominating the western Trans-Saharan caravan trade, today the Sahrawi are admired as soldier-statesmen and refugee-diplomats. Th
India's endemic gender-based violence has received increased international scrutiny and provoked waves of domestic protest and activism. In recent years, related studies on India and South Asia have p
After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's government encouraged substantial American investment in education and aid. It was argued that Turkey needed the technical skills and weal
Turkey has witnessed remarkable sociocultural change under the regime of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), particularly regarding its religious communities. As individu
The foreign policies of Turkey and Iran seem increasingly to dictate the course of events in the Middle East. Since 1979, with the rise of Iran as an Islamic State and with Turkey's developing secular
When Sultan bin Salman flew on the shuttle Discovery in 1985, he was the first Arab, Muslim, and member of a royal family in space. Twenty-five years later, the discovery of a planet 500 light-years a
Cinema and nationalism are two fundamentally modern phenomena, but how have films shaped our understanding of the creation -the 'imagining' - of Central-Asian nations? Here, Rico Isaacs uses cinema as
Reception studies have transformed the classics. Many more literary and cultural texts are now regarded as "valid" for classical study. And within this process of widening, children's literature has i
During World War II, Croatia became a fascist state under the control of the Ustasha Movement - allied with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Here, Goran Miljan examines and analyzes for the first time
The countries surrounding the Baltic Sea - Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Sweden – have experienced immense social and political change, from the territoria
Concerns about CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radioactive, Nuclear) weapons have featured prominently in both political debates and media reporting about the ongoing threat from al Qaeda since 9/11. This
Turkey's process of modernization developed rapidly during the second half of the 20th Century. New social and legal reforms were institutionalized and political and economic changes located the count
The Polar North is known to be home to large gas and oil reserves and its position holds significant trading and military advantages, yet the territorial boundaries of the region remain ill-defined. I
Borders - whether settled or contested, violent or calm, closed or open – may have a direct, and often acute, human impact. Those affected may be people living nearby, those attempting to cross them a
Throughout the Cold War, Africa was a theater for superpower rivalry. That the U.S and the Soviet Union used countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to their own advantage is well-known. Sub-Saharan countries
While jihad has been the subject of countless studies in the wake of recent terrorist attacks, scholarship on the topic has so far paid little attention to South Asian Islam and, more specifically, it
Edward Snowden's revelations about the mass surveillance capabilities of the US National Security Agency (NSA) and other security services triggered an ongoing debate about the relationship between pr
Four decades of feminist art history have prompted a radical rethinking of the discipline. This volume asks how feminism’s interventions and propositions are relevant to contemporary scholarship today
When the Enlightenment thinker Gotthold Ephraim Lessing wrote his treatise Laocoön: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and Poetry in 1766, he outlined the strengths and weaknesses of each art. Paintin
Fashion reveals not only who we are, but whom we aspire to be. From 1775 to 1925, artists in Europe were especially attuned to the gaps between appearance and reality, participating in and often criti
The 'neoliberal' economic policy of Erdogan's AKP Party, which has delivered extraordinary growth to Turkish GDP over the last decade, has been one of the foundations of the party's popular appeal. He
Olusegun Obasanjo has played an extraordinary role in Nigeria's modernisation-from army dictator to prisoner to democratically elected head of state. Steve Itugbu, for many years a foreign policy aide
At the height of the Cold War, the John F. Kennedy administration designed an ambitious plan for the Middle East-its aim was to seek rapprochement with Nasser's Egypt in order to keep the Arab world n
Held together by apparatchiks and, later, Tito's charisma, Yugoslavia never really incorporated separate Balkan nationalisms into the Pan-Slavic ideal. Macedonia-frequently ignored by Belgrade-had sur
The resonant ruins of Pompeii are perhaps the most direct route back to the living, breathing world of the ancient Romans. Two million visitors annually now walk the paved streets which re-emerged, mi
Following the proclamation of the Truman Doctrine in 1947, which provided economic and military aid to Greece and Turkey to prevent them from falling to communism, the US became deeply involved in Gre
The Hadhramis of Yemen have migrated for centuries in large numbers, establishing a diaspora that extends around the Indian Ocean, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States. This migration has deeply aff
