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BOOK REVIEWS 297 conclusion that if political scandals did not exist, liberal democracies would have to invent them." Whether or not this assertion is true, it is undeniable that scandals have piqued the public fancy in recent years. Oliver North's trial in the United States, and shady financial dealings in the Socialist government in France, show that the examination ofpolitical scandal has persistent relevance. Certainly some chapters in The Politics ofScandal are more provocative than others, but overall the book is a solid one. While the Forward, Introduction , and Conclusion go to great pains to emphasize the legitimacy of "Scandology " as a meaningful discipline, The Politics ofScandal needs no apologia. Unlike so many comparative texts, the book is racy, readable, and fun. As Theodore Lowi remarks, "Each author, like Candid Camera, is catching each country in the act of being itself." The Islamic Question in Middle East Politics. By Alan R. Taylor. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1988. 150 pp. $29.95/cloth. Reviewed by Ian L. Todreas, M.A. candidate, SAIS. How and at what point does Islam affect international relations? Although the Islamic question has immediate implications, unfortunately the answer is elusive . Not even the truly devoted scholar of the minutia of Arab intellectual trends and political economy can predict where, when, how, why, and even if Muslims will again summon their religious identity to do battle with alienating political forces. Still, the Iranian revolution, the hostage crisis, and the bloody terrorist attacks of the 1980s in European airports, bars, boats, and embassies have revitalized the study of resurgent Islam and sent Middle East scholars back to the Book to answer the Islamic question in Middle East politics. In The Islamic Question in Middle East Politics, Alan Taylor seeks to define Islam's role in politics by analyzing various Middle East "responses" to twentieth century historical developments. In his analysis, the clash of cultures is the fuel of history. The nineteenth and twentieth century economic, political, and cultural intrusion of the West into Middle East societies forced schizophrenic backlashes to repel imperial domination and propel their societies into positions of independence and power. On the one hand, Arab liberal secularists favored aping quintessential European institutions and cultural trappings—a fight-fire-with-fire approach ofWestern-educated Middle East elites who thought the secular democratic nation-state was the answer. On the other hand, Islamic revivalists demanded a réévaluation and reapplication ofstrict Islamic teachings , traditions, ideals, and laws that had once made Islam and Arabs ascendant . These proponents were to fill a "psychocultural void" that Westernization had brought, while claiming to leave many details of this alternative political system to Allah. Armed with these theoretical and historical constructs, Taylor decodes modern Middle East history through the campaigns of these competing and mutually exclusive world views. After tracing these dynamics, Taylor concludes that the best solution to social and political ills is a combination of elements 298 SAIS REVIEW from both political perspectives. For Taylor, a little bit of "genuine democracy " along with the "nonpolitical dimensions of Islam" will best cope with the wide array of problems facing Middle East societies today. His vaguely stated middle-of-the-road proposal, designed to contain something for everyone, aims to arrest the cycle of repression and violent upheaval that has plagued and continues to plague so many societies of the Middle East. Revealing Islam's historic and present role in politics is Taylor's most laudable accomplishment. The book is organized thematically, at first distinguishing the Islamic school from that of the secular nationalists, elaborating on their struggle, then sketching "A profile of an Islamic revolution," and finally musing on Islam in politics in the next generation. Within 127 pages, Taylor provides a comprehensive, historical overview of Islam in the modern Middle East— including Turkey and Iran, whose important histories and contributions often fall outside experts' work on the Arab Middle East. Thus the principal strength— and weakness—ofTaylor's book is its handbook thoroughness: every notable and relevant name, date, and concept, past and present, is mentioned and often lucidly explained, from Ayatollah Fadlallah to the Shah's Persepolis fête honoring 2500 years of Iranian monarchy to Ijtihad. Unfortunately...

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