instability, Hussein participated in the PLO’s creation. Once more, the signif-icance of stamps and bank notes is lucidly exhibited:

Although creating a flag and national anthem are important steps for anynation-building project, they do not represent substantial power. The issu-ance of banknotes and postage stamps, while also important for the nation-building project, represent the power of a national state. (pp. 139-40)

The challenge of circumventing the popular notion of identity con-structed around geographical and demographic realities is neatly met, asJordanian Jerusalem provides an expansive regional overview of the rela-tionship between state and non-state bodies, while affording a scholarlyinsight into alternative mechanisms active in the formation of identity duringa period of national upheaval.

K. Luisa GandolfoPh.D. Candidate, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies

University of Exeter, United Kingdom

Faith in Moderation:Islamist Parties in Jordan and Yemen

Jillian SchwedlerCambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 252 pages.

Much that has been written about political Islam emphasizes the negativeimages of suicide bombings, bearded and seemingly blind proponents ofjihad, patriarchal gender ideologies, and intolerance toward non-Muslims.Jillian Schwedler’s comparative study of two “Islamist” political parties inJordan and Yemen, respectively, is a welcome reminder that Muslims arejust as capable of protecting their faith in moderation as anyone else. Herbook provides a valuable record of the historical development of bothJordan’s Islamic Action Front (IAF: Jabhat al-`Aml al-Islami) and theYemeni Congregation for Reform, better known simply as the Islah(Reform) party. A political scientist with first-hand experience in both coun-tries, she has researched the previous literature on each party and conductedover three dozen formal on-the-record interviews with party officials andother relevant individuals (and more than 200 political actors overall, p. 31).The bulk of the interviews were conducted between 1995 and 1998, withfollow-up trips as recently as 2003.

The book has two main goals. One is the comparative case study, whichcompares and contrasts the very different political trajectories in both coun-

Book Reviews 113

tries. Overriding this is a theoretical concern with explanations for transitionto democracy, a field called “transitology” in political science. Of specialinterest to Schwedler is the inclusion-moderation hypothesis, a pragmaticargument that “including Islamists will both promote moderation and reduceradicalism” (p. 11). The book’s first chapter is devoted to a review of theextensive literature on this issue, including its application to Middle Easternand/or Islamic cultural contexts. Some of this literature review, so necessaryin the Ph.D. process, may discourage readers who are not political scientists,as might the social science in-narrative referencing system (e.g., on p. 8 overthree dozen author/date citations on the page break the narrative flow). Butthe author’s argument is sound, and the detailed analysis of the politicalprocess is well worth continuing through to the end of the book.

Her field study leads Schwedler to correct earlier simplistic causal sce-narios and issue a call for more nuanced study of “Islamists” in the politicalprocess:

This study calls for detailed attention to the internal dynamics of particu-lar groups, not to identify moderates from radicals but to reveal the rangeof activities, alliances, and debates that characterize entities often treatedas unitary actors. It also underlines the need to study political practicesoutside of formal state institutions. (p. 214)

A very important finding, especially for political science, is that “thedistinction between state and nonstate actors is not always clear” (p. 83). Asan anthropologist I applaud her study, in which careful observation of whatMuslims both say they want to do and actually do differently hones theory,rather than subsumes political actors into pre-existing and often self-servingessentialist notions. Yet I wonder why this perceptive critique does not alsolead to a questioning of the widely variable term Islamist itself. If there aresignificant differences in the Jordanian and Yemeni contexts, do we reallyneed to label both by a term with prejudicial baggage in its popular usageand much previous academic referencing? Are all parties claiming a Muslimidentity Islamist in a meaningful way?

Having conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Yemen since 1978, I am ina better position to judge the case study of Islah. Schwedler gives the uniquebackground of Yemen’s contemporary history, in which Ali Abdallah Salih(the current president) and Abdallah al-Ahmar (the most significant triballeader) represent the loose coalition of an emerging military-backed nation-alism grafted onto the fiercely independent tribal base of local communityaction. It is unfortunate that the author, when dealing with Yemen’s tribal

114 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 25:1

context, relies almost exclusively on Paul Dresch, whose quoted claim that“only about 25 percent of Yemenis are tribal in any meaningful sense” (pp.136-37) would come as a surprise to the majority of Yemen’s population.Previous ethnographic studies on Yemeni tribalism by Najwa Adra, StevenCaton, Tomas Gerholm, Andre Gingrich, and Shelagh Weir (not to mentiona slew of relevant Arabic books and journalistic accounts by Yemenis)would have provided a valuable corrective to Dresch’s narrow definition ofwhat constitutes “meaningful” tribalism. Indeed, it may be the tribal values,shared by most rural Yemenis regardless of the formal tribal structureadduced by an outsider analyst, that best define the seemingly incoherentbase of Islah as a political party.

Finally, there are several printing errors and one glaring historical mis-statement that no doubt was a copyediting slip: Imam Ahmad, not his fatherImam Yahya (p. 57), died in 1962 on the eve of the Yemeni revolution inthe north. In addition, there is no mention of Imam Badr, who, althoughdeposed, continued the struggle for a Zaydi state with backing from SaudiArabia and several northern tribes. The singular for tribe is qabilah and notqabil (p. 136), “portral” (p. 145) should be “portrayal,” and “al-Zidani” (p.188) should be “al-Zindani.”

Daniel Martin VariscoChair, Department of Anthropology

Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York

Morocco: The Islamist Awakeningand Other Challenges

Marvine HoweLondon and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. 428 pages.

Veteran journalist Marvine Howe’s book on Morocco is unique in its genre.Though she worked for Radio Maroc and as a stringer for the New YorkTimes and Time-Life in Morocco from 1951 to 1962, Howe has coveredseveral topics related to that country since and returned for a serious “Tourdu Maroc” with two old friends in 2001. Her book, with its countless inter-views of political and cultural personalities before and after her departure inthe 1960s, is more than simply journalism. Howe has invested a lifetime ofstudying Morocco and its people. This book, addressed to a general audi-ence, reads like a comprehensive “state of the union” survey of Moroccotoday, in its variegated political, cultural, ethnic, religious, and economicaspects – all in a lucid and often elegant prose.

Book Reviews 115