Political Significance of Islamic Fundamentalism in the Postmodern Era

• Main Authors: Yu M Pochta, T V Oberemko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) 2014-12-01
• Series: RUDN Journal of Political Science
• Subjects: фундаментализм; ислам; политический ислам; премодерн; модерн; постмодерн; метанарратив; симулякр; мусульманское общество; гиперреальность; мультикультурализм; постсекулярное общество
• Online Access: http://journals.rudn.ru/political-science/article/view/8991

The article discusses the political significance of Islamic fundamentalism in the context of the crisis of the modern globalized society in which elements of premodern, modern and postmodern societies coexist. Therefore, it is proved in the article, a widely used approach to the explanation of Islamic fundamentalism from the standpoint of the modern science needs to be supplemented by an approach based on postmodern concepts. In the Western society, there is the process of formation of a new post-secular sociality (transition from modern to unfinished postmodern), but most (non-Western) part of humanity has no direct relation to these processes. The population of these non-Western societies, as well as some social strata of the West, seeing the challenges of contemporaneity as a threat to their existence, seek refuge in conservatism and traditionalism. One expression of this rejection is the Islamic fundamentalism.