page 151 note ¹ Mark, Tessler, et al. (eds.) Area Studies and Social Science: Strategies for Understanding Middle East Politics (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999).Google Scholar I have a sense of unease with this otherwise well-intended and worthwhile collection. It is as if the contributors have been asked to write pieces that mix theory and case studies for a special occasion (a conference and a book) after which they are to go back to their usual approaches to scholarship!

page 152 note ¹ It was not until December 1999 that New York University’s Sociology and Middle East Studies Departments organized a joint conference to explore how studies of Islamism can contribute to social movement theory, and how Islamicists can benefit from concepts utilized to study social movements.

page 152 note ² Middle East Reports, October-December 1997, no. 205; Arab Studies Journal, spring 1998; MESA Bulletin, July 1995 with Rashid Khalidi's presidential address; and MESA Bulletin, Winter 2000 containing a review article by Ian Lustick, “The Quality of Theory and the Comparative Disadvantage of Area Studies.”

page 153 note ¹ Peter, Gran, “Contending with Middle East Exceptionalism: A Foreword,” in Arab Studies Journal(spring 1998): 7.Google Scholar

page 153 note ² Benedict, Anderson, The Spectre of Comparisons: Nationalism, Southeast Asia and the World (London: Verso, 1998).Google Scholar

page 153 note ³ Olivier, Roy, The Failure of Political Islam (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994), pp. 8–9.Google Scholar

page 154 note ¹ Theda, Skocpol, States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China (Cambridge University Press, 1979);Google ScholarRobert, Putnam, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy (Princeton University Press, 1993);Google ScholarNikki, Keddie, “The New Religious Politics: Where, When, and Why Does ‘Fundamentalism’ Appear?,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 40.4 (October 1998): 696–723;Google ScholarDale, Eickelman and James, Piscatory, Muslim Politics (Princeton University Press, 1996).Google Scholar

page 154 note ² See Asef, Bayat, Street Politics: Poor People’s Movements in Iran (Columbia University Press, 1997).Google Scholar

page 155 note ¹ For a more detailed analysis of these issues see Asef, Bayat and Eric, Davis, “Who is Afraid of Ashwaiyyat? Urban Change and Politics in Egypt,” Environment and Urbanization 12.2 (October 2000): 185–99.Google Scholar

page 156 note ¹ Asef, Bayat, “Revolution without Movement, Movement without Revolution: Comparing Islamist Activism in Iran and Egypt,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 40.1 (January 1998): 136–69.Google Scholar

page 156 note ² Rosemary, O’Kane, ed., Revolutions: Critical Concepts, 4 vols. (London: Routledge, 2000).Google Scholar

page 157 note ¹ Lucciani, G., ed. The Arab State (London: Routledge, 1990),Google Scholar introduction; and Hazem, Beblawi and Luciani, G., eds. The Rentier State (London and New York: Croom Helm, 1987), introduction.Google Scholar

page 157 note ² Note how Janet Abu-Lughod compares Cairo with New York, a city which might be argued should be compared with say London or Hong Kong from the industrial world; Janet, Abu-Lughod, “New York and Cairo: A View from Street Level,” International Social Science Journal 42 (1990): 307–18.Google Scholar