Shadi Hamid
Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for Middle East Policy, U.S. Relations with the Islamic World
Shadi Hamid is a senior fellow in the Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World in the Center for Middle East Policy and the author of "Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World" (St. Martin's Press), which was shortlisted for the 2017 Lionel Gelber Prize. He is also co-editor with Will McCants of “Rethinking Political Islam” (Oxford University Press) and co-author of “Militants, Criminals, and Warlords: The Challenge of Local Governance in an Age of Disorder” (Brookings Institution Press). His first book “Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East” (Oxford University Press) was named a Foreign Affairs "Best Book of 2014." Hamid served as director of research at the Brookings Doha Center until January 2014. Hamid is also a contributing editor at The Atlantic and vice-chair of the Project on Middle East Democracy's board of directors.
Affiliations:
The Atlantic, contributing editor
EUSPRING, international advisory board
Project on Middle East Democracy, vice-chair of board of directors
World Bank, MENA Advisory Panel, member
Shadi Hamid is a senior fellow in the Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World in the Center for Middle East Policy and the author of “Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World” (St. Martin’s Press), which was shortlisted for the 2017 Lionel Gelber Prize. He is also co-editor with Will McCants of “Rethinking Political Islam” (Oxford University Press) and co-author of “Militants, Criminals, and Warlords: The Challenge of Local Governance in an Age of Disorder” (Brookings Institution Press). His first book “Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East” (Oxford University Press) was named a Foreign Affairs “Best Book of 2014.” Hamid served as director of research at the Brookings Doha Center until January 2014. Hamid is also a contributing editor at The Atlantic and vice-chair of the Project on Middle East Democracy’s board of directors.
Affiliations:
The Atlantic, contributing editor
EUSPRING, international advisory board
Project on Middle East Democracy, vice-chair of board of directors
World Bank, MENA Advisory Panel, member
Islamic Exceptionalism
Shortlisted for the 2017 Lionel Gelber Prize
A New Statesman Book of the Year
In "Islamic Exceptionalism," Shadi Hamid offers a novel and provocative argument on how Islam is, in fact, “exceptional” in how it relates to politics, with profound implications for how we understand the future of the Middle East. Divides among citizens aren’t just about power but are products of fundamental disagreements over the very nature and purpose of the modern nation state—and the vexing problem of religion’s role in public life. Learn more about the book »
"Illuminating."― The Washington Post
"A hugely important book."― General David Petraeus (Ret.)
"[Islamic Exceptionalism] limns the Islamist mind in unnerving detail... Hamid is unafraid to talk about heaven, theodicy and divine justice.”—The National Interest
At an even broader level, Islamic exceptionalism means questioning the conventional technocratic approach that sees problems both at home and abroad as products of material factors that can be addressed through targeted policy interventions. Things like poverty, underdevelopment, rural-urban migration, and so on all matter, but so do the things that can’t be measured.
Putting the context of [Trump's speech in Saudi Arabia] aside, the imagery is striking: Here is Donald Trump in the birthplace of Islam speaking to Muslim leaders from across the world, and the Koran is bring recited before he gives his address...That's at least somewhat positive in showing that he's going out of his way to address Muslim leaders in a way that's not overly antagonistic.
For the Saudis, anyone is better than Barack Obama...Trump has a strongman persona. And that endears him to autocratic leaders in the Middle East.
