ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores state’s practical and juridical legitimacy, identity, and territorial integrity to understand status quo of the nation-state in region and its functionality. It tries to better understand the notion of the ‘state’ and the ‘regional order’ in the philosophy of the Islamic State (IS) and from its perspective. The book discusses in detail the clash between the nation-states in the Middle East and North Africa region and the IS. It includes the state’s resilience and its range of responses to the rise of revisionist movements such as the IS that attempt to reshape the territoriality and the nature of governance in the region. The book again turns the spotlight on political Islam and, using the historical record, argues that a century of struggle for recognition, power, and legitimacy notwithstanding, political Islam in twenty-first century is ‘on the run’.
