ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to define fundamentalism, outline its characteristics, comprehend its origins, and understand how fundamentalists and fundamentalist movements interact with the political. In order to understand fundamentalism, it is essential to understand its causes. Essentially, fundamentalism is a reaction against modernity. Fundamentalists go beyond rejecting modernity. They claim to be the solution to its problems. Religious fundamentalists are politically relevant because they usually have a political agenda which matters deeply to them, one which they are strongly motivated to pursue. Any answer to the question of fundamentalism's political relevance is simply an elaboration upon this basic fact. The chapter discusses the nature of fundamentalist political agendas and how they manifest in the political arena. Fundamentalist groups have engaged in sensational acts of violence, organized powerful political parties, and otherwise had a measurable impact on politics across the world. Not all people who are religious are fundamentalists, and not all of religion's influences on politics involve fundamentalists.
