ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how both international relations (IR) and Islamism rely on foundational myths which justify hierarchies and lead to a thin conception of the international. It examines the intellectual response of Islamists to the political domination of the Muslim world, highlighting the ‘epistemic oppression’ of liberalism and the resultant rejection of liberalism by the Islamists. The chapter then outlines three different Islamist approaches to modernity. First is ‘Universalist-Islamist’, a rejection of ‘Western’/international theory, in favour of an Islamo-centric, equally thin conception of international politics. Second approach is ‘Reformist-Islamist’, which finds ‘Western’ IR in Islamic traditions, seemingly evidencing the universalism of ‘Western’ thought while simultaneously affirming that there is no such thing as non-‘Western’ IR. Final one is ‘post-Islamist’, the result of meaningful engagement with both ‘Western’ and non-‘Western’ thought, which leads to a thick conception of the international through an explicit commitment to diversity and pluriversality.
