New Insights into the Islamic Republic of Iran by Ali Fathollah-
Nejad   Revolutionary dynamics in the Arab World have recently
rekindled the debate in the West on "political Islam".  To get a
good understanding of the phenomenon, however, it is necessary
to define it properly -- which, so far, has hardly been done.
The issue is generally approached from two directions.  The
cultural-essentialist or Orientalistic school holds that Islam
determines political, economic and social realities.
 Orientalists argue that the entire Muslim world is not only
somehow monolithic, but even downright resistant to change.
 Samuel Huntington's book The Clash of Civilizations is a
prominent expression of such thinking.  This school is not alone
in emphasising religion as the single most important defining
feature of society; Islamist fundamentalists say so too.   The
current Arab Spring has dealt the Orientalist school a severe
blow and may even discredit it once and for all.  Obviously,
there is a widespread desire in Muslim