The Rise of Islamism in the Light of European Totalitarianism

摘要

This article is an account of the origins of Islamism in the context of the rise of European totalitarian movements. The study aims to demonstrate that the origins of Islamism correlate closely both temporally and geographically to the historical conditions in which the three most successful European totalitarian movements, Bolshevism, fascism and Nazism, were able to establish themselves. A comparative analysis of general reactions to World War I shows remarkably similar experiences of anomie, with some Europeans and Muslims giving rise to attempts to create an alternative politico-cultural order to existing modernity. The article also intends to explain the reasons why we have failed to pay sufficient attention to the existence of Islamism as a totalitarian ideology in its various manifestations.