This volume addresses a number of central questions in the study of Islamist politics in the Middle East, focusing on the most popular and influential Islamist movements. Chapters by leading scholars in the field present original research on a wide range of Islamist movements and politics in Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran, in addition to theoretical treatments of the subject. All of the contributors share a commitment to empirically-based research and all take Islamist movements seriously, rejecting a common approach to Islamist politics as necessarily anti-modern, anti-rational, and anti-democratic. The volume is composed of an introduction and five thematic sections, each focusing on an important dimension of political Islam.