The universal enemy : jihad, empire, and the challenge of solidarity /

Li (Univ. of Chicago) challenges sweeping generalizations about jihad and terrorism with this rich ethnographic analysis of former fighters who traveled to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992--95 to wage jihad. By revealing these actors' complex motivations, the book effectively confronts the demonization of jihadists in the aftermath of 9/11, particularly in the US. Chapters on the Non-Aligned Movement (120 developing nations not aligned with any major powers), UN peacekeeping, and the "Global War on Terror" successfully situate Li's analysis within a global context. The author's linguistic skills and the depth of the interviews are impressive, and the case selection is intriguing; jihadists' support for "white," "European" Bosnians in the face of ethnic cleansing is different from their involvement in most other cases. The transnational dimension of these particular jihadists, however, is less interesting than the author portrays, because transnationalism has almost become the norm for many jihadist groups. The extent to which the uniqueness of the Bosnian case limits the general applicability of the book's conclusions is thus unclear, since the author does not engage with direct comparisons to other (and more recent) cases of jihadi activism. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and faculty. --Ahmet T. Kuru, San Diego State University