Political, Social and Religious Studies of the Balkans - Volume II - Radical Islam in the Western Balkans - by Raphael Israeli and Ana Dimitrovska

Book Synopsis

This volume explores the roots and centennial development of radical Islam in the Balkans since the rise of early Muslim fundamentalists in the Muslim world in the early 20th century. It also follows current militant Muslim movements, which have grown in the world and were the direct trigger of the Bosnia war (1992-5).

The book also clarifies the parallels between the predominant events in the world of Islam during the past century, specific developments in Balkan Islam in general, and of Bosnia in particular.

(About the Author)

Raphael Israeli has taught Islamic, Chinese, and Middle Eastern history at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. A graduate of Hebrew University in history and Arabic literature, he earned a Ph.D. in Chinese and Islamic history from the University of California, Berkeley. Now retired, he has been a Fellow of the Harry Truman Research Institute at Hebrew University and the Jerusalem Center since the 1970s, and is the author of over 60 research books, a dozen edited books, and 100 scholarly articles about Islam.

The linguistic obstacles encountered in writing the book required the help of Serbian co-author Ana Dimitrovska.

Ana Dimitrovska, researcher in the field of international terrorism, violent extremism and Radical Islam with emphasis on the Western Balkan region. Assistant of the Chairman of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Sufferings of Serbs in Sarajevo between 1991 to 1995. Obtained a Master Degree in International Relations at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. She earned PhD from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in Political Sciences. The title of her PhD thesis is "International Islamist Terrorist Organizations in Western Balkans". Author of several research and academic articles about international terrorism and Radical Islam with deliberate focus on the Western Balkan region. Participated in numerous international conferences where she spoke about radicalization processes and International Islamist terrorist organizations' modus operandi in the Balkans. She speaks English, Russian, Croatian, Macedonian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Spanish and Hebrew.