Since the mid-1970s, radical groups within the world's religions have grown in size and popularity, taking on more active roles in the political discourses of their respective societies. In the Middle East, this phenomenon has been most pronounced, as groups espousing such outlooks have engaged in comprehensive campaigns - sometimes involving the use of terrorism and other violent tactics - to alter the political systems of the states in which these organizations reside as well as in countries abroad. This collection is an insightful, well documented anthology which provides an in-depth political analysis of religious radicalism in the Greater Middle East - a recently defined area encompassing the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. The contributors, experts in their fields, present various conceptual perspectives within the framework of political science, including international relations, Middle East studies and political sociology. This work is not only topical and up to date but embodies in its fourteen portrait studies all the fundamental elements of the cultural geography and history of the Middle East.