WIKTOROWICZ, Quintan 1970-

PERSONAL:

Born August 23, 1970, in Boston, MA; son of Hank Wiktorowicz and Pamela Westendorf Hill; married Debra Geraghty, June 21, 1997; children: Aidan, Nora. Education: Cornell University, B.A. (government), 1992, American University, Ph.D. (political science), 1998.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of International Studies, Rhodes College, 2000 North Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Educator. American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, DC, research assistant on Nuclear and Ballistic Missile Proliferation Research Project, 1991; Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA, assistant professor of political science, 1998-2000; Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, assistant professor of international studies, 2001—. Visiting assistant professor of government, Dartmouth College, 2000-01. Lecturer and presenter at conferences and workshops.

AWARDS, HONORS:

American Center for Oriental Studies grant to Jordan, 1996-97; Fulbright grant to Jordan, 1996-97; American Sociological Association/National Science Foundation grant (co-recipient), 2002; Rhodes College faculty development grant, 2002, 2003; Foreward magazine's Book of the Year in audio book category, 2002.

WRITINGS:

The Management of Islamic Activism: Salafis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and State Power in Jordan, State University of New York Press (Albany, NY), 2001.

Global Jihad: Understanding September 11 (audiobook), In Audio (Falls Church, VA), 2002.

(Editor and contributor) Islamic Activism: A Social Movement Theory, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 2003.

Contributor to books, including Everyday Experiences in the Muslim Middle East, second edition, Indiana University Press, 2001, In the Service of al-Qaeda:Radical Islamic Movements, New York University Press, 2003, and Muslim Networks: Metaphor and Meaning, University of North Carolina Press, 2003. Contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals, including Mediterranean Politics, World Development, International Journal of Middle-East Studies, International Review of Social History, International Journal of Comparative Sociology, al-Jadid Magazine, Middle East Policy, Arab Studies Quarterly, Journal of Church and State, and Comparative Politics.

SIDELIGHTS:

Quintan Wiktorowicz is an assistant professor of international studies at Rhodes College and the author of a number of books that contribute to American readers' understanding of Middle Eastern culture and politics. In The Management of Islamic Activism: Salafis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and State Power in Jordan, Wiktorowicz explores the reason why Islamic activist groups endure in the Middle East. While informal networking between activist "cells" in remote areas would seem to be a preferred method of operations for such extremist groups, Wiktorowicz shows that, in Jordan, this approach has certain drawbacks. Citing the radical Salafi movement, he shows that their strength results from a traditional informal network and interpersonal ties. For the less-radical Muslim Brotherhood, however, Jordan's encouragement of a system of non-governmental organizations (NGO's) to carry on social service reforms has created what American Journal of Sociology contributor Nader Sohrabi characterized as "a critical site for the activity of Islamic groups and a potential locus from which delegitimating attacks may be launched" against the Jordanian government. By moderating its activities and following the rules appropriate to NGO's, the Muslim Brotherhood has actually increased its membership. Still, Wiktorowicz continues, the Jordanian government itself is not the democratic institution many in the West believe. Although it has democratized much of its policies and practices, it continues to allow a latitude of surveillance capability that, coupled with authoritarian administrative policies, serve to repress unwanted activism.

Reviewing The Management of Islamic Activism in the Journal of Church and State, Linda Adams praised Wiktorowicz's "thorough" fieldwork and research and dubbed the book "an important contribution to the study of state-civil society relations in the post-1989 political liberalization environment … of Jordan."

Mark Lynch also voiced appreciation in his Middle East Journal review, noting: "With a solid application of social movement theory, a healthy skepticism about the claims made for democracy and civil society in the Arab world, and a solid empirical base, The Management of Islamic Activism makes a useful contribution to the literature on Islamic movements in the Arab world." In the American Journal of Sociology, Sohrabi commented that Wiktorowicz' book "signals the growing maturity and theoretical sophistication of sociological investigations of politics in the Middle East."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Journal of Sociology, March, 2002, Nader Sohrabi, review of The Management of Islamic Activism: Salafis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and State Power in Jordan, p. 1350.

Journal of Church and State, summer, 2001, Linda Adams, review of The Management of Islamic Activism, p. 605.

Middle East Journal, summer, 2001, Mark Lynch, review of The Management of Islamic Activism, p. 504.