Islamic theories of international relations (IR) have been traditionally dominated by debates between two distinct approaches—traditionalism and modernism. A third perspective, often labelled the ‘jihadist perspective’, has emerged following the 11 September 2001 attacks and this radical perspective principally embodies the worldview of al-Qaeda and its off-shoot the Islamic State. The jihadist perspective directly challenges the Western concepts, methods and theories of IR. This article examines how the Islamic and Western international theories clash in terms of ontological foundations, epistemological approaches and modes of inquiry. It argues that Islamic discourse on IR has contributed to the development of a set of theories to analyse and interpret relations between the Islamic and the non-Islamic world, and secondly, it implicitly presents arguments in favour of opening up IR for rather more global perspectives.
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