Category: Political Islam

Tunisia: From Political Islam to Muslim Democracy?

     

The European Union today approved a 500 million euro ($570 million) loan to help Tunisia address economic challenges and bolster its democratic processes, Reuters reports: Tunisia’s transition to democracy has… Read more »

Hard-liners rebound: no more nonsense about ‘moderation’ in Iran

     

Backers of Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, who has pledged to improve the economy and relations with the West, won a sizeable minority in a parliament that has been under the… Read more »

How to reverse the extremist tide

     

Something great is afoot in Tunisia. Last weekend, the once-Islamist Ennahda party officially declared that it will separate its religious activities from its political ones, notes Maajid Nawaz, co-founder and chairman… Read more »

Muslim Democrats? How to explain shift in Tunisia’s Ennahda

     

In a move widely reported as a landmark separation of mosque and state, Ennahda announced it was separating politics from preaching, notes Oxford University researcher Monica Marks. It also unveiled… Read more »

Tunisia’s Ennahda ditches political Islam

     

In the days after the fall of the regime of Tunisia‘s President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, the long-exiled founder of the Ennahda movement Rached Ghannouchi (left) made a… Read more »

What is the Arabic for democracy?

     

  The collapse of the post-colonial Arab system is, at its heart, a crisis of legitimacy. The impact of colonialism, often blamed by Arabs for their woes, should not be… Read more »

Iranian activists use social media to demand justice, accountability

     

The public outcry over the rape and murder of six-year-old Afghan refugee Setayesh Ghoreishi (left) demonstrates how social media has allowed Iran’s civil society to hold accountable hardliners in the… Read more »

Democratization, Authoritarianism, and Radicalization: Exploring the Connections

     

The Future of Islam and Democracy After the Arab Spring is one of the sessions of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy’s 17th Annual Conference. Panelists include: John Voll,… Read more »

Can civil society tame Pakistan’s violent extremism?

     

Tackling extremism is a political minefield in Pakistan where politicians openly consort with leaders of banned militant groups and sympathy exists within the security forces and civil administration for perpetrators… Read more »