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AnalysesMiddle East and North Africa

On December 3, 2025, the international community of Islamic Studies lost one of its most erudite and humane members: Professor Abdulaziz Sachedina. Like many scholars, I first encountered Sachedina through his writings on Islamic pluralism and ethics—fields closely aligned with my own interest in modern and contemporary Islamic thought. His strong conviction that Islamic teachings are and will remain highly relevant for Muslim and non-Muslim societies, if reasonably and honestly contextualized, is evident in his major works. Among these are The Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism (2000), Islamic Biomedical Ethics (2009), and Islamic Ethics (2022).

Videos Middle East and North Africa

Ruth Hanau Santini, associate professor of Politics and International relations at the University of Naples L’Orientale, discusses how Tunisia’s democratic backslide stemmed from unimplemented reforms and an elite-driven process that sidelined public trust. These issues ultimately paved the way for populist influence, culminating in Tunisia’s current political crisis.

ConveningMiddle East and North Africa

December

2023

Palermo, Italy

The conference will examine why democracy has struggled to take root in the Arab world: historical factors such as the consequences of oil resources, autocratic regimes, the inability to effectively implement economic reforms, the historical legacy of the alliance with the Soviet Union and the effects of colonialism, and in more recent times the negative parabola of the “Arab Springs” and in particular the failure of the compromise between Islamic and secular political forces that had made possible the beginning of a democratic path for Tunisia, now dominated by an autocratic power that arrests opponents.